maly, too: A Guest Column By Mike Swan

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

A Guest Column By Mike Swan

Dear Ron,

At the last minute, I decided to drive up for Jim Zabel’s public funeral service and visitation on Friday afternoon, June 21, at Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines.

Jim Zabel

Fortunately, my sister and brother-in-law are very accommodating and I was able to stay at their place. As has been publicized, Des Moines was pretty well booked solid for all the events going on that weekend.

The large church was not packed, but the message sent from there really resonated. Most of those who spoke and performed were able to capture his story.

And that’s not easy to do.

I didn’t know what kind of service this would be. It was solemn, fun and entertaining. When I saw The Bear from Zabel’s long-running sports show on WHO-TV at the event, I knew it would not be that formal. Scott Smith, who did a good job as “emcee,” was there with the Des Moines Big Band. I was not going to take notes and photos, but I couldn’t resist taking a piece of paper out of my front pocket and making sure I captured some of the gems.

Personally, I had hoped it would not be an affair where people spent a lot of time craning their necks to see who was there. I hoped it would be a storytelling tribute to a man in the journalism profession who had a lot of interests.

You could tell that many who spoke had put a lot of time and effort into their remarks.

When many people think of Zabel, they remember all of his University of Iowa play-by-play over 49 years. That part of his job ended in 1996. But, of course, he still wove himself into coverage with post-game work and other shows.

So, people would remember that signature call, “I love it! I love it! I love it!” which actually evolved out of an ‘80s basketball broadcast, but wove its way into the football broadcasts. You can’t argue with the success of that phrase, as even a book about him bears that name. But sometimes it seemed like that was not the perfect way to remember him. At times that call seemed extremely entertaining and, at others, a bit cringe-worthy.

This was a guy who also displayed a staccato-like delivery that could capture everything from a high-scoring Drake basketball game, to a girls’ high school hoops contest to a bowling competition.

And his afternoon call-in show covered many topics, including current events and politics, where he was well-versed. People called in recipes as well, another of his interests. And, of course, those turned into cookbooks that the station sold.

There was a nice video tribute where Zabel said he was a man of many interests, not just sports.

Maybe long-time program director Van Harden of WHO Radio captured it best. You know, with live radio, you’ve got to have a sense of humor to go along with the inevitable gaffes. Zabel could laugh at incidents like the ones Harden passed along:

Duane Ellett used to take his turn running the board in addition to his on-air duties and liked to have fun with Zabel at times. Once Zabel was having a lot of trouble with coughing and would hit the button that would mute his mic. This was happening a lot during one of his call-in shows. Well, Ellett would jump in there and produce his own cough over the air whenever Jim would reach for the button. Also, when the show might be dragging, Ellett would sometimes pose as a caller and be such characters as “K.O. Pectate.”

He also brought up a show that we used to listen to religiously. It was a late-night scoreboard show, which Van Harden reminded us was called “Sports Final.” It would have all kinds of scores, including many of the small high schools in the state. I remember, in particular, one small school – Turkey Valley. Whenever Jim came to that score, whoever was in the studio would launch into “Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!” Okay, everyone was getting tired by then and just about anything could set you into convulsive laughter. That did the trick.

And, thankfully, Harden reminded the audience about the world of journalism before exclusivity arrangements. Stations could cover as many colleges’ games as they were able. So, WHO was also doing Iowa State and Drake games on occassion. Press row would be quite a site, with numerous newspapers and radio stations covering games. Zabel’s Drake basketball work in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s stands out to me as much as anything. The 1969 team that finished third in the nation and the Bulldog squads of that era had an astounding group of players under Maury John.

Ed Podolak was also particularly good. His voice cracked at the beginning when he talked about what a great travel partner Zabel was. He also referred to his personal issues that Zabel helped him deal with.

Two of Zabel’s grandchildren, Charlie Paul and Annie Gibson, also got up there and gave touching tributes. Paul said Zabel, or “Z” as his grandchildren called him, would attend his Little League games, dressed in a formal suit. That was “Z” also. I remember working alongside him in the press room and thinking, ‘Man, he’s got some kind of spit shine on those saddle shoes.’

It was also brought out that, among Zabel’s family, several went to Iowa State. I can remember him being razzed at more than one Iowa State game, but everyone just ate it up.

Sitting and waiting for the service to start, I struck up a conversation with an older woman from Ankeny. She was just a follower of journalistic work in Des Moines. We agreed on many things. These included some of the employee cuts at the Register that had not been handled well and that Zabel was a man of many interests. We also agreed that it was a bit melancholy that some of the old guard was gone.

Walking around the Drake campus and journalism’s Meredith Hall the next day, I wondered who would carry the torch in Des Moines. Jim Zabel, Mike Newell, Maury White and Jim Duncan, the voice of The Drake Relays (who died back in 1989) are all gone. Dolph Pulliam has moved. These were guys who could laugh at themselves, and also tried to get it right. (Okay, White didn’t really laugh at himself.) It might be up to someone like Larry Cotlar. He was one of the first people I encountered at the service, and I enjoyed talking to him. He is one, in my opinion, who avoids some of the blather and wears many hats, including serving as Drake men’s basketball play-by-play man.

It’s nice when you return home and the memories of a trip kind of sink in. Other associated memories also start to seep in. You know, Zabel wasn’t always a homer and I think he knew where sports stood in the broad scheme of things. In the ‘70s, there was a time when some of the football players got in legal trouble for a fight in an Iowa City disco. So, from time to time he would refer to Iowa’s “disco defense.” I can also remember him talking on-air about how people thought something like covering an Iowa football game at Hawaii would be the ultimate fun trip. But, he said, you have to work to cover the game, and there wasn’t always a lot of time to do all the tourist things. But you know he found some time for socializing.

Since the service was basically a smaller group setting with fewer than 200 people, it was easier to get around and talk to people. Zabel had died a month ago but the family was very gracious and I, for one, really appreciated them doing this.

-- Mike Swan

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.