Calkins: He was shot down over Italy. 83 years later, his remains finally found their way home.
Michael Cianciolo was shot down over Italy in 1943. More than 80 years later, his remains were buried in Memphis with full military honors.
Geoff Calkins
Columnist
Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.
There are 1169 articles by Geoff Calkins :
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August 2026
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Spirit of Memphis -
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GolfCalkins: At this week’s Memphis golf tournament, Bluey, anger, sadness — and some Charlie Brown philosophy to get you through.
It’s a bittersweet week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Every highlight comes with the awareness that there are only two more years of them. Every moment comes with the knowledge that they are now ticking away.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Why is the PGA Tour’s decision so heartbreaking? Ask any volunteer: It’s because of the kids.
The PGA Tour is not including Memphis or St. Jude in its Championship Series after 2027. That’s a blow to the thousands of tournament volunteers who “do it for the kids.”
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Memphis needs more gang members. (The spandex kind.)
Collierville Alderman Charles Hall touched a nerve recently when he called cyclists “the spandex gang.” Hall says he didn’t mean anything by it. But Geoff Calkins says Memphis — and the world — would be a better place if it adopted the principles of the spandex gang.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: It’s nearly football season in Memphis again. Let’s hope that this one is a ‘show-stopper.’
Memphis welcomed fans to take a look at its new-and-improved stadium Saturday. At the end of another tough week in Memphis sports, it is worth remembering what community can do.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: It’s the end of an era for the Memphis golf tournament
“For nearly seven decades, the best golfers in the world have played in Memphis. Starting in 2028, that will no longer be the case.”
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Spirit of Memphis Calkins: Attorney Ted Jones wrote some of the best obits in Memphis. He deserves one of his own.
Ted Jones took it upon himself to write miniature, elegant obituaries on Facebook, celebrating the lives of attorneys and judges and anyone else he knew in the legal profession who had died. Jones, 67, died July 29.
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July 2026
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: It’s time for SpaceXAI to live up to its promise to Memphis kids
A year ago, SpaceXAI committed to give Memphis-Shelby County Schools a gift a local pastor called “game-changing.” So far, MSCS has little to show for it. It’s time for that to change.
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SpaceXAI offered major construction upgrades to Memphis schools. What happened?
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Fred Smith and family ride to the rescue (with $50 million) to forge a stunning stadium deal
“Who put an end to the stadium fracas? Fred Smith and family, of course.”
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FedEx founder to help fund Liberty Stadium renovations; U of M could control stadium
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City of MemphisCalkins: Midtown has a beaver problem. It’s not as funny as it sounds.
There is a beaver on the loose in Midtown. It’s big, it’s brown — and it’s not going to be easy to move.
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Sports It was a big night for tennis in Memphis. And there’s a whole week of tennis yet to come.
Saturday’s exhibition at Leftwich Tennis Center was a soggy celebration, a rain-delayed shindig to mark the start of the Memphis Classic, the Women’s Tennis Association tournament that will be in town all week.
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: Jordan Devey’s family wants you to know he took his own life — and that he is making it possible for many others to live.
Former Memphis Tiger Jordan Devey took his own life last week. Sunday, a surgical team will transplant his organs so others can live.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Can Memphis basketball be Memphis basketball again?
“Why did Memphis open basketball practice to the media in the middle of July? To ‘get people back with Memphis basketball,’ said Penny Hardaway. It’s a worthy task.”
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NeighborhoodsCalkins: Elvis Presley lives! Or his sign does, anyway.
“The bold, metal sign in front of the Visitor Center no longer says ‘LVIS PRESLEY BOULEVARD.’ But who fixed it? A quintessentially Memphis institution, of course.”
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: He’s a 102-year-old American hero. And he bakes cookies, too.
Luke McLaurine is a World War II veteran who’s lived through 40% of America’s 250 years. He’s a survivor of Nazi prison camps, flies a flag at his house and says daily doughnut consumption is the key to longevity.
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June 2026
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: The Ja Morant era is finally over. Why did it come to this?
“The Grizzlies have finally traded Ja Morant, the biggest star they may ever have. But by the end they just wanted him gone.”
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Spirit of MemphisCalkins: A Little League team raised $50,000 for St. Jude. And the story gets even better.
A Florida Little League team traveled to Memphis to deliver the money they’d raised, and play a game against Memphis Little League. Then they learned one of the opposing players was a St. Jude patient.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: The Grizzlies get Cam Boozer — and a night of authentic joy
Opinion: After a season of misery, the Memphis Grizzlies gave their fans a night to celebrate. It included Cam Boozer, Karim Lopez and honest-to-God hope.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: The new board managing Memphis schools opens for business — in Nashville.
The new board overseeing Memphis-Shelby County Schools convened for the first time Thursday — in Nashville, with little notice, at 8:45 a.m. If the hope was to win over conflicted Memphians, this was a bizarre way to start.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: The Memphis Art Museum will be the next great place in the city — because of Barbara and Pitt Hyde.
Pitt and Barbara Hyde didn’t want their name on the new Memphis Art Museum. That didn’t stop Memphis mayor Paul Young from highlighting the couple’s astounding work. “For a generation you have led with generosity and vision,” Young said. “And your mark on the city — on Downtown in particular — is everywhere.”
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Q&A: More from the Hydes on Downtown, the Grizzlies, AutoZone Park and the future of Memphis
Memphis Art Museum will have free admission for Shelby County residents
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MetroQ&A: More from the Hydes on Downtown, the Grizzlies, AutoZone Park and the future of Memphis
The Daily Memphian’s Geoff Calkins sat down with Barbara and Pitt Hyde to talk about the new museum, their hands-on approach to civic projects and why Memphis continues to be — in their words — their “big bet.”
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Otis Sanford tells his story — and it’s one that you should hear.
When Otis Sanford was growing up in Mississippi, his father would ask him, “What’s in the news?” Answering that question has taken Sanford to places neither of them could possibly have imagined. Now he’s captured the journey in a new book.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: The road to Graceland is an international embarrassment. We drove it to find out why.
Why is it taking nearly two decades to fix Elvis Presley Boulevard? I invited state Senator Raumesh Akbari to join me in my 2015 minivan for a drive-along. Here’s what I learned.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: A wrecking ball is coming for 495 Union. Here’s why that matters to every Memphian.
Why does it matter that the wrecking balls are coming for 495 Union? Because it’s not just a building that is being destroyed. An institution is imperiled, too.
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Sports Sloane Stephens accepts wildcard to play in Memphis Classic
Former U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens has accepted a wildcard to play in the Memphis Classic, the new WTA tournament that will be held at the Leftwich Tennis Center from July 25 to Aug. 2.
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