Alex Yannis, (age 84 years) was a man who behind Chronicled soccer’s rise in the US, he spent three decades with The New York Times chronicling Pelé’s career and the growth of soccer enthusiasm in the United States, has passed away at the age of 84.
According to his son John, Yannis passed away on Wednesday from interstitial lung disease at a residential hospice in New City, New York. The day of the World Cup final, Sunday, was Yannis’ 85th birthday.
He got a position as a sports news assistant and went to the 1974 World Cup in West Germany while working there, offering the paper coverage in exchange for a pass and perhaps some payment for expenses.
According to his son, dad did receive reimbursement for his expenditures after his article on the hosts’ 2-1 victory over the Netherlands in the championship game appeared on the main page. Yannis met Pelé at the competition, and he wrote about his move to the Cosmos in 1975, which sparked American interest in the sport.
In 1977, Yannis was elevated to the position of staff reporter, and he stayed there until 2004, when he retired. When college soccer was the most well-known regular competition in the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s, he covered it.
He covered three World Cups in total, traveling to the 1986 tournament in Mexico and writing at the 1994 tournament in the United States. He also chronicled the demise of the North American Soccer League in 1984 and the beginning of Major League Soccer in 1996. Yannis covered golf tournaments and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils in addition to soccer.
The National Soccer Hall of Fame presented Yannis with the 2009 Colin Jose Media Award, which is granted each year to a journalist whose career has made sizable, sustained contributions to the game in the United States.
Earlier life of Alex Yannis, Where was he from? What about the family members
Yannis, a Greek native from Kartharitsi, sold newspapers in Paris for the International Herald Tribune, which the Times co-owned at the time. Around 1967, he immigrated to the United States on the Queen Elizabeth ship with his wife and young son.
He began working as a news assistant on the metro desk for the Times, becoming one of the few editorial staff members at the time whose native tongue was not English.
According to his son, he had started working as a starter at Blue Hill Golf Course in Pearl River, New York, since he had retired in exchange for discounted green fees. The former Joan Weber, his first wife, passed away in 1998. He leaves behind his son and his second wife, the former Guoquin Zhang, whom he wed in 1999.
Alex Yannis Early Career
He accepted a job as a sports news assistant and traveled to West Germany for the 1974 World Cup while employed there, promising to cover it for the paper in exchange for a pass and possibly some remuneration for travel expenses.
According to his son, after his essay on the hosts’ 2-1 triumph over the Netherlands in the final game appeared on the main page, dad did receive reimbursement for his expenses. At the event, Yannis met Pelé, and he wrote about how Pelé’s 1975 move to the Cosmos boosted American interest in the sport.
Yannis was promoted to staff reporter in 1977, where he remained until 2004 when he resigned. He covered college soccer during the 1980s and early 1990s when it was the most well-known regular sport in the United States.
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In total, he covered three World Cups, going to the 1986 event in Mexico and reporting from the 1994 event in the United States. The end of the North American Soccer League in 1984 and the start of Major League Soccer in 1996 were also events that he recorded. In addition to soccer, Yannis covered golf tournaments and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.
