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.
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| 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
