An anecdote can be a short but significant story about an individual that shows that person’s character. The anecdote can also show the character of a team or institution.
One of the exceptional articles in The Best American Sports Writing, 1993 was a Sports Illustrated article by Rick Reilly about athletic abuses (including severe hazing), human rights abuses, and racism at the Citadel. Reilly’s piece, “What Is the Citadel?” appeared in Sports Illustrated on September 14, 1992.
Reilly ended his article with a quotation ending, but then, as the article went to press, added a one-paragraph anecdote, as a postscript: “I can tell you one thing,” said the wrestler, Reaves. “I’m going to be hell when I’m a sophomore. I took a lot of crap. I’ve gotta get somebody back.” Here’s hoping they beat Wofford.
Postscript: Just before this story went to print, a black Citadel freshman told authorities he woke up on August 20 to find a string noose hanging from the bunk above him. Some say the noose was there because the freshman refused an upperclassman’s demand that he sing Dixie in the barracks shower.
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The Citadel says it has completed its investigation and has asked the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to take over.