BREAKING NEWS
Duffy’s front page coverage included the 1978 city hall killings, the shocking trial of Dan White, the Zebra murders, the Patty Hearst kidnap, taunting letters from the Zodiac killer, and life as an embedded reporter with fire fighters and homicide detectives.
Riding with Engine Co. 21
“You should do it. Live with them, work their shifts, fight fires with them, hang out in the firehouse, sleep and eat there, find out what it’s like every day.”
City Hall Assassinations
Looking over the anxious group of reporters in front of her, Feinstein fixes her gaze on me, her eyes drilling into mine as if we’re having a private meeting.
Dan White Trial
Mayor Dianne Feinstein, whose testimony at the trial reduced the stone-faced White to tears, greeted the verdicts with “disbelief.”
Dan White Cover
The Chronicle’s front page from May 22, 1979, covers the verdict in the trial of Dan White, the former supervisor who shot dead two of the city’s top officials.
40 Years of Zodiac
I looked much more carefully around corners, behind us, in parked cars and into the eyes of passing strangers.
Zodiac vs. The City Desk
When David Fincher’s film, “Zodiac,” opened in 2007, the Chronicle asked me to write about the mood inside the paper during the serial killer’s reign of terror.
FEATURES
People and topics he’s written about include Motown star Smokey Robinson, actor Adam Goldberg, NBC golf announcer Roger Maltbie, disco fever, singles bars, a gay wedding in 1971 and a retrospective on the fortunes and failures of his high school classmates.
Smokey Robinson
“Like I said, I’m for humanity first. I don’t care if a guy’s black, blue, white or orange.” He smiles. “Anybody who’s not a bigot is cool with me.”
What Really Happened to the Lowell Class of 65
I spent the next few weeks tracking down and talking with some two dozen classmates to see how they had fared over the previous 12 years.
A Glittering Gay Wedding
From the back of the church, you could not tell that the bride, a figure of beauty swathed in a tower of white chiffon, was a man.
Draft Lottery
A crowd of students gathered around a posted list of the numbers. Occasionally a yelp of “Hey, I’m way down at the bottom!” could be heard above the chatter.
The Course Whisperer
“This group comes up and one of their caddies bets me he can throw a ball closer to the hole than I can hit one with a club.”
BASEBALL
As a Major League Baseball team front office executive for a dozen years, Duffy Jennings looks back on a number of unique experiences, including major news events and behind-the-scenes experiences with players, managers, executives, Hall of Famers, broadcasters and others inside the game.
Among them are the earthquake-interrupted 1989 World Series, working with Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Dave Dravecky, the contentious sale of the Giants in 1992 and even hitting a home run out of Candlestick Park himself.
Willie McCovey Hall of Fame Acceptance Speech
“Sundays and summertime only mean two things to me, that means it’s a time for baseball and it’s a time for families.”
A Giant Heave-Ho for John Ashcroft
I ejected then-Missouri Governor Ashcroft from the press box at Busch Stadium – for cheering.
Aftershocks of the 1989 World Series
The 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck the Bay Area at 5:04 p.m., Tuesday, October 17, 1989, fifteen minutes before the start of Game 3 of the 1989 World Series.
Willie Mays, Gary Radnich and the Linoleum Salesman
He came close to costing me my job with the Giants when he improvised during a scheduled live interview with Giants legend Willie Mays.
Giants at Casa Grande – Rookie in the Desert
Casa Grande may not have been close to any place else, but for me it was as close to heaven as anywhere I had ever been.
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