Author Biography

Bob Evancho is the author/editor of five published books. In early 2017 he published Lost Lakers: Grosse Pointe to Grand Valley—Cake Eater Meets Convict, a memoir that brings him full circle from his early years in Detroit, to his days at Grand Valley State College as a member of the school’s fledgling football program, to his current home in Idaho and back to a Michigan state prison where he reunites with former Laker teammate Reginald “Hook” Johnson, who is serving a life sentence for his involvement in five Detroit-area homicides committed in 1975.

Evancho also co-wrote and edited Busted Bronco: From Addiction to Redemption (with Joe O’Brien) in 2011; Elegant Soul: The Life and Music of Gene Harris (with the late Janie Harris) in 2005; and Pokey: The Good Fight (with the late Pokey Allen) in 1997. He also served as writer/editor for Ida Tours the 44: A Book of Idaho’s Counties, which was published by Boise State University in 2010.

Evancho is also a contributing writer/editor to four other books published by Boise State and co-wrote an unpublished book with former Colorado and BSU football coach and current UC Davis coach Dan Hawkins in 2006. He also has served as a contributing editor to books and other publications produced by Cutthroat Press and the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation.

A former sportswriter and columnist, Evancho has written hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. He covered sports in Idaho on a part-time basis for the Associated Press for 21 years. He worked at Boise State for 23 years and served as editor in chief for the university’s alumni magazine for 5½ years. He has won numerous writing awards and worked for the communications department for Idaho Public Television from 2009 until his retirement in 2015.

Originally from Detroit, he received a bachelor’s degree in sociology/arts & media from Grand Valley State College (now University) in Michigan and a master’s degree in social affairs journalism from Boise State. He and his wife, Sue, live in Boise, Idaho. They have three adult children.

Book info:

Lost Lakers: Grosse Pointe to Grand Valley—Cake Eater Meets Convict; Busted Bronco: From Addiction to Redemption; and Pokey: The Good Fight are available through Bootleg Books at Bootleg Books Boise and at Amazon.com.

Elegant Soul: The Life and Music of Gene Harris is available through Caxton Press at Caxtonpress.com.

Ida Visits the 44: A Book of Idaho’s Counties is available through Rediscovered Books of Boise, Idaho, at Rdbooks.org.