Ken Burger Born To Write
Post and Courier Columnist Turns Author
By Jeff Walker, Sports Writer (Posted Dec '08)
Ken Burger
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Ken Burger is as welcome in our homes as is the daily paper. Countless lowcountry residents have been waking up to Burger for over two decades. The award winning journalist for the Post and Courier has been beguiling readers on topics from politics to sports for the past twenty five years. Raised in Allendale, South Carolina the 59 year old former alcoholic and father of three admits he is just happy to be living in the lowcountry and getting paid for what does best, and that is writing.
"I’ve led a charmed life. I grew up in the middle of no where and I was blessed with an active imagination. Writing was something that came to me early. I do believe it's a gift. And fortunately for me no one ever told me I couldn't do it. It was around the time I was in the eighth grade when I convinced myself that writing was something I wanted to do with life. My eighth grade English teacher encouraged me and I just rode off into the sunset thinking this is what I’m going to do." After high school Burger attended the University of Georgia and pursued a degree in journalism. By his own accounts he wasn't much of a student. "Seriously, I finished dead last in my class. And the main reason is because I was an alcoholic. I drank too much and it affected my grades. I’m a happy recovering alcoholic now. I haven’t had a drink in 30 years." He didn't finish college on schedule; rather he spent some time in the Air Force Reserves before returning to school to get his degree. "A lot of people don't know that about me that I served in the Air Force Reserves. As a matter of fact I retired from the Reserves after 20 years. It was one of my more proud achievements." Regarding his return to school, Burger admits, "I had to work hard just to get my GPA up to 2.0, but getting the degree in journalism was important to me so I stayed the course and finally graduated."
His first real paying job came with the State paper in Columbia. "I took a job with the Columbia Record, it was the afternoon edition. I knew they were looking for writers but it didn’t really hit me until I went in for the interview that they were hiring for a sports writer." Burger was a bit reluctant but took the job anyway. "I’ve told countless people over the years that I became a sports writer by accident. I told the editor right off that I wasn’t the biggest of sports fans and that I had never written anything resembling sports prior. The editor said it was no different than writing a story. You just tell what went on in the game. I was eager to start my writing career so I said okay. I ended up doing it for six years."
Not only had he taken on the challenges of writing daily sports stories his personal life was constantly changing. Only in his mid 20’s Burger was married and soon found himself the father of three young children. "It happened rather quickly. Bam, bam, bam, and before I knew it I had three kids to take care of." His fathering skills were not the best during that period. "I was still drinking and the job was very demanding. I spent a lot of nights working and the paper sent me out of town on assignments. I wasn’t able to spend quality time with my children and looking back it was a little painful." His relationships with his now grown children are going well, one lives in Sweden, another in Columbia, and the third in Charleston. Hoping to make life easier at the time, Burger switched from the sports desk to business. "I was the first business reporter with the State paper. As a matter of fact I created the business section for the paper. I went from writing about sports to topics such as bank foreclosures and real estate. After a while I started working in pieces on politics."
The demands of the job did take a bigger toll. Burger went through a divorce and ventured to Charleston in 1984 with very little money, a $500 car, and few prospects. "I was flat broke and had just declared bankruptcy, but fortunately I had a good friend here who got me an interview with the Post and Courier. I started covering County Council and before long they asked me if I wanted to go to Washington. I went there and covered Congress for a couple of years." But Burger grew weary of the DC life and was eager to leave. "They wanted me to stay longer but I was anxious to return to Charleston and that’s when I got back into sports. They were looking for someone to write a regular column and since I had a sports background it naturally fell my way. That was in 1988."
Fast forward 20 years and add in a few awards for outstanding writing, three divorces and one more recent marriage, and you have the short biography of Mr. Ken Burger. His current wife Bonnie Grossman is a faculty member with the College of Charleston. A little over a year and a half ago Burger began writing articles about his prostate cancer diagnosis and the ongoing recovery treatment. Even though the story line was much more personal, he admits it was therapeutic. " I received countless letters and emails from readers that were going through or had survived the same ordeal so that made it more special to write about. To connect with the readers has always been very special to me. I’ve been blessed to have been with the News and Courier for as long as I’ve been. I’m coming up on 25 years with the paper and I’ve been doing sports now for 21 years and truly I feel blessed." His days at the sports desk are coming to an end. "The paper is about to announce that I will no longer be covering sports but will concentrate on feature articles in the local section. I’ve been going to games for 21 years. It’s time for me to move on. I’ll be free to write about anything I want to. That’s one freedom the News and Courier has allowed me to do for some time and I’ve always been grateful for that."
Bringing us up to date on Ken Burger wouldn’t be fair without including the recent release of his first novel. ‘Swallow Savannah’ is a mesmerizing story that deals with civil rights and dirty politics set in the backdrop of the Palmetto state. Burger paints an excellent canvas of words when describing life in small town South Carolina during the mid 1900’s. Famed author Pat Conroy said ‘Ken Burger has written one humdinger of novel’. Burger’s friendship with Conroy came about in a rather unusual way. "About 15 years ago I started getting regular voice mails left by Pat Conroy on my phone. Pat has maintained a home off Fripp Island and I guess he received the News and Courier on a daily basis. He would comment on my articles. We had never spoken but as fate would have it we ran into each other at a Citadel function. Years later when I told him I was working on a book he said for me to send it to him." Burger confesses that was a bit daunting. "It’s Pat Conroy, he’s set the bar high for most writers."
What inspired Burger to write the book? "I guess every writer wants to know if they have it in them to write a book. It’s something I had been pondering for years." He had been working on material for a number of years but found time to put pen to paper during his cancer treatment. "That allowed me some freedom. During my off time I would spend three or four hours writing and maybe walk the beach with a pocket recorder recording future ideas. I sort of wrote it as I went along." The subject matter was familiar to Burger. "It’s best to write about surroundings you’re comfortable with. I grew up in small town South Carolina so I felt I could best describe the story from that perspective." Finding a publisher was no problem. The newspaper is a full scale publisher (the Evening Post Publishing Company). "The paper came to me. They heard I was working on book and they asked me if I wanted to have it published. I literally pulled it out from my desk, and before I knew it, it was printed."
Of course Burger has no aspirations of the book taking off beyond the borders. "I wrote the book for myself and for South Carolinians. It’s a South Carolina book for South Carolina readers. I’m not interested in the notoriety that comes with being on Oprah’s Book Club or anything like that. I just wanted to test myself and see if I could do it." Writing is in his blood and Ken Burger has been bitten by the bug for nearly 50 years. "I’m about 10 chapters into my next book. It starts out in the 1970’s. I find it easy to write about time frames that I’ve experienced." Lowcountry readers would be blessed to experience Ken Burger’s stories for many years to come. Burger admits the best thing about being Ken Burger is that he has a lot of fun and he gets paid to do what he does best. Ken lives and writes by the saying he jotted down in my copy of ‘Swallow Savannah’ ‘While I breathe, I hope.’
On a personal note:
I have been an acquaintance of Ken’s for a number of years. We have run into each other several times at media events and played golf on a few occasions. Ken has always been a gracious man and very cordial. When we sat down to talk it was the first time we had ever gone one on one. I have always enjoyed his writings. He employs enough comedy and satire to make his articles rewarding. I found his book compelling. He gave me a signed copy on a Wednesday night and I finished it on the following Friday morning. Ken is right when he says he has a gift. Fortunately he has unselfishly shared his gift with the lowcountry and his native South Carolina. |
