Appreciating the legend who sparked a career choice
It was fitting that I walked into the Sports Page restaurant in Fort Dodge Thursday night for a late dinner with an old hometown friend, and the young man greeting us was a server that I'd covered in East Union sports, Ryan Bryson.
Bryson played linebacker for the Iowa Central Tritons last fall, on the squad with former EU teammate Eric Denton.
It's fitting because I had just come from the funeral visitation for Bob Brown, iconic 37-year sports editor for the Fort Dodge Messenger. He was the man, after all, who taught me almost everything I know about covering local sports for a newspaper. I've spent 32 years in this business wanting nothing more than the approval of my mentor, Bob Brown.
"Oh Larry, he thought the world of you," said his wife, Nan, as we stood by the casket adorrned with a couple of items befitting Bob Brown the man — a Fort Dodge High basketball cap, and Magweed fishing cap.
Wow. Hearing those words was like finding a golden treasure. A Korean War vet, Brown was an old-school guy. Didn't exactly hand out compliments like candy.
I probably feared him as much as I worshiped him, especially when he was my Little League baseball coach the year I played with his middle son, Randy.
Later, as an 18-year-old, I joined his force of part-time sportswriters, taking calls on Friday nights from coaches and statisticians, so I could help write up those area football and basketball reports before deadline.
It was 36 years ago, but I remember it like yesterday, when I first learned a lesson about responsibility and professionalism from the master sports editor of his time. I had kind of worked my way up to being the "supervisor" of sorts for the part-time crew. Therefore, I should have known it was a bad idea to leave old Tom Thumb drive-in chicken boxes and wrappers on the desks of full-time news staffers.
When those employees came in Monday morning to sit down at work areas reeking of old chicken scraps from Friday night, there was a fuss. Brown called me into his office and, in a stern but gentle fatherly manner, let me know that could never, ever happen again.
I learned many things from Bob Brown. Most of all, that this is a profession to take pride in, that it's important to a lot of people, and to never take it lightly.
To this day, I still get excited at the start of a big sporting event that really means something. You'd think it would become old hat some 30 years later, but it's still a thrill to have a front-row seat to watch history unfold.
Bob and I had some things in common. He ventured off into news for a spell, and I've certainly done my share of that. While editor of the Messenger for two years, he interviewed two former presidents: Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
"But none of this had the pizzazz of an Iowa-Iowa State football game, so I went back to the sports editor's job," Brown said.
I can relate to that. I've said that news writing always seemed like a job. Sports writing, however, is like a hobby you'd choose to do in your free time. But here's the kicker — you get paid for it.
I can probably thank Bob for growing up with that mindset, since I always diligently read his entertaining sports column, "Crowd Noise." I'd have it out at the dinner table, except when my older sister came home from college and chewed me out for not having proper table manners. (What is it with females and "conversation" I remember wondering at the time.)
Thursday's Messenger carried his old "Crowd Noise" and "Inside on the Outside" column logos at the familiar top left portion of the first sports page, and underneath the column was left blank in remembrance. "Thank you for everything, Bob. You will be missed," wrote current sports editor Eric Pratt. Brown published nearly 8,000 columns in his career.
Brown is in both the Fort Dodge Senior High and University of Iowa Hall of Fame for his writing exploits. He was named the Associated Press Iowa Sportswriter of the Year in 1964, 1974 and 1975 — right during the time I was in school and most passionate about reading his work.
When I graduated from the University of Iowa, I took my first full-time job at the Atlantic News-Telegraph. My boss there, Phil Chinitz, told me a story about Brown when he found out I was from Fort Dodge.
At an Iowa Daily Press Association all-state football selection meeting in the 1960s, Chinitz nominated Ed Podolak for first-team all-state quarterback. Some other writers resisted, pitching a northern Iowa kid instead.
A few years later, Podolak was having a nice career at Iowa, and Brown covered many Hawkeye home games. At a subsequent all-state meeting he bellowed, "how's that ----- kid from ----- doing now? Seems like Podolak's doing OK!"
Former CNA legendary sports editor Max Sandeman shared similar stories about Brown when I first started here in 1984.
Former Messenger colleague Ron Norine said Thursday night he remembered that Bob was sometimes described as being a Grizzly bear, or a teddy bear. "We probably saw the Grizzly more often," he said, chuckling.
Yet, like me, Norine wept when hearing of Brown's passing. There was just something about him.
I never even dreamed of achieving his status as a sportswriter, but at least we got to share one honor — Iowa High School Athletic Association Media Award. He'd been retired four years when I stood on the Veterans Memorial Auditorium court to receive it in 1997, but a small part of me felt that maybe I'd finally achieved what that 18-year-old part-timer always wanted — a nod from Bob Brown that I'd "made it" in his profession.
His oldest son, Rick, is a stellar sportswriter for the Des Moines Register, having won the Iowa award multiple times, like his father. In fact, he'd just filed the story of Tuesday's Iowa loss at Michigan State when his youngest brother, Roger, called with the news about their father's death. He was 83 and had lived a full, active life, but in recent months Alzheimer's had robbed him of his trademark vitality.
Another son, Randy, actively involved in the basketball coaching profession and a classmate of mine at the University of Iowa, shared many stories Thursday night. Randy knows one of my passions now is coaching hoops, and it's funny how life comes full circle.
Bob Brown coached me as a youngster, got me started in the newspaper business, and then watched me and many other underlings choose the same career.
In Creston, I once coached Kyle Wilson, Scott Levine and Scott Vicker in baseball or basketball, got them started as sportswriters at the News Advertiser as part-time employees while students, and proudly watched each move into the profession.
For that, I can only hope my mentor today is giving me a "thumbs-up" from his favorite fishing hole in paradise.
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Contact the writer:
Twitter: @larrypeterson
Email: lpeterson@crestonnews.com
