The longtime football enthusiast turned professional journalist went from being a self-described failed high school quarterback in Alaska to a New York Times bestselling author.
The longtime football enthusiast turned professional journalist went from being a self-described failed high school quarterback in Alaska to a New York Times bestselling author.ESPN senior writer and New York Times bestselling author Seth Wickersham, is a 1995 Service High School graduate who played football for the Cougars.
Photographed on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Seth Wickersham was born in Boulder, Colorado, but was molded into the person he would ultimately become after having his childhood dreams dashed growing up in Anchorage. His family moved to Alaska when he was 6 years old, and even from a very young age, he was obsessed with quarterbacks. His attempt to earn the starting QB spot on Service High School’s varsity team the summer between his sophomore and junior year in 1992 ended in soul-crushing disappointment after he was cut and sent back down to junior varsity. “Right over there was where I got cut from varsity,” Wickersham said as he pointed over to the practice field adjacent to where the Cougars now play their home games on school grounds. “I was despondent because I had spent a couple of years and my entire identity was wrapped up in being a quarterback.”Wickersham’s second book, “American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback,” will hit shelves on Sept. 9. The book dives deep into the position and the people who inhabit it. “The book was about learning about the quarterback life, but in a small way, it was also about forgiving my junior year self for failing as a quarterback,” Wickersham said. One of the things he realized when learning about quarterbacks is how much they are seemingly defined by the mystique and status that comes with the position.“You don’t play quarterback, you are one, and I think that in my teeny experience doing that, it’s always made me wonder how do these guys do what they do,” Wickersham said. From throwing the ball to handling the sometimes meteoric rise to fame that comes with higher levels of success, he wanted to know how the experience builds up and tears down a person who chooses that path. “What was it about this weird job that it became something America put on the level of actors, politicians and musicians,” Wickersham said. His first book, “It’s Better to Be Feared,” was about the New England Patriots dynasty that spanned two decades, and it became a New York Times bestseller. Heading into that endeavor, however, he wasn’t sure if he could even write a book. “Nobody does until they do it and I did it and was like, ‘I want to do this again’ but it has to be a topic that you’re so curious about and so passionate about learning that it sustains you through because it’s really hard,” Wickersham said. Prior to becoming a published author, Wickersham spent many years doing magazine-style journalism, writing profiles on players and coaches as well as investigative stories. He’s a senior writer at ESPN, where has been employed since 2000. “I did newspaper at Service High and I lettered in newspaper before I lettered in sports, so that was a sign right there,” Wickersham said. ESPN senior writer and New York Times bestselling author Seth Wickersham, is a 1995 Service High School graduate who played football for the Cougars. Photographed on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Doing something once and achieving success can make a second attempt a little easier, or at least come more naturally the next time around. However, that wasn’t quite the case for Wickersham, who said writing his second book was harder due in large part to the much wider scope the subject matter covered. “It’s not an autobiographical book but there are autobiographical themes in there,” he said. “There’s the pain of being a failed quarterback, and the book is me wondering what it’s like to live this very unique American life doing this very unique American job. What are the joys? In which ways is it cruel? Which ways is it the best job in the country? What ways is it something people run away from when they retire because it’s such a presence in their lives?” Once he had a defined topic and direction for his next book, Wickersham went to work putting it together starting in 2022. He pulled from interviews and experiences and started reading previously published books about individual quarterbacks. “When you do a book on quarterbacks, you’re dealing with an unlimited volume, basically,” he said. “I wanted to pick the ones that I felt had a story that I thought was so essential to the idea of quarterbacking or that I was personally kind of obsessed with.”Wickersham then hit the road and met with not only former quarterbacks but their family members, close friends and former coaches as well.From high schoolers to Hall of Famers, author Seth Wickersham studied signal-callers for ‘American Kings’His list of resources and acknowledgements at the end of the book spanned nearly 20 pages. It included some prominent figures who he talked to but didn’t make it into the book, such as current Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. “I wanted to pick the stories that I felt like gave the reader the most complete view of what it’s like to do this job,” Wickersham said. “I wanted to write the book for anyone whoever thought about playing quarterback and everyone who has played quarterback and misses it.” ESPN senior writer and New York Times bestselling author Seth Wickersham, is a 1995 Service High School graduate who played football for the Cougars. Photographed on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. In the preface of the book, Wickersham documents his struggles in attempting to become a quarterback. He soon came to the realization that having his whole sense of self completely enveloped in any aspect of sport wasn’t the best thing for him, so he shifted his sports fandom to journalism.“I really enjoyed that,” Wickersham said. “In college, that’s when I decided that’s what I really wanted to do.” He attended the University of Missouri, one of the best journalism schools in the country, graduating in 2000. He spent his summers interning for various news outlets while in college, including at the Anchorage Daily News by day and the KTVA news station at night after his freshman year. The following summer, he interned at the Sporting News Magazine and later with the Washington Post. After graduating, he was hired by ESPN The Magazine and has been with the company since. “It’s a pretty cool gig and really the only job I’ve ever had, and I’ve been there 25 years now,” Wickersham said. Some of the best aspects of working for the company known as the “The Worldwide Leader” are the resources at his disposal and the lack of pressure on him to produce content for content’s sake. “You can fly around the world if you need to for a story and being challenged in that way has been a blessing beyond belief,” Wickersham said.During his time interning at the Washington Post, Wickersham would attend intern lunches where luminaries would come talk to young aspiring journalists. One of them was famed investigative journalist Bob Woodward, who Wickersham admires greatly in the profession. “I was in complete awe of him and he didn’t really want to talk about Watergate or any of his books, he wanted to talk about challenges that we were having reporting and ways that he could help,” Wickersham said. When Wickersham was hired by ESPN, he was writing a lot of profile pieces on football players, which he very much enjoyed doing. But as his career went on, he wanted to develop the muscle for investigative reporting.Spygate to DeflategateTaking readers behind doors that have traditionally been kept closed is one of his favorite parts of what he does in his work both as an author and journalist. Some of his career highlights include being nominated for a national magazine award in reporting for his writing on the NFL; being the first person to talk to former NFL Pro Bowl quarterback Andrew Luck after his surprising early retirement at just 29 years old; and becoming a New York Times bestseller with his first book, on the Patriots. While he wasn’t able to follow in the steps of the championship quarterbacks he grew up idolizing, Wickersham has reached the pinnacle in his own field. “I can’t say that I’m a quarterback but I can say that I’m a New York Times besteller,” he said. “That’s a decent second place .”
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