Welcome to my world.
It is a world that includes many envious people.
“You get paid for covering ball games?”
“What can be better?”
Those comments are not the most frequent ones I hear.
Many of my days include an exchange such as this:
“Fred? Fred Kroner?”
“Yes,” I say.
“Well, how are you?”
“Fine,” I say.”
After enduring this scenario dozens of times each year, I’ve learned to be proactive.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I can’t remember your name.”
“Oh, you don’t know me,” the speaker will invariably respond. “I’ve seen you at ball games for years and your picture has been in the paper, so I feel like I know you.”
That couldn’t be further from the truth, which is why this book became a priority.
There’s one subject I know more about than anyone else: Myself.
It’s time to share.
Order a signed copy
If you’re in the Champaign area or would like a book mailed to you, Fred Kroner will make that happen! Just email him at fred@fredkroner.com and he will make sure you get a book!
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(unsigned copy)
About the Author
For more than 50 years, Fred Kroner’s name has been a recognizable one for newspaper readers throughout Central Illinois. In his career as a writer and editor, Kroner worked at four different daily newspapers, primarily with the sports department at the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. During those years, he documented the exploits of thousands of athletes, ranging from those in high school to ones in colleges as well as the few fortunate ones from his coverage area who made it professionally. After years of writing about others, Kroner undertook a look at someone he knew well: Himself. His seventh book – titled From the Heart to the Heartland – is an autobiographical narrative that is an open and honest look at his life and the events that helped to shape the person he became. It’s a unique opportunity to get an up-close look at the person who is generally known simply through his byline. Readers hoping to find a recapitulation of games, scores and statistics from his time on the sidelines will be disappointed. Instead, Kroner focused on the people who impacted him in a career that will have resulted in three Hall of Fame inductions by the end of 2020. In the book’s final pages, Kroner shares dozens of original poems that he has written. It’s a passion he has held for decades, yet one which he limited to his personal files until now. Unwilling to fully retire, Kroner continues to write regularly for the online Mahomet Daily, where he supplements sports stories with an assortment of people-oriented profiles.