The Brief Reads of Chico Harlan

This is our monthly series of briefreads written by some of the most respected bylines to date. It’s a look at how these reporters got to where they are now — at national magazines, writing novels, winning major awards — because they mastered great stories on deadline. We ask: Can you see the evolution of a journalist?

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Chico Harlan's datelines span three continents from America to Australia to Asia. It’s a wanderlust, the former sportswriter wrote. Then, there are his stories from every stop. The coverage of the Washington Nationals, his uncle a Hare Krishna, to the 8.9-magnitude quake that leveled a country’s coast.

In the wake of Japan’s recent events, Harlan leads the Washington Post’s coverage; the limelight of international interest. To Hiroshima, here’s how he got there:

“McNamara earns permanent place in Scranton's heart,” The Daily Orange, Feb. 20, 2003
Cheers, to Gerry McNamara, from the Guinness line at Cosgrove's Clubhouse & Tavern, where never before could one 19-year-old Irish boy claim so many unacquainted cousins.

“A day in the life of a deer hunter,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 28, 2006
The deer within his sight ambled 20 yards to the right and stopped. "A perfect shot," Mr. Brown said, hushed.

But he never pulled the trigger.

“Coping with memories,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Feb. 28, 2008
Let me say now: (Myron) Cope, as a writer, was awesome... His style worked precisely because it felt inimitable.

“Perfect warrior with an imperfect game,” Sydney Daily-Telegraph, Jan. 28, 2008
On one particular point during the second set, Novak Djokovic had reduced Lleyton Hewitt into a human yo-yo, sending him down, sending him up, and sending him back along the baseline.

“Unusual Season Plays Out Until the Very End,” Washington Post, October 5, 2009
Good baseball, granted, did not appear until the very end.

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Post your favorite Chico Harlan briefreads or tweet us @briefreads. Who else's career should we look back at? (Send us the journalist and the briefreads that made the reporter.)

-eddie