In an October 1974 Esquire article Randall Poe called Wells Twombly one of six journalists who were transforming the nature of sportswriting and reporting. Rather than engaging in hero worship of athletes or extolling the virtues of the home team, the college-educated Twombly raised questions about the role of athletics in American society. While some readers found his consciously literary prose enigmatic and confusing, Twombly defended his style, asserting:

I try to be as literate as I can be. Anybody who writes down to a reader in this age of higher education is living in the past. . . . I don't want anybody skimming through anything I write. I've been battling the Who-What-Where-Why-When and KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) crowd ever since I started. Lord, we're in a war with television. I try to recreate scenes for readers, take them places where even the damned camera can't go.

The son of...