[4] Later in the decade, he would be hired in a similar role by ESPN at the urging of John Walsh, who had been the editor of Inside Sports.
[7][5] Axthelm took the Law School Admission Test in his senior year, earning a perfect score, but only did so to please his mother.
[4] While in Mexico City, Axthelm played a minor role in the protest by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the medal ceremony for the 200 meters.
He is perhaps best remembered for writing The Kid in 1978, a biography of then eighteen-year-old Triple Crown winning jockey Steve Cauthen.
In a 2021 story for Sports Illustrated, his daughter Megan Axthelm Brown said about this period, "He was never falling-down drunk or face-planting in the birthday cake, but more and more, he would be slurring his words."
[1][3][5] At the time of his death, he was awaiting a liver transplant at Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, and was survived by his second wife Andrea and daughter.