Anderson moved to "The New York Times" in 1966 and was given a regular column there in 1971. In 1972, he won the E.P. Dutton Award for the best sports feature story of the year, the return of the heavyweight champion Joe Frazier to his Beaufort, South Carolina hometown (he won a Page One Award for the same story). He collaborated on a book, "Always on the Run", with Miami Dolphin football players Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick that was published in 1973. It would be one of 21 books he wrote or co-wrote in his career. In 1974, Anderson won the Nat Fleischer Award for excellence in boxing journalism.