Harry Hurt III is an award winning print journalist, a video journalist, and the author of six non-fiction books. He wrote 98 consecutive “Executive Pursuits” columns and made 14 related web videos for the Saturday business section of the New York Times starting in May 2005 and ending in February 2009. He is currently a co-host of the Internet video program “Weekend Edition” on Yahoo! News.
Non-Fiction Books
In fall 2008, Hurt published Hurt Yourself: In Executive Pursuit of Action, Danger, and a Decent Looking Pair of Swim Trunks (St. Martin’s Press), a collection of 24 of my “Executive Pursuits” columns. The book’s chapters include his adventures playing quarterback in practice for the New York Jets, dancing with the New York City Ballet, and learning to eat fire at the Coney Island Sideshow School.
Hurt’s first book Texas Rich: The Hunt Dynasty From the Early Oil Days Through the Silver Crash (W.W. Norton, 1981) was on the Los Angeles Times Critics Commend List and the Wall Street Journal Christmas List, and ranked number one on the Southwestern Booksellers Best Seller List. Dallas Morning News reviewer Robert Sherrill described it as “Very nearly perfect—faced-paced, tough in a restrained way, sensitive, elegantly gossipy, comprehensive.”
For All Mankind (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1988) told the story of the first lunar landing based on exclusive interviews with the Apollo astronauts, and was the literary sibling of the documentary film that won first prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival. Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump (W.W. Norton, 1993) was an unauthorized biography of the real estate/casino magnate.
Magazine and Newspaper Journalism
From 1975 to 1986, Hurt was associate editor and senior editor at Texas Monthly, where his articles won awards for oil and medical writing. He was a correspondent in the Los Angeles bureau of Newsweek from 1988 to 1990, where he covered the Alaska oil spill and the San Francisco earthquake. From 1999 to 2003, he was contributing editor, executive editor, and editor at large at Travel + Leisure Golf. As a freelancer, he has contributed articles to Esquire, Fortune, U.S. News and World Report, Sports Illustrated, Playboy, Architectural Digest, Men’s Journal, Self, Golf Magazine, Golf World, New Orleans Magazine, Mother Jones, the New York Times, the New York Daily News, and other publications.
Television and Radio
Hurt has appeared on CBS News The Early Show,” ABC’s “Nightline,” ABC’s “World News Tonight,” ABC’s “20/20,” NBC’s “Today Show,” CBS’s “Entertainment Tonight,” “The Merv Griffin Show,” “The Pat Sajak Show,” and CNN. In 2001, he was managing editor and on-air correspondent for “Golf Portfolio on CNBC.” In 2002, he was a special correspondent for ABC News coverage of the Enron scandal. I provided commentary on the 1997 U.S. Open for ABC Radio, the 1999 Masters and 1999 Ryder Cup for National Public Radio, and the 2004 U.S. Open for ESPN Radio. He has been on more than 100 local radio talk show segments. He appeared in and co-produced 14 web videos for the nytimes.com related to his New York Times column “Executive Pursuits.” He has shot and edited more than 24 videos posted on his web site www.harryworldofhurt.com. He has also matriculated from the Travel Channel Academy Boot Camp, acquiring proficiency in advance camera techniques and post-production editing in Final Cut Pro.
Education and Special Interests
Born in Houston, Texas, Hurt graduated cum laude from The Choate School, and magna cum laude from Harvard College, where he was an editor of the Harvard Crimson. he is also a former golf professional and the author of Chasing The Dream: A Midlife Quest for Fame and Fortune on the Pro Golf Circuit (Avon Books, 1997), and How To Learn Golf: The First Complete Guide to Golf Instruction Based On Exclusive Sessions with the Game’s Top Teaching Pros (Pocket Books, 2002), and co-author with Mitchell Spearman of A.I.M. of Golf: Visual-Imagery Lessons To Improve Every Aspect of Your Game (Rodale, 2004). Hurt currently resides in Sag Harbor, New York.