The following
is an interview of ASA Hall of Famer Jack Whitaker conducted by Fran
Healy on his MSG Network talk show, "Halls of Fame." Whitaker won the
1979 Emmy Award for Sports Personality and has as many awards in his
trophy case as sporting events he's called. He was inducted into the
ASA Hall of Fame in 1998.
Fran
Healy: Tell us about your childhood.
Jack Whitaker:
I was born May 18, 1924 and grew up in Philadelphia in a neighborhood
called East Germantown. It was during the depression. It was kind of
tough in a way but I look back on it as great times. I played a lot
of sandlot baseball and some stickball.
FH: How
did you develop an interest in broadcasting?
JW: I litened
to the radio a lot. I was kind of a sports and news junkie. Actually,
that's how I got started, as a newscaster and newswriter. But I had
what I thought was a normal healthy love of sports which meant I knew
a little bit about baseball and college football. When I got into the
business I realized I didn't know too much at all.
FH: Tell
us about your schooling in Philadelphia.
JW: I went
to a great sports school, North East Catholic High School. They had
very good football and baseball teams and sent a lot of players to the
majors. Then I went to St. Joseph's College. At the time I went, right
before the war, they dropped football but it was a great basketball
college. It still is. Now it's a university. Right after the war, a
lot of small towns that never had radio stations were assigned them
by the FCC. Hundreds of these stations opened up and that's how you
got a job. I was very lucky. I got into a 250-watt station in Pottsville,
Pa., where you learned to do everything. You cleaned the machines off
when you came in. You put on the local mayor and the local pastor. You
had to rewrite all the copy that came in. So it was invaluable experience.
I was there two or three years when I realized that TV was coming up
so I returned to Philadelphia. There was a Columbia station that needed
a five-minute newscaster and that's how I got in.
FH: When
you were in college, you had an interest in broadcasting. What did you
major in?
JW: Liberal
Arts. I was in the debating club, the drama club, but I was always interested
in radio. I was really into the news. I liked sports but it wasn't my
thing. The only reason I became a sportscaster was the sportscaster
at WCAU quit and they asked me if I knew anything about sports. I said
I did so they hired me. That's when I realized I didn't.
FH: After
graduating from St. Joseph's, you realize you want to get into radio
so you go to this small town. How did that come about?
JW: One
of my classmates was working at the station in Pottsville and he said
they were looking for somebody. So I went up and took an audition and
I was hired at $32.00 a week.
FH: Now
you feel that TV is coming up and you decide to head back to Philadelphia.
Did you just quit and go back?
JW: Yes.
I was working in Allentown. I had moved up to a 1000-watt station. I
came in one June afternoon and realized I wasn't going anyhwere at this
station. They had a TV set on in the office and I looked up and Bobby
Cruickchank was putting out on the 18th hole in the U.S. Open and I
said to myself, 'That's what I should be doing.' So I quit my job and
headed back to Philadelphia to look for a job. By August I had found
a job and around labor day I started At WCAU.
FH: So you
started as a newscaster at WCAU. Then what?
JW: Well
I became the sportscaster there and we had a pretty good run. We were
number 1 in the city. In fact, they changed me from 6 0'clock and put
me on at 11 and I thought that was the end of my career. But the 11
to 11:30 turned out to be pretty good. We had John Facenda as the newscaster,
I was sports and Ed McMahon did a five minute essay piece at the end.
So they were 12 very nice years until CBS bought the station and they
cut back to just 15 minutes and they cut out the sports and made me
a weatherman. So I thought that was the end so then I started to go
to New York. Ed and I would go every morning on the train to New York
and make our rounds at the agnecies and the networks and come back.
Finally Ed hooked up with Johnny Carson on "Who Do You Trust" in the
afternoon and through the network owning the station where I worked,
I started to get work at CBS Sports Network.
FH: This
is wild. So you and Ed McMahon are going to New York from Philadelphia
in the morning while you have this night job. You take the train up
together. Do you go to the agencies together?
JW: Yeah.
We would go to the agencies together. Not always together. We would
find out where they were having auditions and make our rounds. It was
a spooky but fun time.
FH: So now
you're working for both CBS in New York and the local station in Philadelphia.
Tell us about your relationship with CBS in New York because now you
feel that Philadelphia, where you work at WCAU, is kind of on the back
burner.
JW: Philadelphia
was still major but I was picking up some nice money on the weekends
doing football. Then for a while I had perhaps the best job in all of
television history - standby baseball. CBS had the "Game of the Week"
with Dizzy Dean and Buddy Blattner but to get insurance against a rainout,
it was cheaper for them to put a whole second crew, and I was part of
that crew alond with Frankie Frisch. So while Dizzy and Buddy were out
in Chicago we would sit in Yankee Stadium. When they were in Cincinnati
we'd be in Washington. And I think in 3 ½ years we were on the air for
a total of five innings. But we got paid every week And of course, being
with Frisch I really got a PhD. in baseball.
FH: So now
you're going deeper into sports but your first love was broadcasting
news.
JW: Yes,
that was the first thing I thought about and I think about it every
now and then. News isn't as much fun as it used to be either so I' m
pretty happy with what I did. You just think after a while, they are
games, aren't they? And maybe we should be doing something a little
better but I have no complaints at all. Sports was great in those days.
I saw the beginnings of the National Football League. I saw baseball
go and drop and come back. I've seen the tremendous rides of pro golf
and the NBA. It's been quite a historical travel.
FH: Now
in the broadcasting profession would you say being on the air has always
remained the same or has it changed?
JW: I thik
its changed. Attitudes have changes.
FH: What
do you mean?
JW: People
don't look at things the same as we did in the 50's, 60's and 70's.
I think there's a much more adversarial relationship between brodcasters
and athletes now. When I was growing up in the business in the New York
days, we were all friends with the athletes. We used to hang around
together. That's changes a lot.
FH: Is that
good or bad?
JW: I don't
know. It may not be too bad because you shouldn't really be friends
if you're going to be a good reporter. But what I think that they're
missing is that they don't get access now the way we got access. And
a lot of it has to do with economics. The ball players now are making
a lot more than the televsion people. It used to be the other way around.
FH: What
has been the biggest change you've seen in the broadcasting field since
you've started on air in sports?
JW: There
has been a tremendous advance in technology but I don't know if the
editorials have kept up that much.
FH: Is that
bad.
JW: Yeah.
I think so but I'm talking like an old geezer. This isn't true of the
older people still working like Vin Scully. They have great discipline.
But I don't see the discipline in the younger people like we had or
we tried to have.
FH: Did
you have a favorite sport to broadcast?
JW: I would
think my favorite was Track & Field, believe it or not.
FH: Why?
JW: Because
it's the basis of all sports. And I found those Track & Field athletes,
when I was doing it back in the 60's and 70's, to be more introspective
than any atheletes I've ever interviewed.
FH: They
tell us you should never become emotional in what you're broadcasting.
I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, it was Pimlico. Did you do a
horse race where a Philly had to be destroyed.
JW: That
was at Belmont where Roughian broke down and they had to destroy her.
FH: How
difficult was that?
JW: That
was a tremendously difficult afternoon. Actually during the pre-race
stuff we were so mad because we didn't like the features they were doing.
And the next thing you know, nobody knows about it because this was
just a stunning thing to see this horse which many thought would be
the best ever. She won all her races. She won every race until that
one when she broke down. And so it was a very wrenching time. It's always
wrenching when you see a horse go down or a human athlete for that matter
but that was a particularly trying time.
FH:
Greatest single event you ever were involved in as a broadcaster. What
was it?
JW:
I would say it was Secreteriat's win at Belmont which was the most dominating
preformance I have ever seen by any athlete, even more than Tiger Woods
last year. Because he won by 31. I mean it just blew me away. It blew
everybody away. People were crying. It was just perfection. So I think
I'll stick with that, although Tiger is pretty close.
FH:
Who's the greatest two-legged athlete you ever broadcast in an event?
JW:
Wow. That's pretty tough. Jimmy Brown was the best runner I think I've
ever seen carry the football, although Gale Sayers was also great. Who
was the best passer? Who was the best hitter in baseball? Who was the
best all-around. It's really tough for me to do. I really can't give
you one.
FH:
Most athletes grew up having an idol. As a broadcaster, did you have
someone you admired when you were first getting into the business?
JW:
Oh sure. I always looked up to the people that I was lucky enough to
work with later. People like Curt Gowdy and Byrum Saam, who was the
Philadelphia announcer. I always thought he was very good. Chris Schenkel.
People like that. Vin Scully. As I said, I was fortunate enough to work
with them later on.
FH:
If you had one event that you weren't involved in but would have liked
to have broadcast, what would it be?
JW:
I guess I would like to do Wimbledon or the French Open. I have never
never done those. Other than that I've been pretty lucky. I've done
Super Bowls, World Series so I guess it would be those two.
FH:
When you first started broadcasting, correct me if I'm wrong, it was
one announcer in the booth?
JW:
Yes.
FH:
I know in baseball it then evolved to also having a color man in the
booth. Was that an easy adjustment for you?
JW:
When I started there were two of us. So I was never there in the single
days except when I did the radio stuff. CBS had a marvelous radio thing
with college football. Red Barber sat in New York and he called out
to the country the big games. If there was a big game in Philadelphia
I'd be the guy in Philadelphia. If it was in New York it would be Vin
Scully. And you would give a summary of what hapened and two minutes
of play-by-play and shoot it back. That was fun. One man in the booth.
The two men in the booth was fine. I had no problem with that as long
as you had the chemistry with that person. My instruction to any young
man trying to be a play-by-play guy is the same as Spencer Tracy told
a young actor once, just memorize your lines and don't bump into the
furniture. Just know your numbers and don't bump into your color man
and everything will be fine. Three men is a problem for me.
FH:
Why?
JW:
Too much I think.Too much furniture to bump into.
FH:
For years broadcasters presented the facts. They talked about exactly
what was going on. Now there seems to be a lot more to the broadcast.
Is that good or bad?
JW:
I think it's good if it helps you enjoy the game more or understand
the player more. I don't think it's good if you're just looking for
scandal or cheap entertainment values. I don't want to cost anyone a
job but I have yet to see any news come out of a sideline reporter.
I think what the younger people are doing on television is taking what
we did wrong and making it bigger. They talk too much. And that's part
of the new world so I may be wrong about that. But in our days everybody
was sitting on you telling you this isn't radio they can see the pictures.
Don't say he swung and missed. But then again it's hard for me to judge
because it's a completely different world than I grew up in and it's
hard for me to appreciate a lot of them.
FH:
If you didn't broadcast, would you be in the theater?
JW:
I don't know. After I graduated from college I went to Fordham and entered
the acting school. I lasted for two days and went over to the radio.
I love the theater. I was in plays in college and it was great fun.
And I think it was great training for speaking on your feet or appearing
public or whatever. I would have liked the theater but I'm just as happy
that I spent my life in television sports.
FH:
Did you have any regrets about anything you did?
JW:
I often wonder, and I'm still wondering, if I shouldn't have left a
little earlier and tried something else. Either news or producing or
writing or something like that. I don't know. I've had a very good run
and been very lucky. Who knows.
FH:
Were "The Good Old Days" better than today?
JW:
No. They never are. They're good old days because we were younger. I
expect that we might of had more fun and the athletes might of had more
fun. You know Fran, in those days baseball, football, basketball players,
they had to take jobs in the offseason to augment their income. So when
their playing days were done they had something to fall back on. Now
we've got instant millionaires. What happens at 33 when you don't do
anything for the rest of your life. I don't know.
FH:
Talking to a lot of the guys who broadcast both radio and television,
they usually have a preference. What would be your preference?
JW:
I think radio because you've got to paint the picture in radio. In television
the picture is already there. Jack Gould, who was a critic for the New
York Times, the first television critic for the New York Times, once
said, 'Television sports announcers are glorified caption writers.'
I got so mad but then I thought about that. I said that's pretty good
because if you could write a caption to a New Yorker cartoon, a caption
that makes the picture even better, then you're pretty good. So that's
what I tried to take. But that was my challenge in television. Radio
is for creativity.
