The Renaissance Man

Mitch Albom is known all over the world as a best-selling book author. His first novel “Tuesdays With Morrie” was on the New York Times best-seller list for four years and has been adapted on stage. In fact, the stage version opened the Repertory Philippines season in 2008 with Bart Guingona playing Albom, Jose Mari Avellana as the terminally-ill Morrie Schwartz and Baby Barredo directing. The book has been translated into 41 languages and sold over 14 million copies.

In all, Albom’s books have sold over 35 million copies. Some of his other well-known titles are “The Five People You Meet In Heaven” “For One More Day” “Have A Little Faith” and his latest “The First Phone Call From Heaven.”

Curiously, Albom didn’t start out his writing career as a novelist. He began by writing sports stories and to this day, still churns out a sports column for the Detroit Free Press. Actually, journalism wasn’t even Albom’s first career. He initially tried his luck as a musician, playing piano and singing.

When his musical journey couldn’t take off, Albom found another way to make a living through something he loves to do. That’s when writing came into the picture. But strangely, after his writing career soared, Albom’s musical works began to grab the attention of producers. In 1992, he wrote the song “Cookin’ For You” which was used for the TV movie “Christmas In Connecticut” directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Albom’s love for music is hardly repressed. In his spare time, he performs in a band called the Rock Bottom Remainders with other best-selling authors like Scott Turow, Dave Barry, Amy Tan and Stephen King. Albom said their gigs are strictly for charity and they’ve been joined in shows by icons like Bruce Springsteen, John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival), Roger McGuinn (of the Byrds), Judy Collins and Warren Zevon. Can you imagine what they talk about during lulls in rehearsals? Plots for a new book? Whose book has been transformed into a movie lately? Do they take bets on who’ll make it next to the top of the best-sellers list?

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Albom was only five years old when the Beatles performed in the Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964 to usher in the era of the British Invasion. The event was recently commemorated in a TV special “The Night That Changed America, A Grammy Salute to The Beatles.” A few weeks ago, Albom wrote a column about the Beatles and their enduring music.

The other day, Albom met Star sports editor Lito Tacujan, sportswriter Abac Cordero and myself at a suite in the Raffles Hotel, Makati. He’s in town with wife Janine Sabido for a visit arranged by the National Book Store. Star photographer Jun Mendoza took pictures of our meeting. We asked Albom if his wife, who has a Filipino-sounding name, is of Filipino descent. He said he’s not aware but he’ll ask. She’s from Detroit.

Albom made us feel at ease from the start, no doubt because he, too, was at ease with fellow sportswriters. We were booked for a 30-minute interview but went overtime although nobody kept score. It was obvious that he loves to talk sports with people who like it as much.

One of the topics we talked about was the naturalization of athletes to make them eligible to compete for countries not of their origin in the Olympics and World Championships. Albom qualified his comments on the Olympics. He said he doesn’t agree with the practice of foreign athletes taking new citizenships to play for a new country in the Olympics. Albom cited the case of South Korean speed skating champion Ahn Hyun Soo who was renamed Viktor Ahn to compete for Russia in the Sochi Winter Olympics. 

But Albom defended Hakeem Olajuwon’s naturalization to play basketball for the US at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He said Olajuwon had lived in the US about seven years, even playing hoops for the University of Houston, and wasn’t transformed into a US citizen overnight for convenience. The program has worked in the reverse, too, in the US. WNBA star Becky Hammon, a South Dakota native, took out Russian citizenship like Ahn to play for the national team at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. So the door has swung both ways.

When told that the Philippines is naturalizing American players to beef up its national basketball team for the FIBA World Cup, Albom said he has no problem with that. The Olympics are different from the World Championships, he noted. 

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Albom said he never could find the time to visit the Philippines even as invitations came his way the last 10 to 15 years until typhoon Yolanda struck and his heart went out to the Filipino victims. He’s been involved in a lot of charity work and he found the right opportunity to visit the Philippines in the wake of the Yolanda tragedy. On Monday, Albom and his wife will go to Tacloban and dedicate a new library for the local folk. 

For an extremely popular celebrity recognized by millions, Albom absolutely has no airs. From the way he sounded and acted during our interview, it’s apparent that Albom loves to interact with people. I was surprised when he asked for a picture with me on his camera because he said I’m a sports columnist like him and so we’re counterparts. I was blown away by his humility. Star sports editor Lito said Albom is like a Renaissance Man in today’s modern world, a multi-talented individual with diverse interests. 

Because of his uncompromising ethics and success story, Albom stands out as a role model not only for journalists but also for professionals in any line of work. He’s a bit “old-school” in his approach to the evolving globalization of sports, particularly in his reluctance to embrace the trend of naturalization, but that’s his way of expressing how to keep sanity and integrity in the field of athletic competition. He’s also not sold on the freedom that thrives in social media because it just isn’t right to be free without accountability. Any way you cut Albom, you’ll find a sincere man enjoying life by sharing his blessings with others, through his words in books, articles and columns and through his philanthropic missions. Albom is a rarity in the modern world.

Albom will be in a book-signing event at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati at 2 p.m. tomorrow and at the Activity Center of Ayala Center Cebu at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Take the time to welcome him to our country and show him some love.