Howard Fendrich, revered AP sports reporter, dead at 55

Howard Fendrich, a national sports writer for The Associated Press whose persistent reporting and detail-rich prose brought readers inside dozens of taut Grand Slam tennis finals, record-breaking Olympic moments and harrowing trips down Alpine ski slopes, has died.He was 55.Fendrich died Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, his wife Rosanna Maietta said.

He was diagnosed with cancer in February shortly after returning from Milan, where he covered his 11th Olympics.Tennis great Roger Federer, who estimated he’d had more than 100 interactions with Fendrich over the decades, called the journalist “one of those constant and reassuring presences in the tennis world for many years.”“He started covering tennis in 2002, right around the time I was starting to have my breakthrough in the sport, and over time he truly became part of the fabric of tennis,” Federer said.“Tennis lost a wonderful journalist and a great person.”Fendrich is survived by his wife; his mother, Renée; his brother, Alex; and two sons, Stefano and Jordan, each of whom are pursuing careers in sports journalism – just like their dad.“Howard was a gifted journalist who brought such skill, expertise and enthusiasm to his work,” said AP Executive Editor and Senior Vice President Julie Pace.

“His stories were a joy to read, combining lively writing with insightful reporting.He was also a generous and beloved colleague whose warmth and passion touched so many across the AP.”A graduate of Haverford College near Philadelphia, Fendrich worked at AP for 33 years, starting as an unpaid intern in Rome.There, he became fluent in his beloved city’s language, mostly by watching Italian karaoke videos, and that helped him get a foot in the door to the news agency’s European sports coverage, focusing on soccer.

That, in turn, landed him on the radar of the AP sports editor at the time, Terry R.Taylor, who helped him get back to the United States.In the United States, Fendrich s...