Miami attorney Steve Zack, the American Bar Association's president-elect, won't be traveling for awhile. Zack, 61, broke his right fibula, the smaller of the two main bones near the ankle.

He's to blame, he says, for last week's midday slip-and-fall. Happened in Napa, Calif., but he swears he wasn't tipsy from wine. ``Had gone to tastings the day before.''

So how did it happen? ``Silliest thing. There was loose gravel over a road. My left leg slipped. I tried to catch myself with the right leg and I fell on it. When I heard the pop, I knew it wasn't a good day.'' He's using a wheelchair and crutches, and expects to have a plate put in to help the bone heal straight and stabilize the ankle.

``Last time I broke an ankle was 40 years ago, playing tennis. It seemed to hurt a lot less.''

Meanwhile, he's using audio-visual conferencing to conduct business.

Zack, a partner in the national law firm Boies, Schiller and Flexner, is the first Hispanic American to lead the ABA, which has nearly 400,000 members. From the ABA website: ``The son of a Cuban mother and American father, Zack is focused on promoting the work of the ABA's Commission on Immigration and other programs that advance access to justice for everyone in the United States. . . . Zack, who grew up in Cuba and has practiced law for more than 35 years, will focus on several issues, including Hispanic legal rights, civil rights, immigration and civics education.'' He becomes president next August.

LEEN AND THE QUEEN

Former Miami Herald investigative reporter Jeff Leen, now investigations editor at The Washington Post, has a new book out -- The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds, and the Making of an American Legend (Atlantic Monthly Press, $25). It's a bio of Mildred Burke, the pioneering professional female wrestling champ who began her career in 1934.

``She wrestled in 40 of the 48 states,'' says Leen, 52. He heard about her as a youngster in his native St. Louis -- she was from Kansas City, Mo. ``I used to read the wrestling magazines -- and she was the only woman in 'em.''

From the dustcover: ``In an age when women were still struggling for equality with men, Burke regularly fought -- and beat -- male wrestlers and earned as much as Joe DiMaggio. Rippling with muscle and dripping with diamonds, she walked the fine line between pin-up beauty and hardened brawler, and her improbable success was a beacon for female athletes from small-town USA to as far off as Japan, where Burke was met with a hero's welcome during a world tour.''

A Herald staffer from '82 to '97, Leen helped expose the Medellín cocaine cartel and public corruption in Miami-Dade. The cartel series spawned his first book, Kings of Cocaine, co-authored with Guy Gugliotta, once a Herald foreign correspondent.

Burke, by the way, wrestled at Miami's National Guard Armory and at the old Biscayne Arena and Coral Gables Coliseum in the 1940s, Leen says, although he doesn't mention those matches in the book.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@