When Ed Murawinski was growing up in his native North Bergen, he was always drawing and doodling.
“We didn’t have art classes when I went to St. Joseph [of the Palisades],” Murawinski said. “So I spent a lot of time just doodling on the back of notebooks and what have you.”
After he graduated from St. Joseph of the Palisades in 1969, Murawinski went to fine-tune his artistic craft at the New York School for Visual Arts.
However, right around the same time, a neighborhood friend told Murawinski that the New York Daily News was looking for copy boys.
“A buddy, Bill Harley, of mine’s father worked for the Chicago Tribune syndicate and he told me about the Daily News,” Murawinski said. “I didn’t know anything back then, but I knew that I loved sports and I loved art. He got me in the back door. Back then, the News had tons of copy boys, like over 100. I ran copy, went for coffee, ran errands for different departments.”
Murawinski was 17 years old.
Entering sports
“It was a great job,” Murawinski said. “I never thought about pursuing a career in sports when I was younger. I loved sports and played a little. Until I got to the News, I never thought about it.”
But he’d had preparation right after graduation from high school.
“In 1970, I had to run film for our photographers in Baltimore as the Knicks were playing the Bullets in the playoffs,” Murawinski said. “Well, somehow, I got on the bus with the Knicks, sitting right next to Bill Bradley and Dave DeBusschere. I wasn’t supposed to be there. This was my first year and I’m on a bus with the Knicks. It was a lot of fun.”
In his spare time, Murawinski would draw caricatures and show them to the people he worked with. But the Daily News had two famed sports cartoonists at the time, in the late Bruce Stark and the legendary Bill Gallo.
Murawinski worked his way up in the sports department, doing graphic art and layout. He also drew a lot of maps for the news department.
In 1977, assistant sports editor Bob Decker was putting together a new gambling section for the paper. He asked Murawinski if he wanted to do some work for the section.
“Bob gave me the first chance to draw,” Murawinski said. “He let me get stuff in the paper for the first time. Maybe I would get a little cartoon here and there, but I started to get things in the paper.”
Mets and Yankees
Eventually, Murawinski’s caricatures became a huge hit. He made the back page of the News in 1986, with his drawing of Mets manager Davey Johnson pulling a big rabbit out of a hat, after the Mets had clinched the National League Eastern Division title. He also gained notoriety for drawing Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in diapers, screaming and crying. That made the back page of the paper with the largest circulation in the United States.
“I did a lot of Page 1 caricatures as well,” Murawinski said. “The Davey Johnson one was my big break.”
Murawinski, now 54, has been donning the pages of the Daily News ever since. His sports caricatures are now well known and featured regularly throughout the paper.
As the Mets continued their playoff run last week, Murawinski’s caricatures have become centerfold posters, with fans collecting and saving them.
Carlos Beltran
When he was being interviewed for this article last week, Murawinski had just finished one of Mets slugger Carlos Beltran and was working on one of first baseman Carlos Delgado.
“These baseball pullouts have kept me busy,” Murawinski said. “It sure beats doing layouts and graphics.”
Murawinski sits in his Lincroft, N.J. home with his pad and colors and thinks of an idea that would best suit the individual player.
In years past, he would have to sit at his desk at the News’ office and create his artistic magic, but now, with the advent of technology, he’s able to draw at his studio at home.
“I draw it and color it by hand, then I assemble it on Photoshop and send it in,”
Murawinski said.
It usually takes him one or two days to finish one caricature.
The World Series
He was especially excited last week about being on call for a possible Mets World Series appearance.
“If they get to the Series, then there will be another wrap-around this weekend,” Murawinski said.
He doesn’t mind – because deep in his heart, he is a Mets fan.
“This is fun for me, because it’s the Mets,” Murawinski said. “Most of my work has been all Yankees in recent years.”
Favorite and controversial pieces
One caricature he drew recently drew ire from the Yankees staff. It featured Mets manager Willie Randolph with a paint brush, painting over the Yankee logo with the Mets’ colors of orange and blue, with the slogan, “It’s Our Town Now.”
“The Yankees threatened to take away their advertising to the paper with that one,” Murawinski said.
The artist was asked if he had a favorite piece.
“I don’t know if I have just one,” Murawinski said. “I did Bill Parcells and Jimmy Johnson as wrestlers in a ring, when Parcells was the coach of the Jets and Johnson was with the Dolphins. I just like the way that one turned out.”
Murawinski also liked one he drew of the Indiana Pacers when facing the Knicks in the playoffs, portraying the Pacers as “hicks from Indiana” on the back of a hayride.
Celebrities
Murawinski said that he rarely gets requests from athletes about his work.
“One time, I drew Dick Vitale for the cover of our TV section and he called me and asked for the original,” Murawinski said. “I also got a call one time from Marty Schottenheimer [the coach of the San Diego Chargers]. Usually when I don’t expect it, that’s when I get the most attention.”
Murawinski said that he rarely sells his caricatures to the public.
“You can buy some of them through the News, but I don’t sell too many myself,” Murawinski said.
The father of three boys, Ed and his wife, Deb, reside in Monmouth County, where they have lived since moving from North Bergen in 1984.
“It’s nice to get recognition here and there,” Murawinski said. “I used to get calls regularly from an old guy who would leave me messages like, ‘Oh, you really made me laugh today with that one.’ Or ‘That was one of your best.’ I liked hearing that.”
Up to the plate
He’ll also like it if the Mets can move on to face the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. That would mean more drawings, more work, and more recognition.
“Just have to hope,” he said.
And believe.