Plati-'Tudes: Remembering Broadcasting Legends

Welcome to a notes and comment column in its 17th year, penned by CU Associate Athletic Director David Plati, who is now in his 34th year as the Buffaloes' director of sports information.

Plati-'Tudes No. 107 … Just finished working my seventh Rose Bowl and ninth national championship game (5 BCS, 4 CFP), crisscrossing the country by car and the one thing common to every state is this: if it's a three-lane highway, the slowest car is almost always in the center lane. And a two-lane road? Often the slowpoke is in the left lane because they have to make a left turn in 3 miles.

Opening Trivia

CU—The men's basketball team defeated ranked teams in Arizona and Arizona State in early January. This was marked just the second time in school history something in particular about this happened. What was it? (See additional note on this in the Q&A section, but that's not the answer).
Music—Concerts will return at Folsom Field for the third straight year this summer with Dead & Company in town for a third straight double set on July 13-14; it will be the 31st & 32 stadium shows (including next day "second shows"), dating back to the first concert in 1969, which was headlined by The Byrds and the Steve Miller Band. It will be the sixth concert (nine counting second day performances) since Val Halen appeared in 1986 at Folsom. Who were the previous three acts before Dead & Co.?
Name That Tune—So some say my name that tunes are too easy. Okay: fill in the blanks to this passage: _____, _____, _____ that blow lonely, seven seas that run high; All these things that don't change, Come what may. But our good times are all gone,
And I'm bound for moving on; I'll look for you if I'm ever back this way.

Quick Hits

Marty Cone ('83) has written a book about his time in the CU football program; it's entitled, Bury My Heart In Boulder. You can find it on Books at Amazon … Congrats to our own Ceal Barry, CU's all-time winningest coach, who is one of 12 finalists for the 2018 Women's Basketball Hall of Fame class (four-to-seven will be selected next month for induction later this summer).

Condolences

We lost an awesome young woman in an automobile accident on Jan. 13, when lacrosse student-athlete Julia Sarcona died after her vehicle crashed on Colorado 119 heading into town from Nederland. A three-year letterwinner and senior-to-be on the team this spring, she was majoring in public relations in CU's College of Media, Communication and Information (CMCI, formerly the School of Journalism). Julia also worked in our office last summer, doing a variety of things but mostly to do with her own sport, and was set to rejoin us this semester to get credit for an internship. She was just 21 and had a bright future ahead of her, and losing a person so young in life is always tragic. Condolences to her family, teammates and friends as well as all those whose lives she touched who are dealing with her loss.

Remembering The Great Ones

You can often attach a sport to a broadcaster: Mel Allen, Vin Scully, Harry Carry, you think baseball. Mike Emrick, hockey. Marv Albert, Chick Hearn, basketball. Pat Summerall, Tom Brookshier, the NFL. Curt Gowdy, Charlie Jones, the AFL. So it's sad to see the great ones pass on, and we've lost two in the last month. First Dick Enberg, who made his mark across the board and finished up in baseball, and then Keith Jackson, most notably for college football but he crossed into several other sports as well. I had the tremendous privilege to work with both men for CU football telecasts.

Dick Enberg
We lost Dick Enberg at the age of 82 on December 21, a class act who was always concerned with presenting the perfect picture to his audience. He called exactly two CU games in our history – but two of the biggest, the 1990 and 1991 Orange bowls, both games the Buffs were playing to win the national championship. Bill Walsh was his partner in the booth, with O.J. Simpson the sideline reporter for the first one and John Dockery the second time around.

I was 30 at the time I first met him, fairly seasoned in the business, but you get a little nervous as well as excited when you get to work with an icon. You never know what they're really like until you sit down with them, often in a one-on-one situation. He could not have been more gracious or engaging, no ego at all, and genuinely enjoyed working with us sports publicity types. Some out there in broadcasting, not many, but enough to make you cautious, view us as peons or necessary evils to get their jobs done.

Years later, I sat with him many times in the Rockies lunch room when he hit town with the San Diego Padres (he wrapped his career as their TV announcer). He always talked about wanting to visit and see Boulder, but I don't think he every made it up. Even though he only called a couple of Colorado games, but always remembered who I was (he also called two classic Bronco wins, "The Drive" and "The Fumble," where Denver beat Cleveland two back-to-back times in the AFC Championship game).

I posted this great Dick Enberg story on Facebook; it was from Ollie Kirkpatrick, a former CU SID student assistant, then full-time assistant and occasional spotter/statistician for TV talent:

His Enberg story: "Back when Dr. Z was still writing for SI, he eviscerated Enberg and a few others for being horrible game spotters. Not two weeks after that piece, Enberg was calling a Bronco game, and I was in the booth with him as a spotter, hyper-aware that I was now responsible for making sure he got all the names right.

Middle of the game, Denver defense on the field, there's a pick, and whoever got it is streaking down the sideline for a touchdown. You know the feeling – I've got about half a second to figure out who it is and point it out on the board.

I saw a glimpse of #33, so reach down to point out Jimmy Spencer, with the entire time it takes for me to drop my finger to Spencer on the call board spent internally screaming at myself that it couldn't possibly be Jimmy Spencer, who sees roughly 5 percent more time than I do on the field, and that I'm giving the critics more ammo to lob at Enberg when he calls Spencer and is undoubtedly wrong. Still, ultimately, I stick with my choice, Enberg makes the call…and it's right. It was Jimmy "Effing" Spencer who got the pick, and Enberg nails it.

When we go to commercial after the point, my heart's still beating fast, and I'm now internally patting myself on the back for getting it right. Enberg turns to me, smiles, and tells me "great job!" with a little punch on the shoulder. Two takeaways: 1) Obviously doesn't take much to make me happy and 2) I've always had a spot in my heart for the guy. Bummer news today."

Skip ahead to the 2:31:00 mark to see Enberg's classic call of the final play of the '91 Orange Bowl and Deon Figures' interception to seal the win: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twLmqyA-yAM.

Keith Jackson

Another sad day in the sports world came three weeks later on January 12, when Keith Jackson passed away at the age of 89. He had valiantly battled a few health problems over the last few years, but often fought them off. This one hit me especially hard, as I had developed a great friendship with the ultimate voice of college football.

Our paths never crossed until 1993, when ABC was in town for its first Colorado game since I joined the SID staff in 1978. I was now 33, and "KJ" as he was called was nearly twice that (64), or old enough to be my father. Once again, I had no idea what he was really like, and it was also my first time working with Bob Griese, his partner in the booth; Jack Arute had sideline duties and he had done several CU games previously, and I had a good relationship with him.

Well, it's Thursday and they're in town to watch practice and have pregame meetings with the coaches. At first, Bill McCartney didn't want any media at a Thursday practice (all others earlier in the week were open), and he didn't have time to meet with them. So I relay that to Keith and crew, and KJ quipped jokingly, "Well, tell your coach ABC won't pay your school the millions of dollars for this game." (Side story: it was the Miami game by the way, with the well-documented brawl and horrific now defunct Big East officials, which led then-CU athletic director Bill Marolt to run on to the field to take umbrage with their performance.)

So what do I do? I basically repeat what Keith said to Coach Mac, and he eventually relented, agreeing to let them watch practice and meet with them afterward. I then go back and tell them they're now in and we'll set the meetings. Keith couldn't believe I went to my coach a second time and got it done (said "I was a young man with guts" … I probably figured I'd rather have my coach mad at me for asking the same thing twice than to come off like a chicken and being afraid to approach my head coach).

Keith was behind the microphone for 18 Colorado games in all, four when Mike Moran was the SID and the others on my watch. He was set to retire after the 1998 season, but returned for eight more when they reached an agreement that he would minimize his travel – Pac-10 games and a few select other locations, Colorado among those. His final game was the 2006 Rose Bowl (the Texas-USC classic) as he was essentially forced out by ESPN.

He called several big CU games, none bigger than the 27-26 win at Michigan, which became known as "the Miracle in Michigan." Griese was his partner that day, and I've always told people to listen closely to the set-up; it's almost if they had a script as to what was going to happen. And then Keith's lead-in to the final play:

"Three wide-outs at the top of the picture. Stewart, with time … lets it go! … He's got three people down there … The ball's up in the air, caught! Touchdown! Caught by (Michael) Westbrook for a touchdown! Incredible!

Listen and watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nt6HjqtJt8&t=9s. The next week, ABC did our 34-31 win in the heat and humidity that is Austin, Texas, and Jackson told KOA's Larry Zimmer (who as we all know is the all-time Voice of the Buffs) the only reason he knew right away that it was Westbrook who had caught the ball. It was simply because he had a dozen cameramen in the stadium and one with his camera trained on the play blurted out "81 caught it."

He became a very good friend, as many others in the business also could say because he was so genuine and generally enjoyed those of us he worked with -- he'd host me at L.A. Country Club for golf. That was despite me being the quintessential bogey golfer, except on that course with its Bermuda grasses, I couldn't figure out how to hit out of that spongy stuff until 14 or so holes and would wind up shooting around 100 every time (never broke it that I can recall in five or six tries). Keith used to complain that he couldn't hit the ball far anymore and still shoot a 72, 74, etc. And then the proverbial Cobb salad follow-up with some Ketel One and story time.

And the stories he would tell--I'd listen for hours absorbing them all. One of my favorites was when he went to his rental car after a game in the 70s: "Some hippie was sitting on it smoking grass and I told him to move his keester. He said, 'F you, old man.' ... So I clocked him." The phrase "Whoa, Nelly" thing was funny; he told me he used it maybe once or twice early on and not again until he did it for a commercial (I always think of his "big uglies" references to the offensive and defensive linemen as his signature one). He also had many stories from his one year (1970, the first season) of calling Monday Night Football … mainly about Howard Cosell, but this is a family column.

When our golf team was in California for two tournaments, the underclassmen played Torrey Pines for a practice round in-between meets but he allowed me to bring our two seniors (Kane Webber and Jeff Hanson) to play LACC. Kane opened with an eagle and a birdie and was 3-under after two, and was acting like it was gonna be a breeze. Keith, in that all too familiar voice, said, "Young man, if you think you're gonna shoot a 59 today, you're sincerely mistaken..." I want to say Kane shot a 73, Keith a 74 or 75, Jeff the same, and me a $#*@#!.

I took the ABC crew out for dinner most of the time they visited Boulder, and one of his favorite spots was Juanita's down just off the Pearl Street Mall (unfortunately no longer in business). I asked him to be our guest speaker at our 2002 CU Athletic Hall of Fame induction, and as a personal favor to me, he waived his usual fee (he used to get inundated with requests). Of course, he hit a home run, took pictures with fans and inductees, and then we took the crew to the Red Lion for dinner. In return, CU bought the wine … a lot of wine, and not talking the $8.99/bottle kind (took a lot of paperwork after the fact to get that reimbursed!).

The following year, my Dad was in town for the Nebraska game and he invited us to ABC's Thanksgiving dinner with the entire production crew (30 people or so at Dolan's). He then invited us to sit with him and his wife Turi Ann, whom he called, "The Viking," and with Dan Fouts (who was doing the analysis by then). Keith and my dad started talking about football players they admired in the 40s and 50s, and I remember Dan and I looking at each other thinking "Who the heck are they talking about?!"

We stayed in touch through the years until recently, when his health started to fail. We were going to go to dinner last year while I was out for the Rose Bowl, but he cancelled at the last minute. That was the last time we spoke; I tried to reach him this year as did a few others, but to no avail. It would have been nice if I could have spoken to him one last time.

We've lost one of the all-time broadcasting greats and there's definitely a void in college football history that will likely never be filled. At least not in our lifetimes.

In the end, he may have loved golf probably more than anything except his wife and his family. "He once said to me, "David … my goal is to turn 85, go out and shoot my age, and then drop dead."

Well Mr. Jackson, who would shoot his age (or below) on several occasions, you made that plus four. Rest in peace.

The P-'Tudes Mailbag

Q: Saw that the men's basketball team had never beaten two Top 15 teams in basketball until the ASU-UA sweep last week. When's the last time they knocked off two Top 25 teams in back-to-back games?
A: CU defeated No. 4 Arizona State 90-81 in overtime and then No. 14 Arizona 80-77 in back-to-back games Jan. 4-6; that was just the second time in school history the Buffs won back-to-back games against ranked opponents – period. The first and only other occasion came on Jan. 8 & 12, 2011, when CU knocked off No. 9 Missouri 89-76 before upending No. 21 Kansas State on the road, 74-66.

Q: Has CU ever defeated the No. 1 team in basketball?
A: Never a No. 1, but twice against a No. 2. Ceal Barry's then-Lady Buffs (the "Lady" portion was dropped in 1993) was the first to defeat a No. 2 team, upending Louisiana Tech, 61-60, on Jan. 3, 1989. The men soon followed on Feb. 12, 1992 in defeating Oklahoma State, 57-53; both games were in Boulder.

This P-'Tudes Number(s): 17

That's the number of true broadcasting icons who have called the play-by-play for CU football games; see how many you remember with ease: along with Enberg and Jackson, also in the TV booth who have done play-by-play talking about the Buffaloes include Mel Allen, Don Criqui, Chris Fowler, Ron Franklin, Curt Gowdy, Charlie Jones, Brent Musburger, Jim Nantz, Brad Nessler, Mike Patrick, Chris Schenkel, Ray Scott, Jim Simpson, Mike Tirico and of course, our own Larry Zimmer, winner of the 2009 Schenkel Award (presented by the National Football Foundation, honoring those who has had a long and distinguished career broadcasting college football).

Trivia Answers

CU—It was only the second time CU defeated two different ranked teams from the same state in the same season; in 1992, the Buffs beat #21 Oklahoma and No. 2 Oklahoma State.
Music— The Who (1989), Paul McCartney (1993), Dave Matthews (2001) were the three previous performers before the Dead's soon to be run of three straight.
Name That Tune—Four Strong Winds, first recorded by the Canadian folk duo of Ian & Sylvia (I know, who?) in the early 1960s and then by Neil Young in 1978 (listen to the latter here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4MgAzcZyn8).

"Plati-'Tudes" features notes and stories that may not get much play from the mainstream media; offers Plati's or CU's take on issues raised by those who have an interest in the program; answers questions and concerns; and provides CU's point of view if we should disagree with what may have been written or broadcast. Have a question or want to know CU's take on something? E-mail Dave at david.plati@colorado.edu, and the subject may appear in the next Plati-'Tudes.

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