Darril Wayne Fosty (December 21, 1968) is a Canadian-born Pulitzer-nominated journalist, author, and documentarian.[1]

Darril Fosty
Darril Fosty at 2008 NHL All-Star Game
Darril Fosty at 2008 NHL All-Star Game
BornDarril Wayne Fosty
(1968-12-21) December 21, 1968 (age 55)
Terrace, British Columbia
OccupationWriter
Years active2003–present

History

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Born in Terrace, British Columbia on December 21, 1968, Fosty's family moved to Kamloops, British Columbia, where he started grade one. After high school, Fosty moved to Bellingham, Washington, where he attended Western Washington University majoring in history and journalism and graduating in 1992.

In 1994, Fosty wrote press releases for the Seattle Sounders FC sports information department. After leaving the Sounders, he worked for the Internet security start-up Zendit, now Authora.[2] In 2003, Fosty released his first book with his brother George, Splendid is the Sun: The 5,000 Year History of Hockey.

In 2004, he released the book Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League, 1895-1925 which was featured in a short documentary on ESPN[3] and featured on Oprah.com "Books That Made A Difference".[4] The book is credited with the revival of the history of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes.[5]

A documentary short written, produced, and directed by Fosty in conjunction with the National Hockey League Diversity Program called Black Ice was the winner of Best Documentary Short at the 2008 Roxbury Film Festival in Boston.[6]

Darril and his brother George were honored by the Shaka Franklin Foundation of Denver, Colorado, for the creation of "The Black Ice Project" and their ongoing efforts to preserve Black history (2008), teaching awards from George Washington University for the book Black Ice (2011)[7] and John G. Dennison Award in 2020 by the Black History Ottawa board for the promotion of Canadian Black history and culture.[8]

In 2013, the Fosty brothers' book Where Brave Men Fall: The Battle of Dieppe and the Espionage War Against Hitler, 1939-1942 pointed a damning finger at American and British news organizations, including Time and Life, accusing the publications of leaking the Battle of Dieppe pre-raid information to the Germans resulting in the deaths, woundings, and capture of over 4,300 American, British and Canadian soldiers.[9]

In July 2021, it was announced that LeBron James, Drake and Maverick Carter are producing Hubert Davis's documentary film Black Ice, based on the Fosty brothers' historical research discussing Black hockey history, racial justice, and diversity.[10][11][12]

In 2022, Fosty released the book Nais-Myth: Basketball's Stolen Legacy which credits the invention of basketball to a 16-year-old volunteer director at the Herkimer, New York, Y.M.C.A. named Lambert Will who invented the game of basketball in 1891 only to have his idea taken and credited to James Naismith.[13][14]

Personal life

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Fosty is currently living in New York City and is the co-founder of the Society of North American Sports Historians and Researchers and founder and editor-in-chief of CardBiz.ca.[15]

Non-fiction

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  • Splendid Is The Sun: The 5,000 Year History of Hockey (2003).
  • Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes (2004).
  • Footie's Black Book: A Guide To International Association Football (World Cup Soccer 2010 Edition) (2010).
  • Where Brave Men Fall: The Battle of Dieppe And The Allied Espionage War Against Hitler, 1939–1942 (2013).
  • Tribes: An International Hockey History (2014).
  • Creating Excellence: Inside the World of Stryker-Indigo (2014).
  • Nais-Myth: Basketball's Stolen Legacy (2022).
  • Coiled Dragon: From Soccer to AI, China's Upcoming War with America (2024).
  • Collectors Guide To O-Pee-Chee Hockey Cards, 1933-1995 (2024).

Fiction

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  • Apocalypse 2012 Cookbook: An End of the World Cooking and Survival Guide for the Man, Woman and Family On the Run (2011).

References

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  1. ^ "At Roxbury Film Festival, a difficult question: Can white filmmakers make black films?". Bay State Banner Newspaper.
  2. ^ "Authora". Archived from the original on September 24, 2012.a
  3. ^ "Frozen Out". YouTube.
  4. ^ "Books That Made A Difference". Oprah.com.
  5. ^ "Canada stamps honor on pre-NHL all-black hockey league". Associated Press.
  6. ^ "At Roxbury Film Festival, a difficult question: Can white filmmakers make black films?". Bay State Banner Newspaper.
  7. ^ "Sports Historians Darril & George Fosty To Receive Teaching Awards From George Washington University". BoxscoreNews.
  8. ^ "Black History Ottawa Award Winners". Black History Ottawa.
  9. ^ "Were Allied Soldiers Betrayed At Dieppe? New Book Raises Questions On An Infamous World War Two Battle". Boxscore World Sportswire.
  10. ^ "LeBron James, Drake, Maverick Carter to Exec Produce Hockey Racial Reckoning Doc 'Black Ice'". Hollywood Reporter.
  11. ^ "Drake's DreamCrew to executive produce Black hockey player doc with LeBron James". CTV News.
  12. ^ "On the set as filming of documentary Black Ice begins in Nova Scotia". Halifax Examiner.
  13. ^ "Re-Examining The Origins Of Basketball: Nais-Myth: Basketball's Stolen Legacy". Boxscore.
  14. ^ "Welcome to the (other) birthplace of basketball". Washington Post.
  15. ^ "CardBiz". cardbiz.ca.