Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You

Atlanta, GA: Peachtree Publishers, Ltd, 1979. Presumed first edition/first printing. Hardcover. Good in good dust jacket. Signed by author. Inscribed on title page. DJ has some wear and soiling. xi, [1], 211, [1] p. From Wikipedia: "Lewis McDonald Grizzard, Jr. (October 20, 1946 March 20, 1994) was an American writer and humorist, known for his Southern demeanor and commentary on the American South. Although he spent his early career as a newspaper sports writer and editor, becoming the sports editor of the Atlanta Journal at age 23, he is much better known for his humorous newspaper columns in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a popular stand-up comedian and lecturer. Grizzard also published a total of twenty-five books, including collections of his columns (e.g. Chili Dawgs Always Bark at Night), expanded versions of his stand-up comedy routines (I Haven't Understood Anything Since 1962), and the autobiographical If I Ever Get Back to Georgia, I'm Gonna Nail My Feet to the Ground. Although much of his comedy discussed the South and Grizzard s personal and professional lives, it was also a commentary on issues prevalent throughout America, including relationships between men and women (e.g. If Love Were Oil, I'd Be About a Quart Low), politics, and health, especially heart health. Grizzard was also the stepbrother of the Southern humorist Ludlow Porch....Grizzard was born in Fort Benning, Georgia. His father, Lewis Grizzard, Sr., a soldier in the United States Army, left his mother Christine, a school teacher, when Lewis was young, and the mother and son moved in with Christine's parents in Moreland, Georgia, where Lewis would spend the rest of his childhood. Grizzard would recount his often frustrating relationship with his father in My Daddy Was a Pistol and I'm a Son of a Gun. He began his writing early, publishing stories of his little league team in the nearby Newnan Times-Herald, Newnan, Georgia. Grizzard attended the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia where he was a member of the Sigma Pi Fraternity and Gridiron Secret Society. During his time in Athens he became an avid Georgia Bulldogs fan. He studied journalism, but he shunned the school newspaper in favor of the independent Athens Daily News. Before graduating with an A.B.J. in journalism Grizzard moved on to Atlanta, joining the Atlanta Journal, and becoming the youngest ever executive sports editor of the Journal at the age of 23. The Executive Editor of the Journal, Jim Minter, said that had Grizzard stayed there, he would be remembered today as one of the great newspaper editors of the 20th century. His time there included the Marshall University football team tragedy and the Journal's coverage of Hank Aaron's 715th home run. Grizzard then left to become the executive sports editor at the Chicago Sun-Times. He would later recall this as the most miserable period of his life. His tenure included a controversy involving the removal of several news columns written by Lacy Banks, the Sun-Times' first African-American sports columnist, from the newspaper, which resulted in Banks charging racism against Grizzard and led to Banks's subsequent firing. Although the newspaper, under editor Jim Hoge, supported Grizzard, a federal arbitrator reinstated Banks, and he criticized Grizzard as "racially insensitive". Grizzard, for his part, contended that the arbitrator did not understand the newspaper business, and he pointed out that he had replaced Banks with Thom Greer, a writer who was also African-American. Grizzard felt this invalidated any charge of racism. One Chicago radio announcer who sympathized with Grizzard said that Grizzard had been pronounced "guilty by geography". Grizzard was also divorced for the second time while living in Chicago. Grizzard's career as a newspaper man in Chicago is recalled in If I Ever Get Back to Georgia, I'm Gonna Nail My Feet to the Ground. In 1977, Grizzard returned to Atlanta as a columnist for the sports section of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper. After eight months, he switched to writing the humor/life column that would eventually make him famous. He published this column about four days per week. At his peak, he was.