25 Facts About Frederick Exley

Frederick Earl "Fred" Exley was an American writer.

Frederick Exley followed it up with two more fictional memoirs.

Frederick Exley was the third of four children, including a twin sister, Frances, born to Earl and Charlotte.

Frederick Exley's father, who died in 1945 when Exley was 16, was a celebrated former athlete and local basketball coach whose legacy would be a dominating influence on Exley's early life.

Frederick Exley had a brief stint at Katonah High School in Katonah, New York, where he was named to the conference all-star basketball team.

Frederick Exley entered Hobart College in the pre-dental program in 1949.

Frederick Exley avoided being drafted in 1951 when he failed his Selective Service examination on account of injuries sustained in the car accident.

In 1952, Frederick Exley dropped out of USC and moved to New York City to find employment, only to return a year later to complete a BA in English.

Frederick Exley returned to New York to work in public relations for New York Central Railroad.

Frederick Exley soon took over as managing editor of the railroad's employee magazine, The Rocket, where his first published writing appeared.

Frederick Exley was institutionalized three times in the 1950s after entering an itinerant period marked by acute alcoholism, obsession with New York Giants football, mental instability and schizophrenia that was to provide much of the autobiographical material for his first book, A Fan's Notes.

In 1958, Frederick Exley was admitted briefly to Stony Lodge, a private mental institution in Westchester County, New York, where he met Francena Fritz, whom he began courting.

In 1961 Frederick Exley received a provisional appointment as clerk and crier of the courts in Jefferson County, New York, where a lawyer friend, Gordon Phillips, asked Frederick Exley to forge a signature on a check for one of his clients, an action that led to Phillips' disbarment.

Frederick Exley's alcoholism growing worse, Exley began a decade of briefly-held jobs and institutionalization, and spent time vacationing on Singer Island in Riviera Beach, Florida, while continuing to work on A Fan's Notes.

In 1964, Frederick Exley sent the completed manuscript for A Fan's Notes to Houghton Mifflin who rejected it, and to Joe Fox at Random House, who suggested an agent, Lynn Nesbit.

Frederick Exley was working as a bookkeeper for The Buccaneer, her husband's resort.

Frederick Exley became pregnant while Exley was employed at The Palm Beach Posts copy desk; they married on September 13,1967, and Glenn gave birth to Exley's second daughter, Alexandra Exley, on January 12,1968.

In 1969, Frederick Exley moved into an apartment on 19th Street in Manhattan, spending much of his time at the Lion's Head bar at 59 Christopher Street.

In 1970, Frederick Exley's mother purchased a small house in Alexandria Bay, New York and he temporarily moved in, though he still spent time in Florida working on Pages From a Cold Island.

Frederick Exley traveled to the Hawaiian island of Lanai, where he began work on the final novel of his semi-autobiographical trilogy, Last Notes From Home.

The final volume in Frederick Exley's trilogy focuses on his relationship with his older brother, William, a Vietnam veteran who died in Hawaii in 1973 after a battle with cancer.

Frederick Exley moved in with his aunt Frances Knapp in Alexandria Bay, and became very ill while traveling to London for a journalism assignment.

Frederick Exley's ashes were interred at Brookside Cemetery in Watertown, New York, next to his parents.

Yardley's central thesis is that Frederick Exley was a brilliant one-book writer.

Frederick Exley has interviewed The Funny Man author John Warner, among others.