Born in 1945 in Champaign, Illinois, Bill Geist attended the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana. There he met his wife, Jody. They were married in 1970. In 1971, he graduated from the University of Missouri with a masters degree in communications. From 1972 to 1980 Geist was a reporter and columnist for the Chicago Tribune. In 1980 Geist joined the New York Times, where his “About New York” column appeared twice a week. Geist has been a correspondent for the CBS news program Sunday Morning since 1987, where his work was honored with an Emmy Award in 1992 for his report on the sixty-sixth anniversary of America’s famed Route 66. Geist also contributes to 60 Minutes II and is the bestselling author of six books, including The Big Five-Oh: Facing, Fearing and Fighting 50 and the New York Times bestseller Little League Confidential, an account of his experience as a coach of his son and daughter’s Little League teams. His biggest accomplishment, he says, comes from taking third in the Illinois State Fair Bake-Off.