Ralph Wiley

Ralph Wiley (1952–2004) was an American sportswriter, journalist, and commentator born in Memphis, Tennessee. After graduating from Knoxville College with a degree in business management, he began his career at the Oakland Tribune and later spent nine years as a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. He subsequently became a columnist for ESPN.com’s Page 2 and a regular television commentator.

Wiley wrote extensively about race in America, including What Black People Should Do Now: Dispatches From Near the Vanguard (1993) and Why Black People Tend to Shout. His other books included Serenity: A Boxing Memoir, By Any Means Necessary: The Trials and Tribulations of the Making of Malcolm X with Spike Lee, and collaborations on the lives of baseball player Eric Davis and Dexter Scott King.