NEW YORK -- He was just finishing up at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in the spring of 1992 when Old Mystic, Conn., native Chris Stone noticed a position posted in the student lounge.
It was with Sports Illustrated, an entry-level position as a fact-checker that his mentor at Columbia, Sandy Padwe, tried to dissuade him from taking due to the minimal writing opportunities it would present.
Stone, though, in addition to being the son of a career newspaperman, was a sports fanatic, not only a reader of Sports Illustrated but glued to the Boston Globe sports pages during his undergraduate years at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.
"I liked the thought of staying in New York and Sports Illustrated is a recognizable brand," Stone said. "(Padwe) said there would be more professional value in working for a newspaper right away; I wasn't going to break into those (Sports Illustrated) guys and start writing.
"(But) I was intoxicated by the idea of having a job in New York for a well-known brand," he said.
It turned out to be the job opening of a lifetime for Stone, who never left SI and now lives in New York City with his wife, Kim, and their children Sam, 11, and Annabel, 8.
On Oct. 18, 2012, less than a month and a half shy of his 43rd birthday, he was named as just the ninth managing editor in the history of the iconic magazine.
From his office on the 31st floor of the Time-Life Building at 1271 Avenue of the Americas, overlooking the west side of Manhattan, he's responsible for the day-to-day operations of the magazine, which boasts a circulation of more than 3 million.
The historic May 6, 2013, issue, in which the NBA's Jason Collins came out as the first openly gay male athlete to play for a professional team sport in the U.S., was overseen by Stone, who appeared on the CBS program "Face the Nation" to discuss the way the announcement by Collins resonated with readers.
Stone also was in charge on April 15 this year when the finish line of the Boston Marathon was staggered by two bombs, with Sports Illustrated going to press later that day with the April 22 issue headlined, "Boston, In Photos/And Words."
He put Mystic's Matt Harvey, the ace of the New York Mets, on the magazine's cover on May 20, 2013, featuring the catch phrase, "The Dark Knight of Gotham."
And yes, it was Stone who was left to deal with the fallout from an issue published on Oct. 1, 2012, before his tenure as managing editor began, featuring the story of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o playing through the death of his girlfriend, a relationship that was later found to be a hoax.
"That was a cold, hard slap," Stone said of the realization that the magazine, like some other major media outlets, had been duped by the Te'o story. "It wasn't the result of laziness. There were a number of things we took out of the story because we couldn't fact check them. . It was a good lesson for the future."
Stone is a graduate of The Williams School in New London, where he was a three-sport athlete, and the son of Greg and Elizabeth Stone. He has a younger brother, Peter, 42, who is a literary agent for TV writers in Los Angeles.
Greg retired as deputy editorial page editor at The Day, where Chris worked for four summers after he graduated from high school.
"I think I sent an email to Maureen Croteau at UConn (in the journalism department)," Greg Stone said of learning of his son's promotion. "She wrote back and said, 'Why don't you hire a skywriter?' That's what she would do. I was just telling everyone I can think of."
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/21/3506300/conn-native-climbs-ladder-at-sports.html
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