sentences:  Writer and editor Tad Richards says, "I remember telling my mother... 'When I grow up to be a writer, and people ask me about the greatest influence on my writing career, I'm going to say John R. Tunis.Among Tunis' many childhood fans are sports writer and children's author Thomas J. Dygard, Pulitzer Prize finalist Lee Martin, journalist Charles Kuralt and football legend Johnny Unitas.New York Post columnist and editor Pete Hamill picked "The Kid From Tomkinsville" as one of his five favorite sports novels, writing that "virtually every sportswriter I know remembers reading it as a boy."