Always Turn Down the First Offer: Memoirs of a Sportscaster

By Tony Hernandez

Always Turn Down the First Offer: Memoirs of a Sportscaster is much more than a diary of one person's recollections working on television and radio in markets ranging in size from the smallest worked in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to the largest, the Big Apple, New York City. It portrays a nostalgic journey through a foregone era from the late 1960s to the somewhat more recent early 2000s. It gives you insight into a sportscaster's up-close and personal dealings on a daily basis with some of America's greatest athletes, teams, coaches, and other broadcasters of that time period. No punches are pulled in describing the highs and lows and the politics involved in the business of broadcasting. For those who may be interested in entering the profession themselves, there are lessons to be learned here.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662482656

Tony Hernandez

Refuting the teaching that salvation is over and teaching that Jesus speaks plainly when He says that no one knows of the day and hour of His return.

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Always Turn Down the First Offer

Memoirs of a Sportscaster

Tony Hernandez

Copyright © 2022 Tony Hernandez

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-6624-8271-7 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-6624-8265-6 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Chapter 1

Where to Begin?

So there I was, waiting with my cameraman, in the lobby of the beautiful Mark Hopkins Hotel, atop Nob Hill in San Francisco. It was my very first news assignment in my new job as a weekend sports anchor/reporter with KGO-TV, Channel 7, on December 4, 1971. The station was located on Golden Gate Avenue, downtown in an area of the city known as the Tenderloin. The building no longer exists. Its demolition began in 2010 and was completed in 2011. My assignment on this particular Saturday was to cover the arrival of the Kansas City Chiefs, who would be playing the San Francisco 49ers on ABC-TV's Monday Night Football two nights hence. This was when Monday Night Football was only in its second season; so for me, this was a huge moment in my very young career.

Then the revolving doors to the entrance of the Mark came alive, ushering in the Kansas City Chiefs, fronted by their venerable head coach, Hank Stram, who had led the Chiefs to the first Super Bowl ever played in 1967. As it turned out, Stram and his Chiefs would lose Super Bowl I to the mighty Green Bay Packers and their legendary head coach, Vince Lombardi, after whom the Super Bowl winner's trophy is named. Also, entering the hotel lobby was the ABC-TV crew, which included the star-studded triumvirate of on-air commentators: Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, and Don Meredith. I was in uniform for this occasion, wearing a navy blazer and the omnipresent Channel 7 pin in my left lapel. KGO-TV was an owned and operated ABC station, and Cosell, upon spotting the pin, walked up to me, and without introducing himself (which, of course, was totally unnecessary), spouted one sentence at me, no more than seven words, Son, always turn down the first offer! Then he disappeared into the gathering crowd in the lobby. What an odd introduction by this sportscasting icon. Was this simply common counsel he offered to the vast majority of people he met? Or had he seen me working on the air and perhaps thought I could have a worthwhile future in this business and was offering me sincere business advice? Obviously, the moment has remained locked in my memory ever since; and as you will learn in this book, I unfortunately did not heed Cosell's admonition nearly often enough in my thirty-six-year broadcasting career.

Cosell, a sports journalist and author, once described himself as arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, and a show-off. There's no question that I'm all of those things,¹ he said.

Legend has it that Humble Howard never used a script when doing his daily network radio broadcasts, Speaking of Sports, for ABC; and although allotted a specific amount of time to finish them, he never needed anything, nor anyone, timing him to make sure he ended his segment punctually! He (his voice and delivery, that is) was one of the most imitated personalities of his generation. A little-known fact about Cosell is he once hosted an hour-long variety TV show on ABC called Saturday Night Live. It should not be confused with the NBC series, Saturday Night Live, which coincidentally also premiered in 1975 under its original title of NBC's Saturday Night, to avoid confusion with Cosell's show. Howard's show was canceled after three months, after which NBC renamed its own project, Saturday Night Live.

The play-by-play announcer in this trio was Frank Gifford, in his debut season with Monday Night Football, having replaced Keith Jackson, who returned to doing college football games for ABC. Gifford, with movie-star looks, was an all-American at halfback-and-wide receiver for the University of Southern California. He went on to star in the NFL with the New York Giants, playing in eight pro bowls and making five trips to the NFL championship game. He was once married to TV personality and singer, Kathy Lee Johnson. In my few meetings with Gifford, I remember him always as a gentleman, a professional at his trade, and someone who was generous enough to compliment me for my own work in the business. Then there was Dandy Don Meredith, rounding out these three amigos. Meredith, a former star quarterback with the Dallas Cowboys, was the life of any party, who didn't hesitate to create his own party in the broadcast booth as a game analyst. He was known for belting out a closing tune at the end of each broadcast when it was obvious one team had secured victory over its opponent. How many remember this little jingle? Turn out the lights, the party's over! I regret that I never had an opportunity to meet him. In fact, Gifford, Cosell, and Meredith would hold a news conference that day, which of course I attended to use part of in my report for that evening's newscast. (Sidebar: I said news conference, not press conference. The print media are the press. TV and radio are not the press. So why do so much of the print media describe these events as press conferences when TV news cameras and radio microphones are abundantly found there as well?) Sorry, I digress. At any rate, during this particular news conference, one memory stands out above the rest for me. One reporter there, in questioning Gifford, seemed to be challenging Frank to justify why he should have this job with ABC-TV, even though he never had taken a journalism class or spent a day working as an intern at a TV or radio station. Frank, keeping his cool, and oozing with class, responded, and I paraphrase here: I'll tell you what, if someone ever asks you (referring to said reporter) how can I get to be on network television doing what Frank Gifford does, answer him this way, play high school football for four years, play in junior college if you have to, and earn a scholarship to play football, and become an all-American at a major university like USC. And then go on to play in the NFL for several years, become an all-pro, and win some championships. That's how you can get Frank's job! That reporter kept his mouth shut for the rest of the news conference.

As I mentioned earlier, I would explain how I got this job in San Francisco. It revolves around the craziest, most unpredictable six months of my life. Prior to December 1971, I had worked at KSBW-TV, Channel 8, in Salinas, California, for two years. The first year, I did the weather report on the six and eleven o'clock news. (Hey, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do sometimes, if not a lot of the time, to make it in this business.) When I got there in January of 1969, the station's live programming was seen only in black and white. By the second year, I became the sports anchor/reporter. And the station purchased one color studio camera to replace the then two antiquated black-and-white cameras. The SBW in the station's call letters literally stood for Salad Bowl of the World. Salinas, situated in the Salinas Valley, happens to be the largest city in Monterey County. The marine climate (remember, I was the weatherman there) makes the valley, which is ninety miles long, ideal for horticulture and makes it one of the key sources for our country's green salads.

As the sports anchor/reporter, I was a one-man band at the station. I gathered information on my own, wrote my own copy for delivery on the air, and wielded my own assigned film camera when I was out covering stories. In order to do a stand-up, vis-à-vis reporting part of the story while on camera, I first would jam a broomstick into the ground. Then I'd focus the lens of my camera—which was settled on a tripod—on that broomstick, start the camera, run out to the broomstick, take it out of the ground, stand in its place, and do my stand-up. When I got back to the station, I had to view and edit the film myself in time for the newscast. All for $140 per week. Such was the glamorous life of a small-market TV anchor. Despite the low income, by my second year there, I was able to move to Carmel-by-the-Sea and rent a studio apartment. I absolutely fell in love with Carmel. To me, that Hansel-and-Gretel town and nearby Pebble Beach, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Big Sur, et al., make up heaven on earth. I return there as often as I possibly can, which never seems to be often enough. Now, please indulge me and allow me to plant a small seed here, which should help you understand this entire journal somewhat better. Living in Carmel in my early twenties, I attended my first live-stage play ever, actually a musical, Annie Get Your Gun. I was completely captivated by the experience and said to myself, I can do that. In fact, I want to do that! And that led me to audition for and perform in four productions: Life with Father; and Man of La Mancha at Carmel's Circle Theatre (in the round); You're a Good Man Charlie Brown at Carmel's Dinner Theatre; and Fiddler on the Roof, performed at Salinas High School. I was hooked. (To be continued.)

By far, my most exciting work assignment at KSBW was to fly to Los Angeles and interview Clint Eastwood. What?!? You may be asking. No, this is absolutely a true story and undeniably the highlight of my young career to this point. Eastwood has had a very long relationship with the Monterey Peninsula as a former mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, a restaurant owner, and a homeowner there, not to mention his myriad charitable donations to Monterey County organizations. Well, when he starred (including a singing role) in the movie musical Paint Your Wagon, a world-premiere viewing of the film was planned to be shown in Monterey before its official opening in New York in October 1969. I was asked to interview Eastwood at his Mulholland Drive home in LA for a special to be done on KSBW prior to the local viewing of the film. For this, the station was generous enough to send a cameraman along with me so we might appear to be a bit more big time, if you will, than for my normal assignments working as a one-man band.

Arriving in LA, driving to this famous movie star's home on the also famous Mulholland Drive and setting up poolside in his backyard to do the interview was a surreal adventure for me at that point in my fledgling career. Eastwood and his wife at the time, Maggie Johnson, whom I met only briefly, were the perfect hosts and made us feel quite welcome during the couple of hours we spent at their home. It was a modest residence, I thought, for a movie star; and as accommodating as Eastwood was, we were there to help promote the film he was in and not to spend our time becoming bosom buddies with the future Dirty Harry and future Academy Award-winning director. Our conversations were strictly limited to business and did not include personal matters. The experience was unforgettable for me, however, and I would be guilty of gross understatement to say that Clint made my day. In fact, he made my career to that point.

After two years and a few months at Channel 8, Salinas, and a little over three years in the business, I felt as though my career was going nowhere fast, and that it might be best for me to return to my alma mater, San Jose State University, and earn a high-school teaching credential in graduate school. At about that same time, however, I ran into a former news director of mine at the station and shared with him my feelings about quitting. He said, Before you quit, you might want to call the news director at KGO-TV in San Francisco. They are looking for a weekend sportscaster with a Spanish surname. Hello! I made that phone call, and when the news director, Pat Polillo, came to the phone, I said, "Hola…me llamo Antonio Hernandez. I'm just kidding, I said that in English. He invited me to be interviewed. I drove up to San Francisco, and voila, I was hired. That's great news. The not-so-great news is, the news director balked when I asked for a contract. He replied that the station could not offer me one at this time. I would have to work as a freelancer." I failed to take Howard Cosell's advice, and I jumped at the opportunity, leaving the fertile Salinas Valley behind for the Golden Gate. In 1971, San Francisco was the fifth-largest TV market in the nation.

Chapter 2

Open Your Golden Gate

As it turned out, I only had to work two days per week, Saturday and Sunday, because the Monday through Friday sports anchor, John O'Reilly, preferred to take care of everything on his own during the week. This was back in the day when ABC's owned and operated stations were experimenting with a concept known as Happy Talk news. The idea was created to promote more casual and friendly relationships among the on-air talent. Be more human, less talking head like—cajole the viewers, help them to feel more relaxed, be at ease, be entertaining when appropriate. Well, it worked like magic in San Francisco. Co-anchormen Van Amburg and Jerry Jensen, O'Reilly, and meteorologist Pete Giddings helped KGO-TV news run away with the ratings, and the happy-talk concept spread like wildfire through the five ABC O&Os and ultimately would be adopted by many stations outside of the ABC family. In fact, Van Amburg has been credited by some with coming up with the idea of Happy Talk news. I should also mention here a reporter I worked with at this station named Christine Lund. She began there in 1970, and now, early in the year, 1972, shared with me that she would be leaving the station soon to work as an anchor/reporter at KABC-TV, Channel 7, in Los Angeles. That move would springboard her career to new heights for many more years.

I had been working at KGO for less than four months when after finishing the eleven o'clock news on a Sunday night in April, I returned to the newsroom and was told there was a phone call for me. I took the call, and the voice on the other end said, Hello, Tony, this is Sam Zelman… Mr. Zelman proceeded to explain to me that he was a talent scout for the CBS-owned-and-operated stations in America and asked me, without providing me with any other information or making any other comments, How would you like to work for our station in New York? Cue the lightning bolt! I was stunned, almost dropping the phone onto the newsroom floor. Was this some kind of practical joke? I thought to myself. I quickly gathered my wits and responded, I would absolutely love to work in New York! Mr. Zelman went on to inform me that he was at the San Francisco Airport and was able to watch my sports segment from there. He said that he liked what he saw and that the following Sunday night, he would be flying into San Francisco once more and would watch me again. Although this time, he would have my sports segment recorded by a service in the city, and that I should pick it up two days later, the ensuing Tuesday, and take it with me on a flight to New York to show to and be interviewed by the news director there. He would make all the necessary arrangements for me and give me the details when he called me after the newscast. I thanked him profusely and hung up the phone in a complete daze. Do you think I was able to sleep that night? I mean, four months ago I was working in Salinas, and now the Big Apple