Athletes, Celebrities Personal Moments: The 60S and 70S

By Walt Brown

This is a story of memories, of time spent observing and interacting with most of the major athletes and many others during the last half of the twentieth century, and of time up close with movie stars, major politicians, and other celebrities. You are alongside Walt Brown during many of the major events that spanned the decades of Americas continuing battle toward equality in sports and general life.

www.momentswithheroes.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 10, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504981989

Walt Brown

Walt Brown was a radio and television sportscaster during the last half of the twentieth century and broadcast more than twenty different sports. He interacted with major athletes, coaches, and celebrities in all walks of life.

Book preview

SOCIETY REPEATS ITSELF

I f you’ve been there, you know it’s true that most of the interactions within society repeat themselves as history unfolds. Today’s racial tensions, concerns about women’s equality, and wars overseas effecting homeland security, each also had its own reflections across America during the 60s and 70s.

As you share, with me, public and private moments with major names of the last half-century, you will see how they were in true life moments compared with how history reflects upon them now.

Just consider yourself a fly on the wall alongside many of the greatest names from the 60s and 70s. You will be in locker rooms, team busses, hotel rooms, press boxes, and at the games themselves. And you also will be with movie stars, broadway actors, singers and politicians.

The walls come in all sizes and shapes as you’ll be with major names, rookies, child stars, coaches and players.

YOU MET HIM?

I t seems that friends and relatives often say to me, What? You met, you know him , her ? And I say, yes. I’ve never been one to name drop just because I’ve met or known someone that was famous. That was part of my job for many decades. But I was never a paparazzi.

It is true! I was a fly on the wall, as you will be as you join me in reflecting on the questions from my friends and relatives. Who was the most impressive? always seems to be one of the first questions asked; once over the shock that little-old-me actually did meet or know someone famous.

The answer is difficult. There have been many. And are we talking of most impressive in their job, or most impressive as we visit. But, the list does seem to narrow to five most impressive during our visits. And, then, there are two: Muhammed Ali and Jesse Owens. My time with Jesse was eerie in its memories. (More on that later.) But, in answering who was the most impressive with just one person, it really must be Muhammed Ali.

I visited with Muhammed Ali three different times, and each was unique in its own way.

In the mid-1970s, most television stations were adapting to racial equality by broadcasting Sunday morning programs with local minority talent and perspective. This was true in Phoenix, where I was Sports Director of KPHO-TV.

There had been word passed to the media -- and remember, there was no cable TV at this time -- that Muhammed Ali would be visiting Phoenix to lend his support to housing and general improvement in South Phoenix. And, the word was that he would not be talking to the sports media at any time during his visit.

The day before his visit, the local host of KPHO-TV’s Sunday morning program dedicated to African-Americans asked me whether I’d like to interview Ali. I said I was under the impression that he was not going to do any interviews. The host said that Ali had agreed to be on his program and was coming by the station to tape the show. He said he’d ask Ali if he’d visit with me, if I’d just be in the lobby the next morning.

Next morning, I was in the lobby; the only white person there, except for the receptionist and a pre-teen girl sitting on a bench against the far wall. There were several local men on hand to greet Ali. I recognized the girl as a Junior Olympic National Champion in the 11/12 age group.

The girl looked bored and began lying down on the bench. I had interviewed her before, and went over to her to ask why she was there, if I could do anything for her. She said she was there for Wallace and Ladmo, the highly rated local TV Children’s Show. About that time, there was a clamor among the men in the room.

Looking out the front door, we saw two long limousines in the parking circle; the second, with Islamic flags on both front fenders. Their doors opened. Out came a dozen tall men wearing fez on their heads. And, then… Muhammed Ali; no fez, but all smiles.

The station host introduced himself to the Muslim guard, and to Ali. I saw him gesture toward me and the leader of the guard shake his head, no. Ali smiled and, in turn, shook his head at his guardians; nodding at me to come on over. I signaled my videographer to join us.

As we approached, my videographer seemed scared by the guards, and held back. Ali noticed the girl, and walked to the bench. With a friendly smile, he asked the girl why she was there. I said to Ali, she’s a champ, too, Champ; national age-group track champion. Ali said to the girl, You are? Let’s see how you run. The girl got up and started jogging around the room. Ali joined her.

I whispered to my videographer, get them jogging! He didn’t turn on his camera. And, we missed out on what would have been one of the great Ali videos of all time; jogging in a reception room alongside a Junior Olympic Champion pre-teen white girl. It was joyful and warm.

Finished jogging, Ali joined the TV host and they came over to me. The host introduced me. Looking around the room at the guards, and noticing my videographer still hanging back, I suggested to Ali that we speak out in the atrium, not the reception room. He agreed. Only the two of us, and the videographer, were out there.

Despite the pre-visit announcements, Ali seemed totally at ease in talking with me; a white Sports Director. Still, I thought it appropriate the questioning should be about his efforts to boost aid for the people living in South Phoenix.

I remembered one of the great Ali sayings -- as I stood there with The Greatest -- Why is it when you buy an ice cream cone, they always put the vanilla on top of the chocolate? And so, the camera now turned on, I said to Ali, I understand you’re visiting Phoenix to see about putting the chocolate scoop on top of the vanilla. He already had been smiling. Now there was a grin, and a huge guffaw. And he explained his economic aid plans.

The second of my three visits with Ali was a decade later, in the mid-1980s. By this time I’d proved to myself that I could describe a full plate of action; play-by-play of over twenty different types of sport, including NBA, MLB, and college football’s Game of the Century between Nebraska and Oklahoma. Moving on, now I am in charge of one of the top rated TV newsrooms in the nation.

Leaving the building, following the evening newscasts, whom do I see sitting in a corner of the sports office one evening? It’s Muhammed Ali! I’m baffled. We haven’t had him on our newscasts. What’s he doing here? I said it was good to see him again -- doubting he’d remember me from ten years before -- and asked if there was anything we could do for him. He said, no, he just was waiting to visit a nearby boxing arena. He’d told the owner he’d stop by to say hello.

He was smiling and friendly and just sitting there, visiting with one of our sportscasters, Pete Cirivilleri. Why Pete, one of the nicest guys I ever knew in television, hadn’t bothered to ask Ali to appear on the newscast is a question without any logical answer.

My third time with Ali was a more normal occasion to see a sports celebrity. It was at a celebrity sports show in San Francisco, where dozens of name athletes were on hand to sign autographs for money.

Included among the athletes, past and present, were the women baseball players that had inspired the movie, A League of Their Own. They always had intrigued me. I took along my copy of the movie and bought tickets to visit them; and to get their signatures on the box holding the movie. While in the convention hall, I wandered among the tables and booths.

Muhammed Ali’s line for autographs was the longest in the room. I circled around the line to watch The Greatest in a different setting than I’d seen him before. He was his usual smiling self. He would stretch across the table to pose with people. If they had small children, he’d lift them up on the table and give them a hug. He really seemed to like his visitors. This approach was so different than that of most of the celebrity athletes.

Emmitt Smith was there, two tables down from Ali. Smith didn’t even look at the people who’d paid to get his autograph. He just looked down at the table; occasionally sipping from a soft drink can. If a fan handed Emmitt Smith a pen of a different color or type to use for his signing, Smith then kept the pen.

Two tables away, Ali was smiling and shaking hands, and looking his fans in the eye.

Returning to the question What was my most impressive visit with a famous person brings back Jesse Owens.

During my days growing up in the 1940s, the name Jesse Owens always appeared in any discussion of great athletes of the day. Not only was Jesse a world record holder in the long jump and the sprints, but the stories of the 1936 Berlin Olympics always