Frederick Exley
| Frederick Exley | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Frederic Earl Exley March 28, 1929 Watertown, New York |
| Died | June 17, 1992 (aged 63) Alexandria Bay, New York |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1968–1992 |
| Notable works | A Fan's Notes |
| Spouse | Francena Fritz (1959–62) Nancy Glenn (1967–71) |
| Children | 2 |
Frederick Earl "Fred" Exley (March 28, 1929 – June 17, 1992) was an American writer best known as the author of the fictional memoir A Fan's Notes.
Exley was born (Frederic) March 28, 1929, in Watertown, New York. He was the third of four children, including a twin sister, Frances, born to Earl and Charlotte. His father, who died in 1945 when Exley was 16, was a celebrated former athlete and local basketball coach whose legacy would be a dominating influence on Exley's early life. A car accident the following year injured Exley and prevented him from graduating high school on schedule. Exley had a brief stint at Katonah High School in Katonah, New York, where he was named to the conference all-star basketball team.
Exley entered Hobart College in the pre-dental program in 1949. The next year he transferred to the University of Southern California, where he began to follow the career of fellow student and future football legend Frank Gifford. Exley avoided being drafted in 1951 when he failed his Selective Service examination on account of injuries sustained in the car accident.
In 1952, Exley dropped out of USC and moved to New York City to find employment, only to return a year later to complete a BA in English.
Subsequently he returned to New York to work in public relations for New York Central Railroad. After a year there he relocated to their Chicago office, then began working for Rock Island Railroad in the same capacity. Exley soon took over as managing editor of the railroad's employee magazine,The Rocket, where his first published writing appeared.
After losing his job in 1956, Exley entered an itinerant period marked by acute alcoholism, obsession with New York Giants football, and mental instability that was to provide much of the autobiographical material for his first book, A Fan's Notes. In 1958, Exley was admitted briefly to Stony Lodge, a private mental institution in Westchester County, New York, where he met Francena Fritz, whom he began courting. Soon after, he was admitted to Harlem Valley State Hospital, the model for the Avalon Valley facility mentioned in A Fan's Notes. It was there that Exley began writing in earnest. In 1959, he was released from Harlem Valley and married Fritz on October 31. They moved to Greenwich, Connecticut and Exley was offered a teaching position at a school in Port Chester, New York. In 1960 his first daughter, Pamela, was born.
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