Mark Konkol, Patch Staff

Mark Konkol lives on the South Side. He is a White Sox fan. He has a dog, cat and a Wikipedia page. He plays bad guitar, drinks good rum and enjoys long motorcycle rides to the beach. He once was forced to trade his jeans for loaner fat-lady club pants to get in the Union League Club.

Konkol is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Emmy-nominated producer. He was a producer, writer and narrator for the Chicagoland series on CNN. Konkol was the Writer at Large for DNAinfo Chicago. At the Chicago Sun-Times, he teamed up with his pals Frank Main and John J. Kim to produce a series of stories about "Why they won't stop shooting in Chicago" that was awarded the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting.

Konkol grew up in South Holland and graduated from Thornwood High School, which he likes to boast is where he struck out future Major League All-Star Cornelius “Cliff” Floyd in batting practice. Konkol also tells people that for two years he was the starting left guard on the Culver-Stockton College football team. That didn't last. He graduated from Western Illinois University.

Chicago's neighborhoods — that's where Konkol's most comfortable writing about guys he'll never forget including Bernard, the homeless guy in River North. And that “Grandpa Joe” character, who ended a confrontation with Mike Royko by saying, “You’ll never be Studs. You’ll never be Algren.”

And you don't have to say it, Konkol already knows he'll never be Royko.

He's fine with that — Royko was never on Twitter.

follow Mark on Twitter: @Konkolskorner