He is survived by his wife, Roberta Ziegel; a daughter, Katy Ziegel; and sister Shelly Ziegel Goldfeder.
Son of Eastern Europe immigrants, Morris Ziegel and Gilda Ziegel. He was raised in the Bronx, New York where he graduated from Taft High School. He attended City College of New York in New York City.
He lived at New Rochelle, New York at the time of his death.
He was awarded the 1983 Nat Fleischer Award for excellence in boxing journalism from the Boxing Writers Association of America and was twice awarded the Red Smith Writing Awards from Churchill Downs for his Kentucky Derby Coverage.
On his father's view of his obsession with sports: He was born in Russia and the boat he came over on didn't have shuffleboard. But he knew this: If you could quote Whitey Lockman's batting average and Dave Koslo's earned run average, it would still cost you a dollar to take the subway.