Hall of Fame Friendly

   To anybody who’s a sports fan, meeting one of your heroes in person is a bona fide thrill.

   My first “face-to-face” with professional athletes came at a Packer game back when they still played in Milwaukee. There was a spiral staircase enclosed in a metal “cage” that the players descended on their way to the locker room. I was perhaps thirteen years old when my father brought me there to get a better look at the players after some game back at the tail end of the sixties. The packers had just lost, and in fact, had freshly dedicated a three decade sabbatical from the championship football they’d enjoyed only the year before.

   I had a prime view, nose pressed to the screen, so that the players’ faces were only inches from mine. One by one, there they were in the living flesh — Bart Starr, Willie Wood, Carroll Dale, Forrest Gregg, Herb Adderley. I’ll never forget the startled and almost hunted looks in those athletes’ eyes as they braved in dismal silence the gauntlet of staring faces.

   Years later when I was granted the opportunity to cover a Packer game in Lambeau Field, little had changed for me the fan — I was still star struck. This was September 3^rd, 1995, opening day. The Packers would lose to the St. Louis Rams 17-14, but it would be the last time the Packers lost at Lambeau for more than two dozen home games and two Super Bowls. Standing on the field itself, surrounded by the cheering mob, I felt like I’d died and gone to green-and-gold heaven.

   The realities of the job soon brought me back down to “turf” however. Videographers back then were restricted to staying between the goal line and thirty yard lines, and required to kneel. The players were so big that for all practical purposes they blocked the view of the action. When I tried to take a shot of Tony Mandarich on the sidelines he saluted me with a finger. Later in the locker room Reggie White stepped out of the shower wrapped in a towel, caught the “deer in a headlight “ gloss to my eyes (I’m certain this is how many offensive linemen looked at him as well) and frowned.

   However I did get to join in a locker room interview with a young Brett Favre. He was sitting naked at his locker surrounded by what must have been thirty people or more – men and women. I poked the camera through a gap in the crowd while the “reporter” – my neighbor Tim Carlson (also his first visit to Lambeau) tried to reach the mike closer. I never covered a second Packer game.

   The truth is, many of my favorite Packer moments didn’t happen at Lambeau.

   I met Bart Starr a couple of times – once when he was signing autographs at a store at the Oakwood Mall. I got to exchange a few light words with him before the wall of fans hit. I still think he’s one of the nicest people who ever played the game.

   When Ray Nitschke came to Eau Claire during the 1990’s, — only a few years before he died — and agreed to a one-on-one sit-down interview, I was able to personally meet him. I said little more than “How do you do, I’m Steve” before the lengthy interview commenced, but Ray had also agreed to stick around for a live shot. While I was setting up the shot, I asked him to “please, take one big step up,” and he looked at me rather anxiously and asked “Is this where you want me, Steve?”

   I want you to think about that for just a second. Perhaps that fact that a football Hall-of-Famer and Packer Legend would remember a name recited once forty-five minutes earlier doesn’t strike you as impressive, but it does me. Not many athletes – not many people – could have managed that. It told me that Nitschke was a different kind of person. A real kind of person. I was so startled by it that I had to tell everyone I knew how Ray and I were on a “first name basis.”

   Bart and Ray were not the only Packer Hall of Famers I’ve ever met. Boyd Dowler visited the UWEC campus once, and again I was asked to set up a live shot. While we waited and he lounged on a sofa in the back lobby of Davies he dialed someone on the phone and unapologetically trashed “Hicksville” Eau Claire.

   For some people fame goes to their heads. For others, fame is no more than a uniform — something they wear on game day at Lambeau, then shed for more comfortable clothing when the game is done.

Posted under Artist? Scientist? Philosopher? Camera Guy?

   One of the best things about my job is the variety. The nature of news is that it surprises you. It also offers opportunities for adventure like few other occupations – outside of world explorer or crocodile wrestler.

   So if I were to look back and list the most unforgettable experiences of my career, they stack up something like this…

   The Gores and the Clintons 

   I was of course part of the crowd that welcomed both the Clintons and the Gores to a rousing Chippewa Falls farm reception back in August of 1992. The day was damp, and only so many people could squeeze under the circus tent at the Peck Farm, but that didn’t stop folks from massing outside in slickers to catch a glimpse of the soon-to-be 42nd President.

   Being a journalist has its privileges. I was positioned with the rest of the reporters on a makeshift dais about one hundred feet back from where Bill, Hillary, Tipper, and Al sat in folding chairs. Whenever a reporter shifted her weight the entire stage bounced wildly and so did the video.

   When the speaking – headlined by Clinton of course — was completed and the four guests schmoozed briefly with the crowd and were whisked off to the next photo op, I walked over and found four paper labels with names written on them taped to each of the folding chairs.  For weeks afterwards – until I tired of the game and finally discarded the labels – I explained to people that “this is where Tipper sat.”

   I got to see Clinton a second time – at the La Crosse airport. In his trademark fashion he took time to actually stop and wave at the four videographers perched atop the tractor trailer bed before hopping into a limo.

   I met Al Gore four times in all — the first time – literally face-to-face-alone-in-the-room–complete-with-handshake — when he ran for the Democratic nomination in 1988. I ran into him later, in 2000, while he was campaigning in La Crosse.

   On that fateful day I was required to accompany him and his campaign on a boat trip down the Mississippi when a national TV station pleaded for help in gathering footage. What I remember most about the trip is not at all positive. The boat felt like a miniature “Ark”, with three levels; on the top were the Gores, the Liebermans,  and guests. Below them, security, and on the bottom, the press corps packed tightly together at tables waiting for something to write about.

   I remember a USA Today reporter complaining on the phone that “This guy has no clue! He won’t even talk to us! Doesn’t he know we can make him look good and we can make him look bad?”

   When I finally got off the boat seven hours later – in Prairie du Chien – it was getting dark and I was literally stranded. After struggling unsuccessfully to beg rides, the boys from WXOW came to the rescue and – after completing their live shot –hauled me the hour-and-a-half drive back north to my car still parked in La Crosse.

Posted under Artist? Scientist? Philosopher? Camera Guy?

 

Creative:

   In addition to expressing my creativity through photography, I am also a writer — so many of my yearly goals relate to word count.

   #54. Minimum of 100 pages (300 words each) of publishable writing.

   Actual publishers don’t necessarily see it that way, but I’m more lenient. And if it’s good enough for Birder’s World, it’s good enough for me. 

Spiritual:

   There are many ways to express and celebrate one’s spiritually. I exercise mine through my art, through my dealings with friends and family, and in how I relate actively with my planet.

   #1. Nurture my soul. (What does that mean? That’s between me and my soul…)

   #29. Celebrate Earth Day

   #71. Bike or bus to work minimum of 22 days during year.

Health:

   I couldn’t keep up with this job if I didn’t stay in shape.

    #2. Minimum of 158 twenty-minute long fitness workoputs over the course of the year.

   #34. Frozen yogurt over ice cream.

Garden:

   #122. Further reduce mowable yard.

   #124. Expand strawberry patch

   #125. Solidify plans for new garden plot beside garage.

Birding:

   #88. Minimum 300 bird species identified for year.

   #90. Identify my 200^th Chippewa County bird species.

   #98. Add to my yard list.

Recreational:

   #110. Camp out at least 3 times under the open sky without a tent.

   #120. Add to my wildflower or dragonfly list.

Miscellaneous:

   #137. Change the oil in the Insight every five thousand miles.

 …Hey…it works better than post-it notes!

Posted under Artist? Scientist? Philosopher? Camera Guy?