Lenn Robbins: “You Knew You Were Seeing Something Truly Humbling.”

Press Box Access: A Sports History Podcast

Lenn Robbins is a go-go-go Big Apple guy, but the Brooklyn native pauses on this episode to appreciate the people and places that form a mosaic of memories from his sportswriting career. Emotions bubbling at the ancient Olympic stadium in Greece. Riding with abandon at the Great Wall of China. The pressure felt by his young self in covering the Jets’ final game at Shea Stadium. Vince Dooley burning hot after a loss. A moment in a Montreal bar with Mark Messier. A foiled, shattering upset bid in the NCAA basketball tournament. Typing on deadline in the surprisingly chilled desert air. A marathon runner winning despite taking a wrong turn. And Lenn discusses how his battle with cancer in recent years has impacted his reflection on these and other moments from his four decades as a New York sportswriter.

Robbins spent 16 years of his career at the New York Post, beginning in 1997. He was that paper’s national college writer, wrote columns, and covered the NFL, NBA and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He appeared regularly on ESPN, FOX, NY1, SNY and YES. Prior to the Post, Lenn worked two stints at The Record in New Jersey (1985-90 and 1992-97), where he had several beats, including the New York Rangers, the NFL, and national college sports. He covered the NFC East and the NBA’s Atlantic Division for The National Sports Daily from 1990-92. His journalism career started at Greenwich Time in Greenwich, Connecticut after his graduation from Stony Brook University.

In 2013, Robbins left the New York Post to work for BrooklynNets.com and Barclays.com, where for two years he covered the Nets, the New York Islanders, championship boxing and college basketball. He also contributed stories for the Nets’ All-Access game programs, did weekly segments on Barclays Center Television, and made guest appearances on Nets’ game broadcasts on YES Network and WFAN. Lenn then joined MSGNetworks.com as the in-house, multi-media reporter for the Brooklyn Nets until 2017. He’s currently content director at BetBasics.com after previously serving as Editor-in-Chief of TheNYExtra.com.

Lenn is a former president of the Football Writers of America Association, and he’s a two-time winner in the Associated Press Sports Editors awards. In 2011, he received the Metropolitan College Football Writers Association’s Good Guy Award and the Jim Murray Outstanding Sportswriter Award.

In 2017, Lenn was diagnosed with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH), a rare form of cancer in his head and neck, as he began studying for his Master’s degree in journalism. Despite undergoing treatments and suffering three relapses, he went on to earn that degree from the Craig Newmark School of Journalism at City University of New York in 2019. His cancer is in remission thanks to targeted gene therapy. He teaches journalism at the Newmark J-School, as well as at other universities in the New York City area.

Lenn wrote about his battle with cancer in hopes that chronicling his experience might help others: https://lennrobbins.wixsite.com/facetocancer

Follow Lenn on Twitter: @LennRobbins

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