Charles Barkley, Child at Heart

Right up front let me say that if I bumped into Charles Barkley today he would not know who I was. However with some prompting I'm confident he would remember when and where our paths crossed. When I see him in the NBA or NCAA studio shows I'm impressed by the fact he is still who he as always been, a child at heart.  There is nothing phony about Charles Barkley.  He says what is on his mind.  Politically correct?  Not on purpose.  Authentic?  Absolutely.  You love him or you....love him. He is refreshingly honest in a world where people are afraid to own up to their words.

I first met Charles when he was playing with my friend Tim McCormick on the 76er's.  Tim and Charles spent the summer of 84 with Bobby Knight and the US Olympic try outs.  Tim would host a summer basketball camp at his high school in Clarkston, Michigan and invite an team mate to come and speak and play at the camp.  This particular year he invited Charles.  It might have been 1987 plus or minus a year.

So there were a few stories from this week.  First, we would sneak off and play golf one afternoon each week.  Usually there were adult beverages involved.  For those that don't know Charles has had a well documented relationship with golf.  Despite getting lessons from the very best teacher in the world, Butch Harmon for example, he is still probably has the worst swing in the history of the game.  There have been television specials devoted to correcting his game.  It's likely/possible the first time Charles ever played golf he played with Tim, his brothers and I.  This explains a lot.

One evening we all went out to a local sports bar after camp.  Charles left us on the first floor while he and his Benjamins went upstairs to play some pool.  Before he left he dropped his American Express on the table and encouraged us to make sure each of the fine women in the club had a glass of Dom Perignon to enjoy.  We went through at least a case, and $3000 + on his credit card.  I believe he and his favorite photos of Benjamin Franklin were parting ways upstairs as well.

The next morning we went to camp and Charles was the featured speaker.  One question you can always count on from young kids is "can you dunk?"  Charles explained his hands were small and he couldn't palm he ball, important for dunking, therefore he needed to use both hands to dunk.  He is a tall man, 6'3'" but hardly a giant.  He and I are about the same size (although I'm happy to say he is larger today than I).

Of course the kids didn't want to hear excuses, they wanted to see a dunk.  Charles was slightly hung over from the night before.  Three attempts resulted in three balls bouncing off the back of the rim and out to the gym.  Finally on attempt 4 he made it.  It was slightly embarrassing for the Round Mound of rebound.

Later we finished the day be playing a little full court 5 on 5.  I got to guard Charles, which really was more like laying down a red carpet so he could make a great move and then getting out of the way.  However, at the end of the day he proclaimed I was "the finest defender he had ever faced."
We had fun with that quote and he said it a few more times that week.

During the Q & A Charles offered a few answers I'll never forget.  One kid asked "where would you be if you weren't playing basketball?"  Charles said directly, "I would be in jail or I would be dead.  All of my friends I hung out with are dead or in jail.  If the coaches hadn't pushed me and kept me away from my friends I would have hung out with them and for sure I would not have been smart enough to end up any different."

Another, "did you graduate from Auburn?,"  "No but I have a couple of people who work for me who did."

Then my favorite quote, "The world has enough dumb people....don't be one."

A few years later I was working for the UI Baseball staff and we were in Miami to play the Hurricanes.  After our game we went out to Dan Marino's restaurant for dinner.  I had told my "I'm he toughest defender Barkley ever faced" story to guys on the team.  While at Marino's who is sitting at the bar but Charles and several of the Phoenix Suns.  The Illini players "encourage me" me to put up or shut up, so I walk up to Charles to ask him, "who is the toughest defender ever?"  He looks up, a little ticked I'm interrupting him, takes a second look, smiles his famous smile and then says, "there was this guy in Michigan....."

Tim McCormick When you are 7 FT Tall you Don't have to Bow down to Anyone

There are stories I have where if I don't tell one story then it is some what unbelievable that the second story could have possibly happened.  With that as a background I'll tell you my story of Tim McCormick, former Michigan Wolverine and NBA star.  Tim introduced me to Charles Barkley.

7 Feet tall.  That is roughly how high Timothy Daniel McCormick's head reached into the sky when I first met him.  It was a "standing" joke with us.  Tim said he was 7'1", I said he was 6'11".  His measurement was in shoes, mine on a doctor's chart when he was barefoot.  He said, "I don't play basketball barefoot!"   Good point.

So how did a die hard Illini become friends with a blue blooded Wolverine.  I was living in Detroit, working for Proctor and Gamble.  This was my job just out of college.  Our coach, Lou Henson, had a handful of people who scouted and recorded games for him.  Lou loved to watch film of every game he could.  Remember now when I moved there this was pre-ESPN.  So national telecasts of college basketball were rare.  However most schools broadcast all of their home games at least.  Living in the Detroit suburbs I had access to many of the Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State games (Toledo is close to Detroit and their local station broadcast the games)  

So Coach Lou gave me a beta max (a really clunky recorder), lots of tapes and money to send the tapes.  I would record the games, and then the next morning run the tape to the Greyhound bus station who would put it on a bus to Champaign via Chicago.  This was also pre-Fed EX, so if you wanted to get it there in one day you sent it on a bus.  Lou had about 5 of us around the Big 10 doing just this for him.  

There were perks for helping, but one of the biggest was he let me sit on the bench when we played one of "my" teams.  For four years I got to sit on the bench when we played at Michigan, Michigan State or Ohio State.  I even got to sit on the bench at Indiana.  It was an awesome gift.  

How does this relate to Tim?  Good question....I'm at Crisler Arena, home of the Wolverines, and after the game I get to talking to Coach Steve Fisher.  Steve has his own little history lesson, won the national championship in the first 5 games he coached in division one, coached the Fab 5, and is still coaching at San Diego State.  Steve is from the south suburbs of Chicago and coached at Rich East High School prior to Michigan.  I played at Rich South High School.  So, we were teacher/student, friends in my younger years.

As Steve and I talked he knew I had recently moved to Detroit and didn't have any friends yet.  He also knew that Tim had just had double knee surgery and was pretty depressed.  Tim was rated as one of the top 5 basketball players out of high school.  However he grew faster than his tendons could keep up.  As a result over his career he had double digit surgeries on his knees.  This one in particular set him back awhile.  Steve introduced us, we became close friends and spent a lot of time hanging out at his parents ranch, playing golf, going to concerts and of course rehabbing and shooting hoops.

Tim is one of the most singularly faith-filled people I have ever met.  A devoted Catholic, Tim's life has been centered on his relationship with Christ.  His family is a close second in his world.  It's inspiring to see someone committed to anything so strongly.   He drew me into this and at least planted several seeds into my own spiritual growth to develop later in life.

Like many of us when Tim was a kid he waited patiently in line for autographs of his heroes.  It was fun to go anywhere with him because he towered above the crowd and people would immediately ask "who is that guy?"  No matter where we went we needed to add at least a half hour onto our arrival time as Tim would sign every autograph request made.  He never forgot the athletes "too busy" to stop for the fans and was committed not to be "that guy."   I don't think I ever saw him put himself ahead of his fans.

Through a lot of hard work and dedication Tim made it back into the starting line up of the Wolverines.  So much so that by the end of his senior season he led his team to the NIT championship and was named most valuable player.

Two things came from this honor.  First he was invited to try out for one of the most storied US Olympic teams ever.  Second, he was drafted 12th in the NBA draft.  The '84 Olympic team featured players such as Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone and Steve Alford.  Tim made the 20 man finalist team. He was cut from the final team with Charles Barkley, Johnny Dawkins and John Stockton.  Not a bad cut list.  But for Tim, playing that summer for coach Bobby Knight did more to elevate his professional stock than perhaps his entire 4 years in Ann Arbor.  Knight said "removing Tim from the team was the toughest cut I had to make," McCormick being the last player cut.

Next up was the NBA.  Drafted 12th by Cleveland, he was traded to Seattle within an hour of the draft.  He played 10 seasons in the NBA for 6 teams.  It was while he was with Philadelphia that he introduced me to the round mound of rebound, Charles Barkley.  More about that later. One thing for sure, playing for 6 teams resulted in a grand collection of NBA gear in my closet.  Sonic, Sixers, Nets, Rockets, Hawks and Knicks.  I have them all!

I had the pleasure of visiting him several times while he was in the NBA.  A week long trip in Seattle was my first introduction to "life in the NBA."  He picked me up at the airport in his Porsche.  Now this was a step up from college life.  He had a nice apartment on the lake.  Literally on the lake.  As in lake house.  We spent the days doing one of four things, eating, going to work out or going to a game and then eating.  He ate twice as much as any human I have ever met.  I remember once sitting at tis kitchen table while he ate a gallon of ice cream, with chocolate syrup, nuts and sprinkles.  This was the life.

Three memories here from this trip.  First, we were watching tv one morning as the Challenger took off and watched it explode killing all the crew.  Shocking for sure.  Second, the Bears were in the Super Bowl that year and week and we watched the game at Seattle Seahawk football center Blair Bush's house.  This was especially fun since he had won the Super Bowl with the Bengals two years earlier.  We got some inside knowledge on what it was like on game day, the pressure, the waiting, sleeping at half time, etc.

Third, one of the games for the Sonics that trip was with the Sixers.  Dr. J played along with Charles and Tim shared some great "growing up stories."  When Tim was at a basketball camp as a kid Dr. J gave him one of his shoes, autographed it, and then said when you make it to the NBA I'll give you the other one."  Tim had made it, and Doc kept his word, giving Tim the matching pair.

Next year Tim was traded to the Sixers and the fun began!  I caught up with him a few times, once in Chicago, where we went out to Ditka's after the game.  Standing in a long line, I said to everyone, "I'll bet if they know Tim and Charles are here they will let us in."   I boldly went up to the host, stated my case and .... they let us in.  Took us to the VIP reserved section.  John McEnroe was a few tables away with his wife Tatum O'Neil and three tables away sat Joe DiMaggio.   Tim's dad Tom was a good old soul.  He was not impressed by much, and the people we would have a brush with fame with was no big deal to him.  However, when he saw "Joltin Joe" he melted.  He slid over to him like a 12 year old and asked for an autograph.  In retrospect I wish I would have done the same.

Another time I picked up cousin Dana and we drove to Philly for a few games over Christmas.  We got there Christmas night and went over to another player's house for "Christmas dinner and drinks."  All of the Sixers were there including Doc J, Charles, Maurice Cheeks and Danny Vranes whose house I think we were at.  Dana was having the time of his life, I think he was all of 18 or 19 and hanging out with a few of his all time heroes.  He had a few, and a few more.  The highlight of the evening was a classic photo of Dana passed out in a chair with the 76'rs surrounding him.  A classic to this day that his 16 and 18 year old sons love to put in his face.

Once I drove over to Indy with some friends to see him.. We went out for pizza afterwards.  Now Tim has left his wallet in his bag at the hotel so the check came and he handed it to me.  I said, "hey wait, when I was working and you were playing at Michigan I always had to pick up the check, Now here you are working and I'm still picking up the tab."  Tim said,"if it's not broken why fix it..?"
And so it was with TDM.

Over the years I have kept up with him. His dream job was to work for ESPN, and he did as an analyst..  He has done color commentary in the NBA and NCAA.  He currently works as a motivational speaker. I believe he is also works for the NBA as Regional Director of Player Programs.

Local radio host Steve Jay has had us on his shows in the past and I'll share of few stories Stevie has drawn out of Tim:

On life in the NBA:  I spent my whole life dreaming about playing in the NBA.  Now I get to sit in the front row and watch my heroes play every night.  Oh, and I'm getting paid for it.

On Todd's contribution to my NBA career:
In the NBA we would spend a lot of time in our hotel rooms waiting for the bus to leave for the game or leave for the airport.  Lot's of time doing nothing.  Of all my friends over the years Todd is absolutely the best at doing nothing, and helped me with that, exactly doing nothing.

His Arena...the Stage (Reprint from Beyond the Bench)

(This is a story of a friend of mine from high school who was a thespian.  That's an actor for those not so well schooled.  He was very talented and yet didn't live up to his brother's reputation as a jock in the family.  I related to this as my older brother was the all-american type and I was not. In fact in retrospect this column could have been about my finding success in a different place than my older brother. This writing is from a column I wrote in the Rich South Centurian High School newspaper from May 9, 1975, )

He sat comfortably in his chair gazing at the reflection stemming from the trophies adorned on the mantle in the center of the living room.  They held a special place in the minds of his parents for they symbolized the achievements of his older brother.  His brother had been a top student, a concerned adult in high school and a letter winner in each of the sport he participated in, lauded as an "outstanding senior" for his merits on the field.

He knew now that he in no way could equalize his sibling's ability on the field.  In fact he never even attempted to "make a team."  For he had his own game to play, acting, that required a great deal more. Developing a unique style, he could create an image on stage from the black and white 'playbook' of the playwright's text.  Like his brother, he needed long hours of practice to iron out he flaws of his 'game'.

And yet his game didn't have standing room only crowds pushing their way through the doors.  It was a success if half to three fourths of the seats were filled.  To this boy, his game was far more exciting, thought provoking and satisfying than his brothers.  His motivation was internal, his opponent, the audience, his arena, the stage.

There would be no front page story if he were successful.  Perhaps there would be a few lines mentioning his performance hidden in the newspaper.  And yet he put forth more effort and more of himself on stage than his brother ever put forth on the court.

Emotionally drained after each show, he knew that he had only one chance to get it right each night. There would be no replays, no second quarter, no third or fourth downs or even another game next week to redeem himself.  If he made a mistake in his game he would have to wait until the next audition, perhaps several months away and then hope to get a part,  No guarantees.

The sun had gone down now, the trophies no longer reflected the rays into his eyes.  He knew there never be such and award sitting on the mantle with his name inscribed on it and for that reason alone he knew that there would never be a material object for his parents to show their friends when they came to visit.  His awards were the standing ovations and the verbal praises the had received at the curtain call of each performance which could never be placed above the burning embers of the fire place.  But in his mind there was satisfaction because he knew there was a future for him in drama.  His brother would be a businessman.  He would be an actor.

Remission....Me and a Billion Buddies Swimming in my Pool.

Last week the doctor told me that I'm in remission.  I have to say that this sure sounds good.  I mean we talked about not having any traceable cancer in my system, but then in the next sentence he says that there may be a billion cancer cells in my body, they just aren't detectable.  Uggh.....a billion seems like a lot.

Add to that I'm continuing my treatment.  You see the extra treatments will knock down some of those billion little buddies I have swimming around my body.  I hate to have them eat and run, as in eat the good cells and then swim and look for more good cells, however I'll deal with the extra treatments even if it means saying good bye to my billion buddies.

Remission is sort of like hitting the pause button in your life.  The clock stops on the "you have x to y months to live" calendar.  Will it ever start again?  I suspect no one knows for sure.  This whole experience is sort of a virtual reality trip.

I know I had surgery, but I really didn't have any pain before or after.  I know I have had some side effects, but I don't really dwell on the past at all, therefore it's all behind me.  I know I had and have cancer, but for the most part I only see it on the screen and I don't feel pain from it.  As far as I know any discomfort I have now is no different than the discomfort I was having just from getting older.

Everyone says, "you look great" or "I can't believe you have cancer and are having chemo."  I get that totally.  I didn't lose my hair, I lost weight but have gained some of it back.  And I have always looked younger than I am.  So again I don't think you can see it in me.

So remission is sort of a waiting game.  I can begin to think seriously about making long term plans.  I  have started thinking about things I would love to do in my life.  Things like, white water rafting.  Visiting Yosemite National Park along with Crater, Yellowstone and other National Parks.  A trip to Rome, Venice and Florence  While we are at it, how about Paris, Switzerland, and London?  Maybe golf in Scotland or Pebble Beach?

I need to close a big deal, then put that cash aside for a "big trip."  Or perhaps one of our local multi-millionaires or billionaires might just throw a $100,000 my way.  I would be a gracious recipient and even send post cards if you like!!

See that is the difference being in remission and not.  You truly begin making some significant plans. I have to admit over the past year I would go to a movie and see the previews and ask myself, "will I be here to see that movie?"  Things like the next Star Wars or Indiana Jones.  Two of my all time favorites.

And of course important life events that come up.  Nieces and nephew graduations, marriages, babies, etc.  I have thought a lot about this over the last year or so.  More than ever before.  I really had never paid attention to how life goes on when someone passes away.

I mean I know it's true.  The world keeps spinning, the sun comes up every day and the seasons pass.  But in addition to that Survivor keeps adding new seasons,  60 Minutes still has stories to tell, the Illini keep playing (and losing).  While is may seem like the world turns "because" of us, in truth is turns in spite of us.   A humbling reality.

That should be comforting to my friends and family.  There will be a tomorrow  Hopefully I will have left a piece of me to remember, here is where I'm sorry I didn't make the commitment to get married and have a child.  But, there are others to carry on my legacy.  Family, friends and students I have mentored.

Don't think I'm throwing in the towel in any way here.  I'm in remission.  But I still have those billion little buddies swimming inside me.  Let's just hope we stay friends and they don't get tired of my swimming pool.  Or perhaps the drugs will help them relocate someplace else. 

TV-2's Brent Musburger. He's young, enthusiastic and rising to the Top.

(This is another story I wrote when I was Sports Editor in High School.  This story was published on April 11, 1974, so I was the ripe old age of 16.)

He's a Chicago sportscaster for WBBM-TV as well as being a radio commentator during most o the week and on weekends he handles the CBS Sports Spectacular.  His name is Brent Musburger and he has come close to achieving national fame.  But interestingly enough he hasn't always wanted to be a sportscaster.

Musburger clearly states that is was an "accident" that he became a sportscaster.  He was a writer for the old Chicago American and in 1968 he was assigned to cover the Olympic Games in Mexico City.  While down in Mexico, Musburger was contacted by WBBM-Radio and was asked to do nightly reports on the games for the network.

His work at Mexico impressed the management so much that he was asked to leave the newspaper and do radio commentaries.  He agreed and one thing led to another, including rating problems on their TV News, so one again he was asked to change jobs and go to TV2 to work as a sportscaster.

"I miss writing," stated Musburger, "I think it's a great talent,but I'm still able to do some of it, although it's a completely different style when you are writing for the verbal word."

I'm not at professional broadcaster.

He also misses the time that he had before when he was writing.  "In my business, with four radio shows, two TV shows and three radio commentaries, it real thins me out over the day", said Brent.  "I would say that my being a TV sportscaster is more luck,  I didn't study broadcasting at Northwestern and I don't consider myself a professional broadcaster at all."  He claims to be a "communicator" of the sport world rather than a broadcaster.  

CBS Sports Spectacular

Recently Musburger has found himself to be "nationally recognized" through his efforts as host of the CBS Sports Spectacular.  As was the case for Brent in local broadcasting , the national show cam to him by "accident".  When the time came to do the Spectacular, Musburger made it clear to the network that he would love to do it as long as he didn't have to leave Chicago.

"It's a dream for me to do a show like that, where I get to do a variety of things," states Musburger, "I get to meet a lot of people and see a lot of things."

The CBS Sports Spectacular though has been called "an effort by CBS to keep up with ABC's Wide World of Sports on the weekend sports scene.  "CBS Sports Spectacular is the result of the tremendous success of the Wide World,"  said Musburger.  "ABC does the best job of covering Olympic type sports; gymnastics, swimming, track and field." he adds.

Brent feels that one of the reasons for ABC's success is because of ABC's "showcase" happens to be sports whereas CBS's is their prime time programming.  Musburger stated that "if you were to look at an ABC prime time show and compare it with a CBS show you'd see a difference, CBS pumps more money into prime time.  At the same time, if you compare a sports show on ABC with a show on CBS you'd see the same difference, except in the case ABC puts the money into the sports telecast rather than CBS."

We don't try to keep up with ABC.

"There isn't anyway we at the Spectacular can keep up with ABC because they spend more money than we do an consequently they have better talent," continues Musburger. He goes on to say that, "Ther isn't anyone at CBS sitting around saying that we have to keep up with ABC. . .  we hold our own against them."

Although the viewing public only sees a sportscaster like Musburger for 5 or 10 minutes a day, it doesn't mean that he spends the majority of his day waiting for his telecast.  Musburger works about 10 hours a day, spending most of his time planning, producing and writing his sportscast.  But it is true that much of his work is done at the last minute.  "I try to put things off as long as I can, so I can give sports reports that are up to the minute," states Musburger.  "Some people have called me disorganized because of that," he continues, "But I maintain that the beauty of this business is that is is up to the moment."

For Musburger this means that many times scripts for the telecasts aren't written until 10 of 15 minutes before hand and many times much of the material read is straight off the wire service.  "I take it down as close to the sportscast as I can," stated Brent, "without putting my technicians in a bind, because they have to know it I have video-tape to run and things like that."

He's a very busy man though, even without his local sportscasting.  "On an average work week, when we've got the Sports Spectacular on Sunday, I work two or three days in Chicago and then go on location for the Spectacular," says Musburger.  "It's a kind of schedule that I won't be able to work all my life, but it's great for me right now," he commented.  

But interestingly enough Musburger claims to be getting more that just "attention" from the Sports Spectacular.  "I'm gaining a lot of experience.  By the time I get finished there won't be a major sport that I haven't done on television at least once."

The other side of Brent

Musburger is a man who is very dedicated to his work.  But there is another side to Brent that very few people see.  "Sports does not sell the 10 o'clock news," he emphasizes.  "Statistics sow that maybe one out of four persons that watch the broadcast are interested in sports.  In other words there are 75% who watch the news alone and don't care about the sports."  He continues by stating, "It's not as if I'm working on a sports section of a newspaper where anyone that picks it up is automatically passionate about it.  I'm dealing with an audience that for the most part could care less and I try not to drive them away."

Brent says that he "worries about people who think that he is unaware of the outside world."  Many times he has been told to shorten his broadcast and sometimes even to eliminate it due to a special report such as a murder.  But this doesn't even phase Musburger.  "I realize that someone's death is far more important that a score that I might put up in a situation like that.  I'm very aware of what's going on in the world."

"On the other hand, when I think that I have an important story, such as the death of Peter Revson, I expect to be given some extra time."

At the age of 33 he is starting to achieve some 'national fame,' but he accepts this in stride.  "You know it's nice, because all of us in this business have tremendous egos, but I don't know if I wold like to be recognized everywhere I go like a Johnny Carson.  Sure  I'd like the money and the attention, but he has no freedom at all.  I think he has paid a tremendous price for his fame.  Sure it's nice though, I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't like it."

"I like the kids, the athletes," he continues, "I don't have anything to prove.  I just enjoy being around them.  I love their enthusiasm, it's not about a payday for them, and I really like being a part of their world.  I think they have done for me than I ever have done for them."

Brent Musburger is a very emotional man, he cares about sports, but more importantly he cares about he world around him.  He cares of a a lot of people and the people care back.  Musburger doesn't have to worry about achieving fame, he has already got it.  

A Man's Creed

Good Friend Paul Wineman would share this with the undergraduate brothers at the American Leadership Academy

A MAN'S CREED

Let me live, Oh Mighty Master,
Such a life as men should know;

Testing triumph and disaster-­
Joy---but not too much of woe.

Let me run the gamut  over,

Let me fight and love and laugh,

And when I'm beneath the  clover,

Let this be my epitaph:

Here lies one who took his chances,

In this busy world of men;

Battled luck and circumstances;

Fought  and fell, and fought again;

Won sometimes, but did no crowing;

Lost sometimes, but did not wail;

Took his beating but kept  going;

And never let his courage fail.

--Author Unknown

You Never Know

You Never Know

You never know when someone

May catch a dream from you.

You never know when a little word

Or something you may do

May open up the windows

Of a mind that seeks the light—

The way you live may not matter at all,

But, you never know—it might.

And just in case it could be

That another’s life, through you,

Might possibly change for the better

With a broader and brighter view,

It seems it might be worth a try

At pointing the way to the right—

Of course, it may not matter at all,

But then again, ---it might.

Greg Gumbel, Sportscasting in Chicago at Age 28

(This is a reprint from the Rich South Centurian, June 3, 1974, written by a much younger Todd Salen)

The man known to many as "Channel 5's sportscaster " emerged from the door marked NBC to give our party of four a warm greeting. He led us into the TV studios past the familiar 'Newsfive' set and into an office simply marked sports.

The TV set in the corner was tuned to the CBS afternoon movie, "Dr. Strangelove". Our host, VVMAQ sportscaster Greg Gumbel set down some papers and started us on a grand tour of the studios--past the busy newsroom, into the film editing and video tape rooms, through the studios where Kup's Show and Sorting it Out are filmed, and finally back in the small sports office.

At 5:10 Gumbel sat at his desk to add a few words to his script for the 5:30 news. We sat back and watched the ending of Dr. Stranglove. Gumbel 's sportscast was scheduled for 5:40, so it was necessary to  collect the  scripts and take off for the studios just as the movie ended.

A red flashing light outside the door meant that a live telecast was in process. Gumbel led us into the director's  booth  where he waited for the cue that would send  him  into  the  studio.

The telecast was important that night with the lead story being a press conference with Dick Butkus. Gumbel read through his lines under the ·careful timing of the in-studio director. After about four minutes Floyd Kalber , walked back into place in front of the cameras. The director signaled for a commercial and Gumbel 's part of the 5: 00 news  was over.

At the age of 28, Greg Gumbel is the youngest sportscaster in Chicago and WMAQ is Gumbel's first job in  broadcasting.  After majoring in English in College, he got a job as Lyton's assistant advertising director. After a year he ventured over to Time Inc. and became assistant purchasing director. His next job came 2 1/2 years later when he went to work for American Hospital Supply Corporation in Evanston,   and after about six months as a salesman in Detroit, he was looking for a "way back to Chicago".

Greg heard about an opening at WMAQ and immediately applied for it. It took only an interview

and a tape for NBC to realize that they had what they were looking for and by March 12, 1973 Greg Gumbel  was  part of NBC.

"I was very lucky, lucky to learn about the opening and lucky to be there at the right time." Of course the fact that Greg's brother was also a sportscaster in Los Angeles helped him to get a shot at the job but Gumbel emphasized that, 'If I wasn't good enough they would have said no, even with my brother." Being 28 has its advantages and its disadvantages:    I'm as knowledgeable as anyone on what's happening today. But because I'm 28 someone else is 35 or 45 it would be evident that I'm not as knowledgeable on things that have happened in the past. There are people that can draw a great deal on history and work it into their sportscast, but my being younger and not being around when certain  things  happened prevents me from using the past as a reference.

This past fall Greg was a part of the very successful high school Basketball Game of the Week. '' It was an area that hadn't been tried before on a regular basis, and an area that was difficult to keep up week after week. I'd like to get into play by play a regular basis," commented Gumbel. "I don't have what many people consider and ideal voice f or broadcasting. I don't have a Charlie Jones type of a voice, very deep, I  mean I'd have to drink for three nights straight to get a voice like his! ''

But he liked doing high school basketball, feeling that it was an "innovative" idea "We found out what we could do with a few cameras, a producer-director, and associate director, a man on the  floor and a few technicians and it worked.''

He emphasized, “There is this tremendous void of high school sports, understandably.  You’ve got the Chicago Bears, the Chicago Bulls, the Blackhawks and the Cougars, the White Sox and the Cubs and the Aces and you’ve got the college sports to follow.  With that amount of activity going on its no wonder high school sports get passed on.”

This is a hot bed as far as high school sports go and this was a potential way to at least solve part of it with the “high school basketball game of the week.”  Looking out the window we saw an NBC crew preparing to shoot a live shot from the roof of the 19^th floor for the weather forecast.  “I don’t think that has ever been done before”, laughed Greg.

Gumbel is a busy man, working a Wednesday to Sunday week from 12:00 noon to about 10:30 and presenting two shows daily.  He has a four minute fifteen second slot to fill in the afternoon and three minute fifteen second slot to fill in the night time news.  Gumbel spends much of his time watching what is going on that night in a conference room with four TVs.  “I spend Sundays in there with each TV tuned to a different sport.  This way I get to watch all the channels at once and I don’t miss much of the action.”

His Sportscast

To me the most important thing about my sportscast is to present a visual show. I don't think I’m on there to have people look at me talk, because facts and figures can be read from the newspaper. He feels that "people who tune in to watch the sports are looking in to see something they couldn’t 't  attend. "

TV has to be visual. "It's a different thing to read a newspaper and say Phil Esposito, or Wayne Kashman scored goals, it's a different thing to see how they scored."

Probably a question that rests on the minds of many Greg Gumbel fans who remember NBC's sportscaster of old, Johnny Morris, is what happens to Greg when Johnny comes back from Europe.  "When Johnny  Morris comes back I probably go back to weekend shows and reporting Thursdays and Fridays.  When I started here I signed a contract to do that and I couldn’t possibly quarrel with going back to that because that is what my contract says.” 

WMAQ and Newsfive has suffered some problems in the ratings department in the past year dropping from first to second place in the polls.  “I don’t know if it’s true that this number of people will read, say that ABC now leads the ratings and on the basis of that say that I must be watching the wrong channel and turn to their channel.”

“People will call and say ‘hey I think the only thing good about your newscast is you’ and I’ll say great but why?  And they don’t have a reason.  I’d like to know why so many people watch channel 2 on Saturday night.  Is it because they follow All in the Family and MASH and Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett?  By then people may be too drunk to get out of their chair and turn the channel!”

"I  don't  think that a sportscaster will affect the ratings but there are people who are really sports minded  who will say,  well,

"Sportscasters don't effect the ratings”

channel 5 carried this today so maybe  they'll have the highlights or channel 2 carried this.  That’s like saying who has the best sports show in town.  Does it depend on the number of videos you can put into your time allotted?  Or does it depend on the number of live interviews you can put on the air?  Or does it depend on how well you get along with the newsman or your personal appearance?  But again I think it’s a visual thing.  I think people tune in not to see a sportscaster but to see the sports.”

“Floyd Kalber is Dangerous”

“Floyd Kalber is dangerous to be with on live camera because he is extremely knowledgeable in sports.  He is liable to ask any question on sports and it would be a good question.  I could easily not know the answer and say ‘I don’t know, but I’ll find out.’  It’s something that can be a good thing if the newscaster knows what he is talking about or a bad thing if the newscaster turns and says ‘How’d the Cougars do, anybody hit any home runs?’  Fortunately we don’t have that problem.”

The conversation then turn to a lighter side of Gumbel as mistakes on live tv were brought up. ·"My first time on the air was really amazingly smooth, I was really nervous. But there have been times when I have started to talk about the Bulls, and the Blackhawks film came on. I said Chet Walker drove the baseline and hey that's not the Bulls! and of course everyone in the studio breaks up".

"A couple of times I've gone on with the pages on my script out of order, that's fun.  I'll start reading something and the director in the booth is looking and he doesn't see where I am. He starts throwing papers around trying to find out where I am because maybe he's supposed to roll a film and he hasn’t done it yet.  I cause a few heart failures once in a while_''

He continued by stating that "I was searching around for the right way to read a script  on the air and I  noticed that Floyd Kalber  moves one page to his left and reads it on his left then he moves to the page on this right, so I tried that. Well I used to read one page and turn it over, and read the next and turn it over. So, I moved the page to the left and the director said five seconds, so he snapped his fingers and I completely ignored that page. I had skipped a whole page and in the booth they didn't know what I was doing. I felt bad afterwards but they said it's all part of learning. ''

Being only 28, Gumbel has a large part of his life ahead of him.  Although there are no plans for the immediate future he does plan to stay in broadcasting.  “I would never want to leave it now.  I find myself putting in more hours, more basic hard work and more time in broadcasting, but it seems like less.  I love my work and I’d never want to leave.”

“The first thing I’d like to do is become proficient at what I’m doing now and while I think that I’m improving, I don’t think that I’m where I’d like to be.  I still get nervous once in a while about things that professionals like Charlie Jones don’t even care about.  Hopefully, I’ll work for NBC.”

Greg Gumbel is a youngster in the broadcasting world but he has some advantages in the business.  He’s a dedicated man, a searcher of the facts and a perfectionist.  But most importantly he is a human being, very aware of the public and the public’s image of the people in TV.  He does everything he can to make the public believe that TV personalities are not superhuman.  It’s this understanding of the public that is going to make Greg Gumbel a top sportscaster.  Maybe once the public notices him like he notices them they will realize he is already one of the very best.