Goldfarb plays through his retirement in Southern California

Al Goldfarb

If you’re trying to track down Al Goldfarb (‘51), you might try the golf course. He’s retired, so he goes there a lot. And he’s still working, so he goes there even more.

The former sports editor and travel writer lives in Los Angeles, where he is a columnist for Southern California Golf News magazine.

“I cover the PGA, LPGA and senior PGA tournaments in the Los Angeles area,” Goldfarb said.

His interest in covering athletic competition dates back to his days at North High School in Denver, where he was sports editor for the school newspaper. At CU, he covered sports for the Silver & Gold Record, then a student newspaper.

“The late Fred Casotti (‘40) was editor of the paper and was instrumental in helping me become a sportswriter,” Goldfarb said. Journalism professors Ralph Crosman and A. Gayle Waldrop also were strong influences on him, he said.

“I was extremely fortunate in writing throughout my career, and my education and training at CU J-school was the key,” he said.

But before he could get a sportswriting career established, Uncle Sam came calling.

“One month after graduating, I was drafted into the Army,” he said. It was the height of the Korean War, and he received infantry training in the 40th Division.

“When they learned I was a journalism major, I was fortunate to be transferred into the division’s Public Information Office, where I became a combat correspondent during two years of heavy fighting in the Korean mountains,” Goldfarb said. He received a Bronze Star for his actions during a combat patrol at Heartbreak Ridge.

After the war, he resumed his sports journalism career. “Covering CU football, baseball and other sports gave me experience I needed to become a sports editor on the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph and later with The Record in Stockton, Calif., the Pasadena Star-News and Los Angeles Examiner,” Goldfarb said.

In his sports journalism career, he said he particularly enjoyed covering the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, Calif., and the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Among the sports figures he said he has interviewed are Wayne Gretzky, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Billy Martin, Casey Stengel, Mickey Mantle, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

“In the 1960s I changed careers and went into the public relations field. I became PR director for the Los Angeles Department of Airports for five years and then for the Department of Recreation and Parks,” Goldfarb said.

Before becoming a golf writer, he said he was a free-lance travel writer, making his way through Europe and China with his wife of 46 years, Alice.

His articles were published in travel sections of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and The Examiner in San Francisco as well as in Cruise Travel Magazine. aliceal@msn.com