Tiger in Philadelphia

It has been my pleasure to have watched the play of many of the world’s top golfers. This past week, I hit the jackpot when, for the first time, I saw Tiger Woods “live” (i.e., not on the telly).

Tiger did not have an especially good tournament, finishing four over par in the AT&T National at the Aronimink Golf Club in suburban Newtown Square, PA. He finished in a tie for 46th, and won $16,581. Many Tiger followers will call that “chump change” for the likes of Tiger.

I agree with most golf fans of today “in the know” that Tiger is the best golfer of all time.

Before Tiger, I once put Ben Hogan in that slot, then Jack Nicklaus.

I never was able to watch Sam Snead in person (nor another great Byron Nelson). Snead won more golf tournaments than anybody. Now, Tiger is on a mission to surpass Slammin’ Sammy. Of course, at this writing, the Tiger question most golf fans want answered is WHEN is Tiger going to return to better than $16,581 form?

My first golf tournament was the 1963 Western Open in Chicago. I don’t remember much about it, except Bob Goalby and Bob Charles and Jack Rule were in the field. Arnold Palmer won the tournament, but I don’t remember much about my visit to the Beverly Country Club. The most noteworthy thing I remember is that I was in Philadelphia on the Friday of the tournament for a job interview with WRCV Radio-TV, owned by NBC. The news director and assistant news director, during the interview, seemed favorably impressed, and said they would contact me the next day back in my home city in Iowa. I had to cough up that I wouldn’t be home, but rather at a golf tournament. At the time, I didn’t think that might be a good thing for my resume, but Saturday night, after all day at Beverly, the call came through: you have the job.

Although I have watched Arnold Palmer in person since the early 1960′s, I could not adopt him as Number One of all time. But I well recognized he has been called “The King”. While working for WHO-TV in Des Moines, I was doing the half-hour Sunday night TV newscasts and one Sunday, Arnie was playing an exhibition at Waveland Golf Course in Des Moines. With a noisy camera of the era, I followed him around all 18 holes, recording virtually every shot. I had asked him prior to the exhibition if it would bother him; I said my camera was anything but noiseless. He said it would be no problem if I started the camera at least 15 seconds before he hit the ball. On one occasion, I was asleep at the switch, discovering he was about to hit an approacb shot to the fourth green, turned on the camera amidst the deafening silence and practically on his backswing, Arnie stopped. Everybody laughed but me. I was terribly embarrassed and suffice it to say I did not resume the coverage until the next hole. A little post-script to that faux pas: Arnie started once again to hit the ball, and then actually topped it up the fairway, so I felt further hurt. But he put his third shot on the par five hole on the green, and walked off with a birdie anyway. I have thanked him for that ever since. That night, after our film editor had put the whole three-minute package together, I used my local knowledge of Waveland (which I had played a hundred times) to ad-lib his entire round. It brought many nice compliments from people who did not trudge 18 with Arnie.

I still felt Ben Hogan was the best ever.

When I heard that Bantam Ben was coming to Philadelphia for the IVB Championship, in 1966 at Whitemarsh Country Club, I asked our Channel 3 sportscaster Jim Leaming if I could use his media pass if he wasn’t. No problem. My goal was to watch Ben Hogan.

To my surprise I was pretty much alone in my admiration for Ben Hogan. He was joined by the Hebert brothers, Lionel and Jay, and somebody else I do not recall, and me. Four players and me. No other gallery for Ben that day. Are the people in this city crazy???? It was not Ben’s first visit to Philadelphia. Perhaps you remember his famous one-iron to the 18th green at Merion to win the 1950 U-S Open? This was just more than one year after his horrific auto crash with a Greyhound bus in February, 1949. He was nearly killed; a broken collarbone was only one of his injuries that had doctors unsure whether he ever would pick up a golf club again. Glenn Ford played Ben in a movie about his life called “FOLLOW THE SUN”.

I wish I would remember more about his round of Wednesday practice golf at Whitemarsh. There were no Arnold Palmer-topped-fairway-wood moments. In fact, he was rather jovial all around the course, enjoying some, for him, casual banter with the Hebert brothers. Even in those days (he was now 53), Ben was pretty much a robot on the golf course. I am pretty sure Ben did not make the cut for weekend play in that tournament. I also watched him all around the course on one of the regular tournament days. I thought I was watching the best ever.

In those Whitemarsh days, Arnold won the championship in 1963, the same year I saw him win in Chicago. But Jack Nicklaus ultimately won three times at Whitemarsh, and I must be candid: Jack was the better golfer. I interviewed both of them during my TV years and found Jack to be the far more congenial, frank and cooperative. I think I caught Arnie on bad days, I’m not sure. For some time, Arnie had a tough time realizing that Jack was surpassing him. Now, they are pals, and I like that.

Jack has won 18 major tournaments. That is more than anybody, ever. And up until the last decade, I had changed the “best ever” from Ben to Jack. I saw Jack do more incredible things on the golf course than anybody else.

Until this past weekend. Tiger is the best ever. There is no question about that. Of course, I am talking golf here, not incorporating his off-course behavior into that analogy.

More than a year ago, it was revealed that the Congressional golf course in Washington, DC was to be renovated and re-shaped for a future U-S Open. It was the site of the 2009 tournament that was Tiger’s personal signature. For the next two years, however, the Tiger AT&T National needed another home. So 20 months ago, Tiger and his Foundation looked for a substitute home course for two years while Congressional is getting its major fixup. And his Foundation would continue to receive parts of the profits from the tournament.

Then, November happened. Tiger and his girl friends hit the front pages of newspapers and all the sports and celebrity TV shows all over the world. It was a horrific crash. Anybody, as I did, who already had bought a weeklong ticket for Aronimink wondered what it meant insofar as Tiger finally playing Philadelphia.

They sell “season” tickets for golf tournaments the same as NFL football teams. You have to buy the whole package: Tuesday through Sunday. In the NFL, you have to pay for the “pre-season” games when the regulars hardly even play. In golf, Tuesday is a practice day, Wednesday the pro-am.

Aronimink probably was one of the first events in which many people were happy to buy the “pre-season”. I watched Tiger play nine holes (he only played nine) on Tuesday, and 18 Wednesday. But actually, nobody saw him play all nine, or all 18. Oh, sure, some healthy blokes might have seem him walking or putting on every hole, but hardly in the fashion of being able to say you SAW HIM.

If you were lucky enough to get a spot where you could see him drive, you likely did not see him finish the hole. There were just too many people. So, after you had seen one laser drive (he was hitting the ball just about farther than anybody in the field, with the ball resembling an Astronaut in a Cape Canaveral rocket), you realized you had to concentrate on your position on the green, most likely the next green, not the one you just saw him where he hit the laser.

For the first day of competition, I had decided to forego watching his drive, and went directly to the Number One green. It was a 12:56 p.m. tee time so just about all the Tiger Fans already were on Aronimink real estate. I was fortunate to get a standing spot just behind a guy not any taller, and I was able to see Tiger’s Thursday drive off #1 alight in the fairway. His short approach to the green was dead-on, and Tiger drained the putt for a birdie. The pros say you can’t birdie ‘em all if you don’t birdie the first hole. Tiger had birdied the first hole.

But, alas, when he played the second hole, I already had headed for #3 green in the hope that I would find another vantage point almost as good as at #1. I did not see the play on the second hole. And Tiger bogeyed #2, and he no longer was one under par with just 71 more holes to go.

While earlier this year, Tiger has been spraying drives off the fairways, in this tournament he was impressively accurate. And long. He hit the ball so long off the tee. He said afterward he used his driver almost every par four and par five hole. He sounded as though that was alot of fun for him.

On his first day, Tiger birdied the first par three hole (fifth hole) to once again get a red number on the portable scoreboard. He finished the first nine at one under par, and his huge gallary already was figuring this was just Thursday, heck, this tournament is in the bag. (He was the defending champion for the AT&T National, having won last year at Congressional.)

But, of course, Tiger having proved his mortality in the November revelations, he bogeyed the 14th, a par three, to fall back to even.

He then did the un-Tiger-like: he bogeyed the par five 16th (Tiger bogeyed a par five??? C’mon!!!). Now, he was over par. And he never again for the four days would see a red number.

In fact, the very next hole, the par three 17th, Tiger double-bogeyed. His par on the 18th gave him a three-over-par 73 for the first day.

Most of the Aronimink gallery was there to see Tiger. Last November did not interfere except perhaps between Tiger’s ears. Then again, at the British Open in less than two weeks, Tiger may erase his recent negative golfing past.

The attendance at Aronimink was 36,685 Thursday, 45,366 Friday, 45,231 Saturday and 35,872 Sunday. While the blue sky weather moved into the 90′s for the weekend, I think the Sunday decline was as much due to Tiger’s far-back standing as it was perspiration. At the start of the day Sunday, Tiger was 13 strokes behind the eventual winner Justin Rose, who won by the narrowest of margins.

Tiger had even par rounds of 70 Friday and Saturday, but this kept him three over par and far behind. There was no charge. And Sunday, he finished with a one over par 71. In Round 2, he did birdie two holes in a row, #3 and #4, both par fours. Tiger had 13 birdies in all. I saw about half of them. I am happy about that. As the song says in “FIDDLER”, ON THE OTHER HAND, he had 15 bogeys and one double-bogey, mostly from faulty strokes with the flat stick. From tee to green, I would say: WATCH FOR A TIGER IN THE SHORT GRASS AT ST. ANDREWS, the British Open July 15-18.

I have seen Ben, though not in his prime, and I know his terrific record. I saw Jack and Arnie in their prime. And now Tiger.

Tiger is the best ever.

A Very Costly “Killed Series”

By John Pierron BJ57

The University of Missouri School of Journalism is celebrating its Centennial September 10-12, 2008, and has asked journalism graduates to provide books, news stories or anecdotes from their careers. Nearly all of the articles submitted are likely to be from broadcast or published news stories. This account, an “anecdote” by John Pierron (BJ 1957), is an exception. It is a summary of a television news series in Philadelphia more than 40 years ago that was killed by a New York lawyer, and what happened thereafter.

The subject of the series itself, and the reason it was killed, though unrelated to each other, are described in this “non-story”, the story that never got on the air. Fortunately, it triggered related stories that kept me on the case of the Philadelphia Boy Wonder Jerry Wolman.

Let me say at the outset the cancellation of the series soured me on the news business. It was not difficult for me to “resign” from it a few years later. At the same time, I never have lost my love for journalism itself.

I have written this “anecdote” on a journalism career mostly as a 2008 story to reflect the developments through the years and concluding with today’s news, some of which is anything but pretty.

The station I worked for was then known as KYW-TV, Philadelphia; the “name” was changed to CBS3 in recent years, and within the past year, the station has received far more than its share of notoriety due to the firing of both of the station’s top/star anchors. I bet that hasn’t happened in your town!

Alycia Lane and Larry Mendte were co-anchors at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. Monday through Friday on Channel 3, Philadelphia. Lane was discharged January 1 of this year, and Mendte was fired June 23. Unbelievable.

Alycia Lane was fired after getting her name in the gossip pages of Philadelphia and New York newspapers too often. The final straw came last December after she was arrested in New York City after Saturday midnight, charged with hitting a New York police officer in a bizarre car stop.

Her co-anchor, Larry Mendte, lost his job after the FBI started investigating allegations that, for about two years, he had snooped on the e-mails of Alycia Lane, and fed gossip about her to the media. Yep, he was spying on his co-anchor: more than 500 e-mails just this year since she was fired! Hundreds more in the two years prior. He was charged in mid-July with a felony: intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization to obtain information. He pleaded guilty in August. Sentencing is scheduled for November, 2008.

I’m not making this up. That’s the CBS3 infamously of today. It is not the kind of news you expect from the original Eyewitness News newsroom.

My anecdote from the 1960′s in some of its ramifications never made it into print. You are reading about it here for the first time, and be forewarned: it does not have the explosiveness of Alycia and Larry.

But it cost you and your friends and neighbors a lot more money, especially if you live in or near a “major league” city.

THE ANECDOTE:

One of the many things you learn at the University of Missouri School of Journalism is word usage. You are taught that the word “very” in nearly all instances is unnecessary, a kind of redundancy, at least in news stories. If you are tired, it says little if any more if you say you are “very” tired. If you are happy, you are happy. It does not say much more to say you are very happy. And so on. Those are quick illustrations describing word usages in a news story.

It is this Mizzou journalism graduate’s clear declaration that if something is VERY costly, it must be VERY extraordinary. Thus, this story about a VERY COSTLY series prepared in the 1960′s is very exceptional and very unique. The actual cost is incalculable. We will just have to agree we are talking megabucks.

Said another way: the result of the cancellation of the series by a New York lawyer cost the taxpayers of the United States many millions of dollars.

The reason the series was spiked was not revealed (to this reporter) until 15 months later. It was bizarre. I will explain that later.

The events described below started in 1963. Jerry Wolman, a Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, one-time grocer, bought the Philadelphia Eagles for $5,505,000. At age 37, he was the youngest owner in the National Football League. In Philadelphia, he soon was known as “The Boy Wonder” as he also was expanding his vistas in the field of construction. He was a fun guy to meet and know, and he was very popular in his new city.

In the mid-1960′s, he was in partnership with co-owners Ed Snider, Bill Putnam and Joe Scott as they put together plans for a franchise in the National Hockey League, which became the Philadelphia Flyers. The team needed an arena to play in. Philadelphia had nothing.

Jerry Wolman proposed building a hockey arena in South Philadelphia. Working with Philadelphia City Council and Mayor James H. J. Tate, he proposed spending $8 million to build it. Key to the plan was to build on city-owned land. Yes, the City was allowing Wolman to build a private facility on city land. So terms had to be arranged. City Council bragged that the Boy Wonder was using his own money to build the arena! The taxpayers can avoid the obligation!! Isn’t that wonderful? That became the typical City Council answer when there was any question about the arena deal.

City administration financial people, working with Wolman and lawyers, put together a 50-year lease that was the sweetest sweetheart Wolman could have hoped for. The cost was $15,000 per year, or $1,250 monthly for 50 years. In addition, he was given a high share of the parking fees on the basis that he needed guaranteed income to pay for his lease. But Wolman had to pay no real estate taxes. You would have to be crazy to think it was not a great deal for Wolman. No real estate taxes. Most of the parking revenues. And a lease he probably could pay off annually with profits from one rock concert each year.

This (City Hall) reporter sought to question all the sweetness. One of my first stops was to see Harry Ferleger, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Civic Center. As they say, FULL DISCLOSURE: in the 1970′s, for eight years I was the Civic Center’s Executive Director after Harry Ferleger. How I got there indirectly stems from this anecdote caper but is not parcel to this story.

Harry Ferleger was glad to see me. He said he had to be careful with what he said, but Mayor Tate knew of his opinions and concerns, and he was authorized if not encouraged to speak more or less as a concerned city official. He told me he had reviewed the arena planning (this was before the facility got the name “Spectrum”). What it revealed was that, thanks to City Council, the taxpayers were on the eve of giving Jerry Wolman a license to print money. He knew the Civic Center would lose the Philadelphia 76ers as a tenant, and that was OK, he thought. But he pointed out that basketball revenues that had been coming into the city coffers for many years would now be going to Wolman. The future of the arena business was to be rock and other concerts, and Wolman would be getting that (moolah), too. Not the Civic Center and the city’s tax coffers.

Also, he said, the Ice Follies and Ice Capades and the circus road shows surely would want to move to the larger, new arena. Should the city’s taxpayers underwrite this, seeing these revenues go elsewhere? It was more money destined for Wolman’s deepening pockets.

Subsequently, Harry Ferleger stood outside Convention Hall (part of the Civic Center complex) and spoke to me in a fairly lengthy filmed TV news interview, which became the main theme of the five-part series I wrote and edited. He would not tell me on film what he had offered in his office: the City Council hearing on the arena lease, which took a mere one hour in Council chambers (without public hearing for taxpayers), was a sham, a joke. City Council did not call him for testimony (Ferleger thought it was on purpose), and the comments offered by the learned Council members were either extremely naive (unlikely) or wink-wink let’s-get-this-done-in-a-hurry.

Of course, he couldn’t describe the Council hearing for what it was if he wanted to keep his job.

Working with our News Director Al Primo, we prepared five scripts, complete with film for each night’s series segment. The series declared that City Council had given Wolman a “lucrative” lease for the new arena. I said this in the first sentence of my copy.

Said in brief, the key to the whole issue was the mathematics. Rock shows had just started to become popular, and Harry Ferleger wanted to see the City and its taxpayers get the revenues to be achieved, not Jerry Wolman.

Al Primo told our station General Manager, Fred E. Walker, we had a hot series ready for air. Fred was totally in support of the series, but thought the word “lucrative” could get us sued. He arranged for the three of us to go the offices (a few blocks away) of Dechert Price & Rhoads, the station’s legal counsel. The head of the law firm of more than 200 lawyers and the firm’s chief Vice President in charge of financial law greeted us, and we sat down to discuss what we had. I was told to read out loud each of the five reports. Where there was a sound-on-film interview, they accepted my ad lib comments as to what the spokesman said. The key concern was that word “lucrative”.

The financial officer said it was his opinion that the overwhelming evidence of both the mathematics of the bookings and the obviously sweet “lucrative” lease clearly demonstated the series represented “fair comment and criticism” under the laws of libel.

He said the series did not even hint of libel and needed to be broadcast to the people of Philadelphia. I sat there, shall we say, very, very happy and I am pleased to say Fred Walker and Al Primo walked back with me to the station similarly elated. We knew we had a big story.

A few days later, we were on the eve of station promotionals to “plug” the series when Al called me into his office.

“We have to go back to Dechert Price and Rhoads,” he said. He said Fred Walker had received a call from the Group W (station owner) corporate office in New York, which was sending a lawyer to Philadelphia to review the series. The reason?? Al Primo had no clue, nor, I later found out, did Fred Walker, although he apparently had phoned New York, the Group W corporate office, to crow a bit about how we had a story that should stop City Council from a major taxpayers gift to the Boy Wonder.

Nevertheless the series was “on hold” and of course so were the news promotions.

In a day or so, back we were in that same law firm conference room, and this time a (six feet four inches tall) unfriendly, unsmiling Group W lawyer walked in, shook hands all around. He asked that I read the series as I had a few days before.

You had to be there. It was most bizarre. As soon as I started and passed the word “lucrative”, the New Yorker shook his head, but did not interrupt. Everybody froze, though. I saw that. As I continued, the head-shaking continued at periodic points, and I could see the financial officer trying to get a facial read from his law partner, the head of the firm.

When I finished, the New York lawyer quickly declared that the series was generally faulty and probably libelous, and it could not be aired. The Philadelphia lawyers wanted better clarifications, but the New Yorker was abrupt and offputting, and before we realized it, he was getting up with his briefcase and heading for the door. Decision made.

After the New Yorker left to return to the Big Apple, the financial officer felt compelled to tell us he thought the New York lawyer was crazy.

The three of us from the station walked back in a daze, trying to figure it all out. We could come up with no explanation. We all felt we were had, for some reason.

Turns out, we were. And so were the taxpayers of Philadelphia, and subsequently the taxpayers in cities and towns all over the United States.

This year, I contacted Fred Walker and Al Primo for comments about the 1960′s arena series. FULL DISCLOSURE AGAIN: Earlier this summer, neither could remember the series and the trips to Dechert, Price and Rhoads. I did not understand this but I accepted it, of course. (In early September, after reading a copy of this anecdote, Al Primo sent an e-mail saying that now he did, in fact, recall the saga. For a while, the writer here was questioning the writer’s own level of senility.)

After the series kill, our “non-story” got around. The whisper campaign assured that the rumor was spread: Channel 3 killed a series that basically said the arena deal was a colossal nightmare and probably precedent-setting. I know I told one particular influential figure who did not keep the story quiet. But it never went public until the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on the lease, and yes, described it with that very word: “lucrative”.

Ironically, this was in connection with my Jerry Wolman scoop.

While the arena was under construction (it opened in the Fall of 1967) or soon thereafter, Jerry Wolman suffered a devastating setback on his major construction project in Chicago, the 100-story skyscraper John Hancock Building. He was prime contractor. The ground sank at the site. It cost him $20 million and started him on the road to bankruptcy.

I found this out, and told the News Director. However, I had just one source, and this source only could speculate that it would have negative implications for the Eagles, the arena and the new hockey team . And the News Director was scared. He feared we would be sued for libel, and KYW-TV would end up paying for the John Hancock Building. I realized the vulnerability, of course. And besides, Jerry Wolman already had reached icon status with his Philadelphia Eagles and it was impossible to know how deep his financial troubles extended.

It took nine months to get my scoop on the air. And I still was first with the story.

I had kept in touch with the Jerry Wolman news in the intervening months, so my source tipped me that Wolman, a Jewish man, was about to do the seemingly unthinkable: he was heading to Kuwait to seek a 43-million-dollar loan. From Arabs!!!! My story did not need to include this tidbit, and didn’t. It was blockbuster without the Mideast problem needlessly overshadowing it.

Because our newsroom knew all about Jerry Wolman’s problems for months, it no longer was a belabored decision to LEAD with the story on the 11 p.m. newscast one Friday night. I know Vince Leonard, newscaster, enjoyed the thrill of delivering the opening line, saying that Philadelphia Eagles owner Jerry Wolman is “on his way” TO TRY TO SAVE HIS FINANCIAL EMPIRE. Then he turned it over to me and I was able to give the total story “live” on camera in by then typical Eyewitness News coverage. In those days Channel 3 news was way ahead of the opposition and enjoyed a much larger audience and therefore higher ratings.

The Wolman story really had come out of the blue, so to speak, as far as the public was concerned. Shortly after I finished, I had a phone call from a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter (City Hall guy the same as I) who desperately wanted help on matching the story. He said his editor was screaming at him for not having it, as though it was some halls-of-City Hall story. I told him it took me nine months to get to tonight, and while I understood his comments, he should not be the least bit ashamed at being scooped, as it was a very long and sometimes frustrating saga. However he did it, he put together a fairly accurate front-page story in the Sunday Inquirer.

This reporter, Don McDonough, in writing follow-up stories years later, having heard my sad tale about the killing of the series, used that word “lucrative” (in print) in including reference to the arena lease more than once.

In November, 1967, with the new arena just opening, Wolman called a news conference to confirm that he was in a financial squeeze. He blamed a tight money market. That never was my understanding.

Now that Jerry Wolman no longer was hands-off insofar as any negative publicity was concerned, the arena lease came in for public review. A lawsuit was filed in United States District Court in effect contending that the taxpayers of Philadelphia had been defrauded. In 1971, U. S. District Judge A. Leon Higginbotham ruled. It might have been one of the first “modern” examples of a judge legislating from the bench. The basic charge was that the Spectrum paid no real estate taxes. But the Judge ruled the arena was situated on city ground that was used for a “public” purpose. Therefore, the City Council lease was legal and proper. The sins were in the terms of the lease.

Some lawyers considered the ruling a stretch. Nonetheless the federal court declared in loud language that a private entity, frankly, could receive sweetheart deals in the creation of public assembly facilities. It really started the ball rolling.

For much of the past 40 years, since Jerry Wolman, taxpayers have opened up their wallets to pay bills for wealthy sports team owners. Philadelphia was first, and Judge Higginbotham served as the legal enabler in a stretch of what public purpose should accrue to the pockets of a private citizen (i.e., Jerry Wolman). People defending Wolman back there in the 1960′s pointed out that Wolman’s own $8 million would pay for the arena. But remember he did not have to pay for the land (valued at perhaps $6 million) and he got that lucrative lease. That word has been a buzz word ever since, especially by those opposing taxpayer financing of public assembly facilities and sports franchises. Example: in a New York Times article on the subject published July 27, 1996, writer Leslie Wayne wrote:

EVEN AS MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR SPORTS PALACES ARE BEING PROPOSED FOR ASSORTED BEARS, BENGALS, HAWKS, VIKINGS AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL TEAMS, A LOT OF PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON WOULD LIKE TO CLAMP DOWN ON LUCRATIVE PUBLIC SUBSIDIES THAT THEY CONTEND DO MUCH MORE TO HELP ALREADY-WEALTHY PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM OWNERS THAN THE COMMUNITIES THAT SUPPORT THE TEAMS.

The article said the controversy over stadium financing dated back to the 1986 Federal Tax Reform Act, which was thought to have eliminated the public subsidies by forcing team owners to finance stadiums with taxable, rather than tax-free, dollars. The effort, however, backfired.

The National Taxpayers Union has written extensively about the “spending spree”. It said that although a casual observer might believe the flood of tax dollars poured into new stadiums sprang from some public mandate, appearances are deceiving. When asked, taxpayers generally oppose spending tax dollars to build stadiums. This margin of disapproval probably would be even higher were it not for extreme pressure from public figures, and the media-fueled belief that bad publicity associated with losing a sports franchise will harm their city’s image.

The Taxpayers Union declares that those who favor stadium subsidies cite a variety of economic and emotional arguments to influence taxpayers. Many of these are disingenuous or are based on inadequate data and the misinterpretation of economic principles. It is safe to say that regardless of what stadium backers claim, taxpayers are not getting the most for their money. So said the taxpayers union.

So the upshot in 1967: Jerry Wolman no longer could afford his first love, the Philadelphia Eagles. I made a half-dozen trips to United States District Court in Baltimore to attend the hearings of the Bankruptcy Referee (starting in April, 1968) that climaxed with Wolman being forced to sell the team to Leonard Tose for $16.1 million, at the time a record price for a professional sports team.

I interviewed both of them (TV sound-on-film) together on the federal courthouse steps a half-hour after the Referee issued his peculiar ruling.

This is perhaps the only somewhat amusing aspect of this whole story, although Jerry Wolman would not agree. What the Referee did that day when Leonard Tose was introduced to the Philadelphia TV audience (yes, we were the only station covering the hearing, so it was an easy exclusive) was presented in the form of a suggestion from the bench.

The Referee said he would approve Wolman retaining the Eagles if Tose would agree to loan him the money which he (Tose) would borrow from the huge First Pennsylvania Bank. I could tell Tose did not like it, but he was powerless to say so in my interview. He came across as Wolman’s best buddy, although Leonard Tose wanted the Eagles late that afternoon as much as Wolman wanted to keep them.

The next morning, I got a call from John Bunting, Chairman and President of First Pennsylvania Bank. He had watched my interview the prior evening and asked me to clarify what I had reported for his legal and financial officers. Imagine that! John Bunting’s office was just a two-block walk from the station and I got there at 10:30 a.m. There were eight people in the room (sorry, ladies, this was the 1960′s; they were all men).

John Bunting started: “Now, John, we appreciate your coming over here to explain your story. I think I heard you clearly, but some of these men didn’t have you on. What you said is that the Federal Referee suggested that we should loan the money to Tose (he paused, I nodded) and he will loan it to Wolman???”

Right. The bankers all shook their heads not unlike that New York lawyer.

Right there, I had my last Jerry Wolman story. He would lose the Eagles.

Some days later, I saw him and asked him about the reporting on his financial difficulties. When he returned from the Middle East without that loan, was he told who reported on his threatened bankruptcy? He said he knew I was the reporter. What I wanted him to know, though: it took me nine months to get the story on the air!

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, with his usual big and winning smile. I was dumbfounded. Why? I asked. And I still don’t know exactly how to understand his answer, no financial wizard I. He said: “You would have saved me alotta money if you reported it when you first knew it.”

Jerry Wolman never got to enjoy his arena. Because he could not afford it, the arena had to be operated under the protection of federal bankruptcy court. Ed Snider, who had been a Vice President of the Eagles and Wolman’s partner, took over the operation of both the arena and the Flyers.

Suffice it to say that Snider became a super mogul and a very, very (emphasis intentional, and School of Journalism guidelines roundly considered) wealthy man. The newly-named Spectrum made great history for Philadelphia sports and entertainment over the years. Snider got all the plums that Jerry Wolman might have enjoyed if that Chicago ground was not so squishy.

A key reason Snider escaped greater scrutiny over the lucrative lease was quick in coming after the Spectrum opened. At a matinee of the Ice Capades in February, 1968 (four months after the opening), as spectators waiting for the show to start watched in amazement, high winds ripped away a 50-by-100 foot section of the Spectrum roof and sent it crashing to the ground outside. This added to the overall arena financial woes, and Snider quickly became a sympathetic figure, shrouding the friendly lease terms.

More than 20 years ago, the Philadelphia Inquirer provided keen perspective into Edward Malcolm Snider.

“I had decided to bring a National Hockey League franchise into Philadelphia”, Snider said. “And to do that, the Spectrum had to be built. We would build the arena with private funds, and the city would get extra revenue without spending a dime. Everyone thought it was a fabulous deal at the time.”

Not everyone, Ed.

“So we started the construction, and Wolman and I ended our partnership. I got the Flyers, he got the Spectrum. When the Spectrum went bankrupt, I stepped in and paid off the debts 100 cents on the dollar.”

In that same era, the President of the Philadelphia Phillies at the time, William Y. Giles, said: “Ed Snider has to rank as one of the most successful and imaginative sports entrepreneurs ever. With the exception of the O’Malley family and the Dodgers, I cannot think of anyone else who has made a lot of money on a sports franchise. Most people make their money somewhere else, then buy a team.”

Another stretch.

In “Ballpark Boondoggle”, a summary of the public funding of arenas and stadiums by the National Taxpayer Union, the largesse given to sports franchise owners is described at length. The article points out that not all businesses can get away with what sports franchises do. If Wal-Mart and Home Depot depended on taxpayer subsidies to meet payroll, they would not be in existence very long. Taxpayers would rebel at this type of corporate welfare and Wall Street would devalue the company’s stock.

“Professional sports franchises are different,” says the National Taxpayer Union. “Because they are closely identified with the cities where they play and are frequently mentioned in the media, sports teams hold a special place in the fabric of many American cities.”

The origin of largesse for the owners and operators of sports and public assembly facilities clearly originated in the City Council of Philadelphia in the mid 1960′s.

City Council did not want Harry Ferleger to testify. The impact of this has been multiplied into millions and millions of taxpayer dollars. City and other public financial people (at the state and federal levels) do not want to conduct serious and accurate analyses of how much public money has been wasted (funneled into the deep pockets of wealthy sports franchise owners) due to the tremendous public relations and taxpayer backlash that would occur.

The taxpayers are left with having a good (or bad) cry.

Actually, the Spectrum will not be able to fulfill all of its obligations over 50 years, the lease term. This year, it was announced that the now-named Wachovia Spectrum, “the city’s oldest major professional sports venue”, will be demolished next spring to make way for a proposed hotel, retail and entertainment complex.

“This has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Snider said. “The Spectrum is my baby.”

Need we mention that the new project, known as “Philly Live!”, will be built on city-owned land?

So, what was that New York lawyer up to? Why was the Eyewitness News arena series killed, and killed so abruptly, without even the suggestion of a re-write, perhaps?

Fifteen months after the lawyer went back to Group W headquarters in New York, I came to work one morning and was told that “MacDonald” wanted to see me.

MacDonald was Kenneth T. MacDonald, KYW-TV Vice President and General Manager, who had replaced Fred Walker.

The newsroom was abuzz about why Pierron, a reporter, was being called into the big (and new) boss’ office. Most unusual.

I went from the Eyewitness News newsroom on the second floor to the executive offices on the third floor, somewhat fearful, but telling myself that I soon would know the why.

He obviously knew his summons was unusual. “Come in, John. No problem!!” he assured me.

He explained that the station, the previous evening, had hosted its annual sales staff – clients’ cocktail party. Advertising and broadcast executives from New York and Washington came to Philadelphia to rub elbows and mutually thank each other for the high Channel 3 ratings.

I do not remember whom MacDonald referenced. He did identify the fellow from the Group W offices in New York.

“John, he asked me: WHAT EVER BECAME OF THAT REPORTER WHO HAD YOUR ARENA SERIES?” said Ken MacDonald.

He was unfamiliar with the whole saga, and wanted me to add the final details.

What Kenneth T. MacDonald told me, though, rather turned my stomach.

He asked the New York broadcast executive to explain. Remember this was at the annual Channel 3 sales department cocktail party.

The New Yorker said that it more or less had been an amusing story around the Group W headquarters that the lawyer had been instructed to go down to Philadelphia, and kill the series, whatever the hell it was. He was told not to bother to come back to New York if he didn’t.

Ken MacDonald was all ears. (And it was nice of him to think I should know about it, more than a year later.)

The New Yorker said there were five executives at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Pittsburgh who were working confidentially to combine to buy the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Pittsburgh men were acting as private citizens, and knew Jerry Wolman was having money troubles. The team could not be purchased by a corporation, but some of its officers could do so on their own.

The Jerry Wolman financial situation presumably was a known quantity in both New York and Pittsburgh. Looking back, this was not difficult to believe, as former Philadelphia Mayor Richardson Dilworth was representing Wolman in seeking big loans from New York banks (which they did not obtain).

MacDonald said the Pittsburgh executives feared that any news series about Jerry Wolman would spoil their secret efforts to own an NFL franchise.

Said bluntly: electric company executives engaged in private activity for their own personal gain had tampered with a news story in the company’s broadcast division.

My bosses obviously wanted to keep their jobs, so the sequel to the series also went unreported. Until now.

Middle School Career Day May, 2007

Ennis Manns, Principal of the Edwn H. Vare Middle School, Philadelphia, PA … asked me to talk to some of his seventh, eighth and ninth grade (middle school) students Thursday, May 10, 2007. It was Career Day at Vare. Allow me a bit of humor in the following remarks when I refer to the school as Ennis Manns Middle School.

Here is what I said to the young people of Vare Middle School:

Thursday, May 10, 2007
Edwin H. Vare Middle School
24th Street and Snyder Avenue
Philadelphia, PA

Last September, most…. if not all of you ……….. made a decision. You decided you should go back to school. You might have thought ……….. “I have to go back to school.” ………………. (You might not have been happy about it. Or you MIGHT HAVE BEEN.) ………….. The situation this morning is….. YOU’RE STILL HERE.

And whether you LIKE SCHOOL or don’t like school…. down deep…. inside… when you think about it…. you most likely realize: YOU BELONG IN SCHOOL.

Is school tough? Yes. Sometimes. If you wish to excel in life, you must confront school head-on. It is a grind. School was a grind when I attended. It is a grind today. School always has been a grind.

You NEED to go to school. And…. you need to STAY IN SCHOOL.

So it is a pleasure to be with you this morning at Ennis Manns Middle School!

Now, as part of Career Day here at Ennis Manns Middle School, I will tell you about myself. You will hear that I have had three jobs in my life (three “careers”), each fun….and rewarding. What you may find surprising is that ……..at AGE 73…. I am still working and also launching my fourth career. I don’t HAVE to work… but it’s just continued to work out that way.

(Don’t think that you may have to work until you’re 73…but also know… if you do …. it will be because you LIKE the job.)

However, while I will talk about myself, I first need to talk about YOU.

YOU ….. as an INDIVIDUAL. One person in this classroom.

YOU are the important consideration today. And YOU are the one who needs to make an important decision today . . . . . . even though you don’t have to DO ANYTHING about it right today.

I want to show you the photograph of a little boy. His name is Kevin Pierron.
(Photo)

He is my GREAT GRANDSON. He is a very nice boy.

He lives with me. Yes, he lives in my home in Philadelphia.

His lives with me….because his Daddy…. my grandson…. decided when he was in the ninth grade…. that he didn’t like school. Not only did he not like school…. he started SKIPPING SCHOOL. He started neglecting his homework. He fell behind. He got disgusted about himself. And about life.

And then……….. SURPRISE !!! He quit school.

In the ninth grade.

Over the next few years, my grandson tried to learn about computers ………………… how they work and …………. how you can put a series of them into a network. And he has made some progress. But he is still looking for his first good job. And he has to continue to look ……… and look…. because employers at all levels of work are seeking EDUCATED job candidates. Whatever it is you do, you need to do … and be …… YOUR BEST. You need to be educated.

DO YOUR BEST at WHATEVER JOB you get.

So, about my grandson ……. In the midst of this period after he quit school, he had a girl friend. And nearly three years ago, they became the parents of Kevin.

Neither my grandson nor his girlfriend was able to SUPPORT Kevin. It takes MONEY. They were teenagers who thought everything would just be so easy, so “duckey”, and they would have so much fun being parents. ………….. (They would not listen to others who told them how important it is to get a good education. And to finish school.)

No, it just didn’t turn out so easy. It doesn’t turn out that way.

If you quit on your education, and become a Mommy or a Daddy at a young age, you are suddenly trying to lift a TRAIN LOCOMOTIVE to get through life. It doesn’t matter how strong you think you are: you cannot lift a train locomotive.
My grandson was trying to do that.

And then he and his girlfriend broke up . . . . . . after they had pledged themselves to each other ……….. FOREVER. ……… They no longer are a couple. ………. They had no means and no money to take care of Kevin.

This happens all over Philadelphia. All over America. All over the world.

WHY? It is relatively SIMPLE. Mommy and Daddy thought it would be DIFFERENT in their case. They could DO IT…….IT WOULD BE SO WONDERFUL to be parents….. to have a child. They knew more about it than the older folks in their families.

Teenage Mommies and Daddies (such as has been Kevin’s parental situation) ……. are going to fumble every single time.

Not almost always. Every single time.

And what did my grandson and his girlfriend do ???

Well, the question REALLY is: WHAT DIDN’T THEY DO ???

They did NOT STAY IN SCHOOL.

So, now, at age 73, I ………. Kevin’s GREAT GRANDFATHER…. am the one who plays basketball, and baseball, and football and golf …. with Kevin.

___________________________

When he was a young teenager, I tried to tell my grandson how important it was to go to school. I told him how I had made up my mind….at a very young age….that I was going to try to get the best grades. I told him how I NEVER cut a class……. I NEVER skipped school. Some of my classmates over the years thought cutting classes and skipping school was COOL.

I just did not agree. What I said (to my grandson) went in one ear and out the other. Ask yourself: is that happening to you this morning? You are listening to me with deaf ears?

__________________________________

Before I finished college, I got a job…. at age 19…. at a small radio station in Missouri. In four years, I was the station’s manager.

During that period, I was graduated from the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri. The school was the FIRST JOURNALISM school in the nation…. it was started 99 years ago.

It was a terrific school. And I got high grades. Unlike some of the other students, you wouldn’t find me drinking beer at two o’clock in the morning. And I never cut a class in college, either.

After graduation, I went to a radio and television station in Des Moines (????? what state ?????)….and after five years, my work there led to my move to Philadelphia. Channel 3 and what eventually became “Eyewitness News” ….. where I worked eight years. I was a street reporter ….. newscaster …….. investigative reporter.

________________________________________

I had great teachers…. both in college …. and in radio and television.

I learned how important it is to speak well…. to speak clearly. And I learned the tricks of speech. For example, I was taught not to say the word PARTICIPATE; instead, TAKE PART.

I was taught not to try to say PAR TIC U LAR LY.

It is much easier to say ESPECIALLY.

I was taught the difference between the word LIE and the word LAY. You lay a book on a table. You LIE DOWN AND REST. It has been my experience that perhaps 90% of the doctors and nurses I have met…. have asked me to LAY down….. so they could examine me.

I am a public annoyance, frankly. I usually tell the nurses and doctors that they have used the wrong word. They should have asked me to LIE DOWN.

___________________________________________

I was taught the difference between FARTHER and FURTHER.

To win the NFL’s Punt, Pass and Kick Contest, you have to throw the football FARTHER than anybody else.

If you want to know more about the football contest, you can look into the matter FURTHER.

Said simply: FARTHER means distance; FURTHER means EXTENT.

__________________________________________

When you answer the phone, do you, as a boy, when somebody asks for you….. do you say “This is him” ………. or …. if you are a girl…. do you say “This is her”. To be grammatically correct….you say: “This is he” or “This is she”.

And what about the difference between “I” and “me”? You boys who watch football on TV might have heard John Madden describe a pass: “The quarterback threw that right between he and the defender.” (The “he” in the sentence referred to, most likely, is a receiver on the quarterback’s team.)

John Madden is wrong every time he says it. He should say “between the defender and him.”

How do you know what is correct? (STAY IN SCHOOL…and you’ll find out.)

_________________________________________

I was taught proper grammar. And spelling. I was taught so well that I now know how badly many of today’s speakers SPEAK, especially those on the air….on your TV screen. And too often, I see where television people behind the scenes do not know how to spell.

And they don’t know their history…… the history of this country, and the history of the world. This is very important to be able to handle all kinds of life issues as you become an adult.

It is so important that you learn how to speak. And how to spell. Your ability to speak well….. and to spell words…. demonstrates not only for others….. but for YOURSELF….. that it is SO IMPORTANT TO BE EDUCATED.

TO BE EDUCATED….. YOU MUST STAY IN SCHOOL.

You must pay attention to your teachers. Get to school on time. Attend all your classes. Attend school every day the school is open for you.

_____________________________________

I was very busy during my 18 years in broadcasting. Perhaps my most significant TV work here in Philadelphia came more than 40 years ago… during one two-month period. I appeared three times on the Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC. In those days, the newscast was watched by 36-million people, so that’s a big audience to speak to.

(Ironically, there were more viewers for that newscast than …. today …. for ALL of the viewers for NBC, CBS and ABC combined for their 6:30 national newscasts …..).

________________________________________

A reporter experiences a thousand stories, a thousand incidents. I once attended a news conference with former President Harry Truman.

I shook hands with former President Dwight Eisenhower on his 73rd birthday and (for NBC) I covered the speech he made that night.

I was assigned by Channel 3 to President John Kennedy’s Philadelphia appearance just one month before Dallas.

In 1964 …….. yes….. this was 43 years ago!!!! ………… I interviewed Richard Nixon, then the former Vice President, a year after he lost the 1962 race for Governor of California.

And in 1975, after I had left Channel 3, for the only time in my life, I shook hands with a sitting President, Gerald Ford, who died four months ago at the age of 93.

My work at Channel 3 led to an invitation from the incoming Mayor of Philadelphia, Frank Rizzo, to be the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Civic Center. At the Civic Center, I was the boss of 200 employees. I was in that job for eight years …. all the time Frank Rizzo was Mayor.

That was a great job. Being the boss of 200 employees is not unlike being the boss of 20 or 2,000. You must have leadership qualities. You must be able to “lead” people ….. to manage them…….. to direct them. If you cannot do it, your shortcomings will reveal themselves quickly. You won’t stay in the job very long.

At the end of the two terms of Mayor Rizzo, I helped to start a business that is still operating 27 years later. Included in this operation is a travel agency which also conducts day trip and overnight tours. During those 27 years, we acquired five motorcoaches. We had to hire travel agents for the travel agency, drivers for the motorcoaches.

I’ll tell you a little secret. Don’t let this get around. One of our travel agents was a young fellow by the name of Ennis Manns.

Your Principal. This was before he became famous.

_______________________

Whether at the Civic Center or at the travel agency, the challenges are the same: you must lead, you must perform, you must be ready at all times to handle problems and emergencies. You must be able to “think” on the spot and act accordingly.

Only experience in life …………. and a proper education….. will enable you to make the correct decisions.

And yes, the way you speak…and the way you WRITE …. in your job ….. and in your life ……… is critical to your success. Whether you are one of the employees….or the boss…. you must be able to present yourself effectively. Said another way: YOU HAVE TO BE “ON THE BALL”.

You can demonstrate “leadership qualities” even if you are not the boss. The boss is looking for people who can produce work, who are reliable …. who are intelligent …. who show up for work on time….. do not call in sick every time they get a sniffle …. and who are on the ball….. and who are “educated”.

____________________________

Let me speak for just a moment about “MISTAKES”.

When you do not get an “A” grade, implicit is the likelihood that you were not perfect; you made a mistake or two in completing your assignment. A “mistake” never should be so great a problem for you that you lose confidence in yourself. You try to do better…and work harder…. the next time.

Because “MISTAKES” are part of life. I see “mistakes” every day. Sad to say, many I see are due to a person’s lack of education. What I see clearly allows me to tell you: there is great opportunity for YOU after you complete school. So many employers are looking for EDUCATED employees. And I assure you…. once you have that nice job you want…. you can…. from time to time…. make mistakes.

(Just don’t make too many of them, and don’t make the same mistakes over and over.)

___________________________

I am sorry to have to tell you but some of you are not going to make it. It is not because you are stupid. But it IS BECAUSE you are not smart. You did not pay attention in school. You did not get to school on time. You missed homework assignments. You stayed up so late at night, you were too sleepy the next day to pay attention. You let your friends drag you down. You did not have the “guts” to tell your friends you had to get home and get to sleep…because you had school the next day. And school is more important than your friends.

Wait a minute: Did I just say that ? Yes you heard right. School is more important than your friends! And more important than TV shows.

Oh, please forgive me. I should not have said that! At your age now, there is no way you will agree with me: School is more important than your friends. But do me a favor and write that down. School is more important than your friends.
And then put the piece of paper you wrote that on….. someplace where you know where it is. Because…. 10 years from now… I want you to re-read the statement and see if you have a different opinion of my statement….than you do today.
______________________________

If you cannot dig it, you will fail. Failure never pays off. Failure becomes a statistic. Failure becomes a life sickness. Do you want to just become another of the thousands of statistics in Philadelphia?

Why do I say that some of you in this class won’t make it in life??? Because that’s what the percentages say. I hope you prove me wrong. ……….. The news is filled today… with losers. Guys and gals who could not dig it. Who did not show up on time. Who let their friends dictate their lives. Who showed up late or cut their classes in school.

The losers are weak. They are weak people. They did not grab their lives in their hands and decide to succeed.

Because y’see, success is easily within reach …. if you have a plan for your life. At your age right now, you can make that decision I told you about. You can decide to stay in school.

Yes, I know you won’t remember much of what’s being said here at the Ennis Manns Middle School Career Day. That is understandable and normal. (Your teachers may give you a quiz on what you heard today from the various speakers so pay attention to today’s speakers!)

___________________________________

But you will make me very happy….. if you walk out of school today and remember ONE THING YOU HEARD FROM ME. It is so important; at your young age, it just may not be sinking in. But I hope so.

I hope you will show up every day …….. on time ….. And I hope you….get a great education and become a leader. The world is waiting for leaders. The world is waiting for YOU.

How do you do it ? Throughout MIDDLE school……….. HIGH school…. college……….. you stick with it. You do your homework. You don’t just dig it. You dig in.

You stay in school. Thank you for your kind attention. ####

The above remarks were made before four of the Vare Middle School classes. You might have seen a reference above to my “fourth” career. As an unexpected feature at the close of each talk, I looked to the hallway and welcomed into the classroom ONE MASTER KEVIN PIERRON. Each time, on cue, Kevin ran to my arms and said “Hi” to the school children (on one occasion, he was bashful and said nothing). I admit to considerable bias, but he was terrific.

Santa Claus and the Philadelphia Eagles

One of the legends of the Philadelphia Eagles football team was the day fans threw snowballs at Santa Claus. Its origin, however, has been roundly misreported. I have thought about this frequently, as the story recurs every year. At age 73, I think it is past time for me to clarify the errors attached to the legend. I had an accidental but not insignifant part in the origin.

So here goes.

It was Sunday, December 15, 1968. It was the last Eagles home game of a (for them) dismal season. I was working as substitute Sunday night newscaster for KYW-TV, Channel 3, Philadelphia. The well-known and highly popular weekend newscaster until that summer, Harry K. Smith, had retired and given me as his legacy a very high Sunday night audience. It was my job to handle the last four months or so of the year and not mess things up until a replacement for Harry was free of his contract in Atlanta.

The Eagles were not popular in our newsroom that year. The assignment editor, Bill Dean, would give me a 100-foot film can each Friday when the Eagles had a home game. Bill would instruct me: “Give this to (the film cameraman of the weekend) and tell him to just shoot the touchdowns.” Everybody would laugh. But the mission statement was clear: don’t waste film on the Eagles.

One can of film, 100 feet, was fewer than three minutes worth of run time. But we just needed a good 20 seconds for the 11 p.m. newscast. And not very much was expected of the Eagles that year. That was the final year of Joe Kuharich as coach. That summer, on the shore beaches, the small plane streamers had proclaimed “Joe Must Go.”

I do not remember the name of the cameraman. In those days, it was normal to hire a free-lancer for the weekends, which served low budget newscasts. The cameraman would work eight hours Saturday and eight hours Sunday, and you would hope there would be some news worth airing. It was silent film only; no sound. The cameraman probably was NOT Denny Bossone but I do not remember. I asked his son, Larry, another Channel 3 news cameraman, if his Dad ever had mentioned taking pictures of Santa Claus at an Eagles game. Larry said he could not recall, but that his Dad kept a library in his garage of discarded film, and the Santa Claus clips could have been there. However, he said the whole garage load of Denny Bossone film work subsequently was sold to a New York film company. And Larry added that he thought his Dad was full-time in 1968.

Some years later, I read a newspaper story that said thousands of feet of KYW-TV newsfilm had been given to Temple University. So is it there??

Anyhow, in the late afternoon that Sunday, I went to the editing room with the film editor to review the film shot that day. When it came to the Eagles 100 feet of film, we did a double-take. We saw Santa Claus walking down the track at Franklin Field waving energetically to the fans in the stands. He was a jolly old soul but could not have expected what he suddenly was confronting, made possible by the snowstorm the day before.

In those days, the film came in “negative” form; the reverse polarity occurred when the film was projected for the TV screen. This was film of yesteryear: black and white, not color. But the scene was unmistakable. Those were snowballs flying past Santa Claus.

There weren’t that many but Santa went into double trot and quickly finished his on-field season’s greetings. So much for the cheerful half-time show. By checking the rest of the film with the brief play action we had, we could tell this occurred at half-time. I don’t recall if the cameraman captured any touchdowns, but the Eagles lost.

In those days, the newscast at 11 p.m. ran a half-hour. I was alone in the newsroom all evening except for the copy boy, who would continually check the news wires. Sundays are slow news days generally; we relied on national and international news and the newsmaker from “Meet The Press”. We covered the complete weather in not more than two minutes on Sundays, unlike the obsesssion with the subject the rest of the week, continuing even to today.

When the NBC-TV show ended at 10:59 p.m., I came on and gave a few headlines as was routine, and ended with: “AND TODAY SOME EAGLES FANS THREW SNOWBALLS AT SANTA CLAUS. Details with film coming up next.”

When it came time for the sports news, I gave the Eagles story straight but then went to the snowballs film. I could tell from the reaction of the studio crew that this was a grabber. It was a rather bizarre incident, and when you saw Santa Claus vigorously waving and then being forced to duck, you had immediately sympathy for Old St. Nick.

The next day, at the station, especially in the newsroom, snowballs and Santa Claus were about the only discussion. Vince Leonard, the regular Number One newscaster, made sure the Santa film was re-run during the Monday evening casts. And later in the week, Jim Leaming, sportscaster, ran it twice as a rueful analysis of the Eagles sorry season.

I know it ran at least four times that week (after Sunday night). It was only maybe 20 seconds long so it was easy to repeat.

When you do an unusual news story, it is common to check other media to see how they handled it (if they did). We knew Monday that nobody but KYW-TV had film of the snowballs and Santa Claus. I was a bit puzzled to read only one mention of the incident in the Monday newspapers. Frank Dolson, Inquirer columnist, made reference to it in about the seventh paragraph of his sad treatise on the windup home game.

I really thought we had a bit of an odd scoop, especially with the film. I believe my fellow news people in the Channel 3 newsroom agreed, based on their replays of the yarn during the week. For the most part, the incident otherwise was viewed as a non-story.

I should point out that Harry K. Smith had a huge ratings advantage on his weekend newscasts, and for as much as we could compare, the ratings for the four months I did the newscast sustained their weekly lead. During the week, Channel 3 had a decided ratings lead in news. In the late 1960′s, before “Action News” at Channel 6 surpassed us in the early 1970′s, the City Hall reporter from Channel 6 would say: “We (Channel 6) clean the transmitter when you come on at six o’clock.” Regretfully, it did not continue that way for a period of years in the 1970′s. Action News became Number One in the ratings.

But this was long after a few Eagles fans threw snowballs at Santa Claus and thousands saw the whole “legacy” that night.

Wow! It’s Going to be Colder Tomorrow!!!

Unfortunately for the viewing public everywhere, not just in the Philadelphia area, weather “news” has overwhelmed the typical TV newscasts today more than ever.

Back in the 1960′s, this writer was a member of the Channel 3 “Eyewitness News” team.   We were the first of the “Eyewitness News” shops.  News Director Al Primo is credited with launching it.

As part of the new Eyewitness News, Channel 3 built a new studio/newsroom set.  It likely was the first time a television newsroom actually was in the studio.  More about this below.  If you are a senior citizen, you probably saw this studio in your youth.  This was where Ernie Kovacs did his network show.

Last night, on the 11 p.m. news (I usually watch my former station, Channel 3), the news had not been on for long when the “weather girl” was introduced.  Forgive the sexism but the “weather girl” has been a TV news staple since Trudy Haynes did the weather on TV news in Detroit.   Trudy moved to Channel 3, Philadelphia, not as a weather girl, but rather a reporter.

The television bosses don’t want to read items like this,  but rest assured or at least informed:  they want the babes doing the weather.   It is assumed you know why.   This is not a sexist statement but I think you also have noticed there are a lot more news bunnies today.  Some people will say that’s a good thing.  I would prefer that if they must be of the feminine gender, they ought to be able to show the professionalism of, say, Marge Pala, of Channel 3.   I think the high number of females in TV news has enabled the continuing softening of “hard news”, and I believe the station executives prefer it that way.   Some day I will have a lot more to say about this on thishere blog as this is nothing directly personal ”against” the women of today in TV news.   In large part, they are unable to fulfill a full commitment to journalism not due to their gender, but rather the policies of their bosses.   But this yarn is about….. lessee….oh yeah….the local weather!!

Last night, what was the reason the weather bunny was on almost at the start of the newscast?   It was to get 20 degrees colder “tomorrow”, i.e.,  Sunday (today, as I write this).  My, my, as I write this in the early afternoon, the temperature is 31 degrees.  The low today was 23.  The weather lady more or less suggested by her tone and commentary that weather terror was just ahead (“tomorrow”).   It may go below 20 tonight.  My, has that ever happened before???

It should be pointed out here that it would be the same reporting and emphasis situation if all the weather reporters on TV were men:   their bosses still would use weather as a major news item, even with a sprinkle of rain.  This is because most broadcasting executives are not journalists and want to stay as far away from journalism as they can. 

This also is because TV stations have conducted research of news viewers like you.  They have asked, in effect, why do you turn on the news?  To my chagrin, a most prominent response is to get the weather.   I would have preferred that you tuned in to find out the latest news.  But nowadays, it seems they mostly cover the “safe” stuff like fires and murders.  Their investigative pieces not infrequently are stings… or setups… such as the recent Channel 10 series catching pedophiles.   There are alot of murders in Philadelphia, and Mayor Street says he is concerned about that. 

But anyway, about that newsroom in a studio.  Back in the 1960s’, the Channel 3 sportscaster was Jim Leaming, who sat right behind me in the four tiers of news desks.  Jim was in the last row, I in the third tier.

Whenever I was doing a “cut in” on the six o’clock news, I would be seated at my desk, with Jim behind me.  We were part of the wide shots’ ambience during the newscast. 

Down below us, Bill Kuster would be doing the weather in the weather set portion of the floor level where the newscasters stood in front of a high table (where the late Ernie Kovacs once performed).

It was Jim’s almost nightly routine to whisper to me while Bill Kuster was on.   “Hey John!”

“Hey John!”.   I would turn around and Jim would say:  “Call WE 6-1212″.   And we would laugh.

The first time he had done this, I had asked him why.   

He replied:  “You can find out what he’s (Bill Kuster) talking about in 30 seconds.” WE 6-1212 was the phone number to get the weather forecast.
Now the phone company charges for this service.  I would not be surprised if the reason for the charges in part was because TV and radio people complained that the phone company was competing with them.

It would frustrate Jim that so much time was devoted to the weather, and so little to his sports.   You couldn’t cover the sports in 30 seconds, but frankly, you could take care of the weather with the 30-second forecast. 

When he first started at Channel 3, he was working two blocks down the street at Radio Station WIP where he did the late afternoon sports amidst a disc jockey show.  After his last radio broadcast, he would walk to KYW-TV and do the sports at 6:25 p.m., just before the Huntley-Brinkley Report.

After doing the radio sports in the afternoon, he had most of the sports news in his head, so he didn’t require alot of preparation for his little two-minute bit on TV. 

But this is my point:  most times, the newsroom’s assignment editor would not give Jim a crew so as to film a sports story earlier in the day.  

In other words, even in the 1960′s, the emphasis was to give nearly 10 minutes to the weather, two minutes for sports.  They didn’t want to give sports more time so why waste time and money on film stories that would mean you would have to take time away from the weathercaster.  

  
In a major sports town with major and minor pro sports and five major colleges, two minutes was ridiculous.  (Alas, sometimes even today the sports on the local TV news is a blip.)

Subsequently, Jim Leaming fought for more air time and sometimes got it.  He even got film crews.  One day, he asked me to “sub” for him and go down to the Spectrum (this was 1969)  and interview the new kid on the Flyers who, the night before, had scored his first NHL goal.   I never forgot that interview with Bobby Clarke.  I came back to the studio with the film and Jim came in and asked:  how long is the interview?  I replied it’s one minute and 23 seconds; three questions.   Said Jim:  I’ll use it all.  And he did.

That evening, Jim told the Channel 3 viewers this 19-year-old kid is going to be a big star.

Of course, Jim was right.

I was sad to hear of Jim’s death a few years ago.  I do not have to tell anybody who knew him:   Jim was a gem. 

His material, if he had been given the time, would have been better than one of those Bermuda highs.

As a postscript to all of this, all three local (network-affiliated) stations with early evening Sunday news led with the weather this evening.   I submit this is pathetic.   DANGEROUSLY COLD said Channel 3.   Channel 6 used the wind chill factor to say that it feels like 11 degrees.

Lemme see, now.   Doesn’t it get cold in the winter?

Nowadays, weather has become the lead story on many occasions, both summer and winter and even spring and autumn.  Hot and cold.  It is at the expense of good television journalism.

I submit to you that you are living a dull life if you pay attention to those Bermuda highs.

 

November 22 42 years ago

In April, 1945, when I was 11 years old, I recall being shocked by the news of the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. I was delivering newspapers for a neighborhood newspaper about six blocks from my home. It was warm enough that people were outside their homes as I walked from house to apartment house to house. Several people along my route told me of the news, apparently figuring an 11-year-old could understand.

Just about everybody you talk with, if they were old enough in 1963, can tell you where they were and what they were doing when they first heard news of the assassination of President John Kennedy.

I had the unique experience of reporting it on the radio.

I was a reporter-newscaster for WRCV in Philadelphia, an NBC-owned station (it is now KYW NewsRadio). In those days, I did the morning news starting at 5:30 a.m. so I was near the end of my work day in the newsroom, along with John Schubeck, who at the time did the morning cut-ins during the TODAY SHOW. The Copy Boy in the small room where the teletype machines were located heard highly unusual loud bell sounds coming from one of the machines.

The Copy Boy gave me the copy, something to the effect that “shots rang out at the Kennedy motorcade in Dallas”. Soon thereafter, the follow-up said President Kennedy had been shot. I told John Schubeck of the brief item, and he said at once: “You take it on radio, I’ll take it to the announce booth (television).”

John had been employed there before I joined the station just three months prior to November 22. So I was not about to question his judgment. He “beat” the NBC network to the news on Channel 3, where Chet Huntley and David Brinkley soon took over non-stop coverage.

I had seen first-hand how popular President Kennedy was. For the TV news side (Channel 3), I was assigned to politics, and took one of the station’s crews to Convention Hall one night in October when the main speaker at the Democratic City Committee Annual Dinner was John Kennedy. I never will forget the thunderous ovation he received when he walked into the hall and over to the head table. He was a very, very handsome man. And his smile was unbelievable. The place just came apart, there was such adoration.

About a month after that, I walked into the radio studio where a disc jockey was playing music. I told him President Kennedy had been shot, and I needed the air at once. The disk jockey introduced me with a brief mention that I had a major news bulletin. By the time I was on the air, the teletype machine account had given additional details, which I read on the air. The disc jockey had the unfortunate predicament of following the bulletin with a comment, and he said, I thought quite nervously, that WRCV would provide further details as soon as we had them. I know both of us were in a kind of shock.

I left the studio and went back to the newsroom, and walked into the teletype room and watched in further shock, by myself, as a teletype writer, somewhere, manually and very slowly and carefully typed that the President had been shot, “PERHAPS FATALLY”, or words to that effect.

NBC-TV had not yet taken the air on our television station, Channel 3. NBC Radio also had not been heard from. I took the additional information including “PERHAPS FATALLY” back into the studio, and asked for the air again. The disc jockey interrupted the music, and introduced me again. This was only two or three minutes after the first bulletin.

I read all the additional information including the PERHAPS FATALLY, explaining that we were updating immediately so as to provide all we knew.

When I finished, the disc jockey said something like “Well, we certainly hope that’s not true.”

What else could he say??