Robert H. Boyle (1928-2017)

Robert H. Boyle amassed more than 300 bylines, in everything from boxing to baseball, over nearly 50 years of writing for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, but he was best known for stories on the environment. A groundbreaking piece in the Oct. 26, 1970, SI (Poison Roams Our Coastal Seas) reported on toxic chemicals in water sources, and he was an early voice on global warming. Boyle settled in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., where he founded the Hudson River Fishermen's Association in 1966. That organization morphed into Riverkeeper in '83, which became an environmental model and the inspiration for the global Waterkeeper Alliance. Boyle died last week after a battle with cancer. He was 88.