Telling Morrie’s story set sports writer on new path “I started off as a musician … But my life took a big turn when I went into writing.” Mitch Albom

Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

Who: Mitch Albom

When: 1 p.m. Sunday

Where: Henderson Pavilion, 200 S. Green Valley Parkway

Tickets: Free; 267-2171

Detroit sportswriter-turned-author Mitch Albom will pull a doubleheader Sunday in Las Vegas, speaking to two organizations about two books he has written.

At a sold-out 10 a.m. engagement, he will speak and sign his latest book, "For One More Day," at Canyon Gate Country Club. At 1 p.m. he will be at the Henderson Pavilion, focusing on his "The Five People You Meet in Heaven."

The Henderson event is part of the One Book Henderson project, in which readers are encouraged to read and discuss the book.

The 49-year-old writer was an award-winning sports columnist with the Detroit Free Press when, in 1997, his first book, "Tuesdays With Morrie," was published. His life hasn't been the same since.

"Morrie" is the true story of Morrie Schwartz, a Brandeis University sociology professor who died of Lou Gehrig's disease in 1995. The book was on USA Today's best sellers list for six years and was adapted into a television movie.

The book altered Albom's career path.

"I started off as a musician. That's what I thought I would be. That's all I ever wanted to be," Albom said by telephone from his Detroit home. "But my life took a big turn when I went into writing, mostly newspapers and magazines. I became sports writer and then I wrote 'Tuesdays With Morrie ' to pay his medical bills.

"I was going to go back to my sportswriting career. The book was a labor of love."

But that labor built a new career for Albom.

He still writes occasional sports columns for the Detroit Free Press, but he spends most of his time writing and promoting books.

"I'll do a dozen things a year, try to mix it up for charities and reading programs, hospices and universities," Albom said. He's often asked to schools, where "Tuesdays With Morrie" and "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" are classroom fodder.

He's especially looking forward to the event in Henderson because of the city's efforts to drive discussion about "The Five People You Meet in Heaven."

"When someone says they have selected your book for a special program, I feel almost an obligation to attend," Albom said. "Out of the millions of books they could have picked, they picked mine. I'm grateful."

When he speaks at the two events, it will be off the cuff.

"I'm not good about looking down and reading," Albom said. "I let my mind and my heart dictate what I should say. I know a lot of stories I would like to tell, but I think it comes across as sort of pre packaged if you're reading it. You become a robot. I like to look into the eyes of the people.

"If they're laughing, I'll tend to tell more funny stories ; and if they're not, I'll get more serious. It's more real for me that way, if you talk from your heart."

"For One More Day" recently was made into a television movie produced by Oprah Winfrey and scheduled to air on ABC in December. The premise of the story is the protagonist spending one more day with his mother, who died eight years earlier.

When Albom isn't writing novels, helping turn them into movies and touring the country on speaking engagements, he still has time for his first love - music.

He's a member of the celebrity writer-driven band Rock Bottom Remainders, which includes Dave Barry, Stephen King, Amy Tan, Scott Turow and Roy Blount Jr.

"I don't know if it qualifies as a rock band," Albom said. "I don't know if we should really be called a band. We play chords and we have fun."