University of Missouri

In an op-ed piece published in the Columbia Daily Tribune yesterday, William Least Heat-Moon, author of books including the best-selling “Blue Highways,” decried the decision of University of Missouri president Timothy Wolfe to close the university’s press. Mr. Heat-Moon’s thoughtful and detailed analysis of the situation ended by backing his criticism of the decision with a pledge to contribute a five-figure sum toward “the establishment of an endowment to continue the press in its present form if the proposal for closure is rescinded.”

Champaign, Ill.-based Sports Publishing LLC got its start in 1998 as a spin-off from Sagamore Publishing—publisher of parks, recreation and leisure textbooks—when the company published a biography of University of Illinois men’s basketball coach Lou Henson, a legend among basketball fans throughout the Midwest. The book was an instant hit, and a new company was born. Today, Sports Publishing puts out 80 titles annually, spanning college and professional teams and star athletes in almost a dozen sports. As vice president of sales and marketing, Dave Hulsey has been in sales and marketing since graduating from the University of Missouri in 1981. His career