In ‘Sweet Dreams,’ a sportswriter becomes a poet and some pals provide the magical artwork

CHICAGO -- If you know anything about Rick Telander, you know that he has been a must-read sports columnist with the Sun-Times for more than 30 years, having been hired away from Sports Illustrated. You might know that before that, he played football for Northwestern University, where he also studied English literature and poetry.

Some may remember that he was the “youngster” on the ever-memorable “Sportswriters on TV” sports talk show. He has written many books, one of which, 1976′s “Heaven Is a Playground,” was adapted into a 1991 movie. It was also named by Playboy magazine one of the 10 best sports books of all time and called, by a former ball-playing president named Obama, “The best basketball book I’ve ever read.”

But even the most devoted fans and even some close friends will be surprised to discover that Telander is also a poet and the proof comes in a charming new book, “Sweet Dreams: Poems and Paintings for the Child Abed.”

“I guess I don’t really consider myself a poet,” Telander told me earlier this month. “Maybe I’m a sportswriter with a poet’s heart.”

The book was born long ago, born of a terrible time, or as Telander puts it more specifically, “born of a fever dream in a hospital bed.”

He explains how some three decades ago he was hospitalized for weeks with an infected appendix and intestine. He couldn’t eat. He could barely watch TV or read. To ease his pain, he began seeking comfort in his head and into that head came poems, inspired by one of his favorite childhood books, “A Child’s Garden of Verses,” by Robert Louis Stevenson, especially a poem about a sick little boy, “The Land of Counterpane,” which begins …

When I was sick and lay a-bed,

I had two pillows at my head,

And all my toys beside me lay

To keep me happy all the day.

He left the hospital healthy and with snippets of poems. He eventually wrote them down and put them away, the press of real life taking over. But every so often over the decades, he would return to the poems, revising and writing new ones to add to a growing pile. A few years ago, he got the idea of pairing his poems with the work of artists. “I love art,” he says. “I’ve always painted, since grade school.”

He knew many local artists and approached some with his idea. Most responded enthusiastically, especially after they and Telander started collaborating and sharing ideas. A few artists turned him down but even more often, one artist would suggest another and on and on.

The book has 42 poems matched to 42 artworks. It’s an international gathering, with four countries represented, with an understandably strong local contingent. I know more than a few. One of them, Tony Fitzpatrick, has a stunning piece with a poem titled “Night Bird” and he tells me, “I was amazed by the empathy and insight Rick had, especially regarding illness and specifically sick children. His generosity of spirit informs all of these poems, his instinct to bring and preserve wonder in the lives of children is nothing short of heroic.”

You may know the names and work of such other Chicago-area artists, people such as Mark McMahon, Franklin McMahon, John Rush, John Sandford, Jill Thompson, Mark Sauck, Peggy Macnamara, Samantha DeCarlo, Douglas Klauba, Nick Bubash, Jozef Sumichrast and Ed Paschke. (Some did not live long enough to see the book finished.)

And then there is Tim Anderson, whose marvelously colorful work adorns the poem “Seasons.” He says, “It was Rick’s enthusiasm for this project that really got to me. And his understanding of artists. It didn’t hurt that I remembered him from long ago at Northwestern when he was a member of (now legendary, still active band) the Del-Crustaceans. I saw them play.”

The art is in vastly different styles, including oils, acrylics, watercolors, colored pencils, pen-and-ink and collage. Some feature kids and there are plenty of animals (birds, butterflies, dinosaurs, dogs, a tiger and more). The poems are fairly short, none taking up more than a page and they are good, aimed solidly at the 3 to 6-year-old crowd but enjoyable for, ahem, older readers. This has all been artfully pulled together by local artist and designer Al Brandtner, for whom Telander has the most lavish praise. “Without him, there would be nothing,” he says.

Telander tells me that some publishers turned the book down. He tells me something “that I have hardly told anybody.” he said. “I did the cover and little figures on the inside cover pages. I also have a ‘secret’ illustration in there, under a pseudonym.”

This new poet/artist and his wife Judy have long lived in the North Shore suburbs, where they raised four children, three daughters (Lauren, Cary and Robin) and son Zack, now all grown and out on their own.

He read to them all when they were children, saying, “Of course, and they seem to like this book. So do, I think, my eight, count them, eight grandchildren, though they seem to prefer hearing me read the version on Audible.”

Now, there is a common axiom, attributed to prolific poet/novelist/critic Robert Graves, that begins “There’s no money in poetry.” (It concludes, “... but then there’s no poetry in money, either.”) Indeed, no one expects to get rich with this $19.95 book (from Skyhorse Publishing) and that was never the intention. A few of the artists received nominal compensation for their work, mostly to cover the cost of materials. Telander is enjoying talking in public about his book, as he will at “Saturday Storytime” at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 27 at the Bookstall in Winnetka. Now, I know what you’ve been waiting for.

OK, here is a short poem from this sports writer with the heart of a poet.

It’s called “Night Journey.”

One night my father held me close,

When I was tired and longed to sleep.

He buttoned me into his coat

And walks the path unlit and steep.

He held me to him with an arm;

The cold wind tore the sky apart,

He was proof against the storm,

And I became his beating heart.