[2] At around the same age, he aspired to become a sportswriter like Red Smith and would pick up his columns from the train station every Sunday morning.
[3] Kindred attended Atlanta High School where he played on their basketball team, leading them to the 1959 regional championship.
"[3] After graduating, Kindred attended Illinois Wesleyan University on a journalism scholarship[2] and competed on their Division III baseball team.
[2] He found his time at the paper challenging for he was in charge of covering all basketball games across the city and keeping track of scores.
[3] Kindred estimates that he interviewed Ali around 300 times across numerous locations including Madison Square Garden and his various homes.
[17] He is the author of many books, most recently Leave Out the Tragic Parts,[18] published in 2021, about the death of his grandson Jared, and My Home Team,[19] published in 2023, about returning to his home-town after retirement and finding connection and community in covering the girls' high school basketball team, the Lady Potters of Morton, Illinois.