Stories From Along The Way, Part 1
Hear it here!
Do I have stories from my career that have nothing to do with the fun and games?
You bet I do. Some of the most I recall have had nothing to do with the events I covered. They involved some fascinating people I met along the way when our paths crossed.
My first job less than a year after I graduated from Syracuse and served my six months active duty in the Army Reserves, was as the associate producer of a radio interview show called ‘Stan Bernard Contact’ on WINS in New York. My job was to screen calls into the program and welcome the guests as they entered the studio on Columbus Circle.
In February of 1965, the guest was Malcolm X, an African American human rights activist who was a controversial and prominent figure during the civil rights movement. When he came into the building he was accompanied by several associates and Malcolm X and I exchanged pleasantries and it was my job to make him as comfortable as possible. On air there were several intense exchanges and Malcolm X claimed there had been threats on his life. Near the end of the program which took place on a Friday night and lasted several hours, he urged one of the panelists to hear his talk in two days at the Audubon Ballroom in the city.
On that Sunday, Malcolm X was assassinated.
It was a chilling experience that marked the early days of my career.
Never to be forgotten.
My father, Joe, took me to the first game of the 1954 World Series between the NY Giants (they moved to SF a few years later), and the Cleveland Indians. This was the game Willie Mays made his famous over the shoulder back to the plate catch deep in centerfield. But just as memorable was an innocent moment before the game even started. A group of photographers stopped directly in front of my seat and started snapping many pictures. My father, who was seated to my right, took a look behind me, and when the photogs left, he asked me to turn around in subtle fashion and wondered if I recognized the gentleman. I turned around, then back and told my Dad I had no idea. I was only 11 at the time.
He said the man behind me was the famed and much decorated General Douglas MacArthur, a hero in World War II. This was just a decade after the war, and MacArthur was still newsworthy. The reason I was in the picture, my father said, was “they thought you were his son”.
I was 24 when I landed my first full-time television assignment as the sportscaster on the 6, 7, and 11 o’clock news at KDKA in Pittsburgh. I had obviously been a fierce follower of sports as a fan but now I was entering the phase of my life when I would actually meet and interview the athletes and coaches I only saw perform or read in the newspapers and magazines. One of the giants in the sports world who lived only an hour or so from the city was golfing great Arnold Palmer. Palmer won 62 PGA Tour titles from 1955 to 1973, and I sought out an interview. The man who handled Palmer’s media obligations was a former newspaperman named Doc Giffin. Actually, Giffin was more than that. He was Arnold’s chief assistant for more than 50 years. I called Doc Giffin requesting an interview. Giffin called back and said Palmer would be willing to do an interview at his home in Latrobe, 50 miles east of downtown Pittsburgh. I journeyed to his home, met the great golfer who suggested we visit his garage where he had hundreds and golf clubs and the machines that could make them and adjust them to his liking. We filmed a lengthy interview which I spread over five parts on my segment of the news. I didn’t see him often, but when I did, he was friendly and gracious as he was with everyone he came in touch with. My experience with Arnold Palmer was impactful because it was one of the first great athletes I came to meet and know in person after appreciating them from afar.
When I became the weekend sportscaster on the news programs at KYW-TV in Philadelphia, the news anchor was Tom Snyder, who later became renowned as host of the NBC show, Tomorrow, which followed Johnny Carson’s legendary late-night show.
Snyder, who moved to Los Angeles as a leading news anchor after his time in Philly became a good friend. He was a compelling TV figure, always in command. He also knew sports as well as anyone I’ve met in the sportscasting business.
When the regular Monday through Friday news, weather, and sports crew went on vacation, the weekend team took over. So, Tom and I, along with the rest of the other weekend crew worked the five-day schedule, the 6pm and 11pm news shows.
Often, after the 6pm program, I would cover a game in town and return and report at 11pm. One night, Tom asked me to join him on an assignment he was doing between the two shows for a report on the late news. He didn’t say what it was. The station news car took us to John F. Kennedy Stadium which at the time was the site of the annual Army-Navy football encounter. But on this night, the massive stadium, which seat 100,000 fans, was reduced to a smaller section for a concert.
The Beatles were performing in Philadelphia. And Tom Snyder took me backstage before the concert where he did a brief interview with them and introduced me to that iconic quartet, who had arrived for their first American visit less than a year earlier.
Talk about surprises.
I began my time as the lead broadcaster for the NBA on CBS n 1983. In those days, teams didn’t have their own charter plane, so they traveled commercially, usually taking over the first-class section on flights. That year, the Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers were battling in the NBA Finals. The network announcers and producer and director were with one of the teams in their section in first-class and often sat next to one of the players and coaches. One time, on a flight from Philly to LA, I happened to sit next to actor Jack Nicholson, an avid Laker fan and a front row ticketholder at the Forum, where the Lakers played in those days. We had a nice chat on the long flight to coast to coast and often visited him at his seat before our broadcasts of Laker home games.
Nicholson, who was the same guy on conversation as he was in his films, was active as a fan, often talking to the players from both teams as they walked in front of his seat.
He also ranted at officials if he didn’t agree with their call which went against the Lakers.
One day, years later, I found myself strolling on the Left Bank in Paris, taking in the sights of that beautiful section of that glorious city. All of a sudden, a car stopped and out popped Jack Nicholson himself, who ran up to me and told me he had been ejected from a game because he went overboard chastising a call. He told me he wrote a letter to then-Commissioner David Stern in protest, and that Stern wrote back apologizing for the ejection. He was there filming Something’s Gotta Give with the late Diane Keaton.
It was mid-summer and the temperature was in the 90’s. A year later, now at the Staples Center, Jack told me he endured the toughest scene he ever had to film in that movie.
He and Keaton finding love at last in a romantic scene on a bridge at the Seine River in the cold and snow at Christmastime, all bundled up in a top coat, while it really was over 90 in Paris. That’s acting.
There’s no need to act this week. Just be yourself and enjoy the holidays.
So, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all, with the second part of stories I will always remember coming up next week.
