Writer relives great moments
A retrospective Mantle, Switzer and Palmer are a few of the highlights

Published: October 6, 2008

Thoughts from a retiree, after 35 years as a sportswriter, the final 28 for The Oklahoman:

→Only time I asked a photographer to shoot myself: with my boyhood idol, Mickey Mantle.

→Having a beer and burger and asking if I wanted to join him for lunch: the gracious Arnold Palmer.

→Barry Switzer will always be the King in my book. But I never met a coach I liked more than Pat Jones, or a better manager than Bobby Jones.

→Most remarkable speech: Bill Hancock in Stillwater. Tragically, though, it was Bill’s eulogy for his son Will.

→After hearing a well-done national anthem at the Myriad, I asked an all-time great, Volney Meece, "That was Reba who?”

→OU-Texas... All-Star Games... spring trainings... bowl games... NCAA hoops tournaments...

• A big regret: leaving Cal McLish off my list of top 50 Oklahoma ballplayers.

→Wrigley Field... Yankee Stadium... the Rose Bowl... Duke’s wild Cameron Indoor Stadium, where the Crazies run the asylum.

→There’s no better place to raise a family than Oklahoma City, and it keeps getting better.

→Wayman, Billy and the Boys at OU...The days of Wine and DelaRosa at OSU... The Boz, The Brick and One Sports Stadium...

→The Vancouver ballpark and Cal football stadium, with the magnificent Vancouver and San Francisco skylines behind.

→Noticing — eerily, now — O.J. Simpson and a blonde woman in the L.A.Coliseum stands.

→Loudest arena: The Pit at New Mexico. Loudest stadium: The Metrodome in Minneapolis. Most memorable game: Ice Bowl at OSU.

→Best tailgaters: Aloha Stadium in Honolulu. Best interview: Doug Gottlieb and "The World According to Gottlieb.”

→There will never be a better sportscaster, in all respects, than Bill Teegins.

→The Oklahoma City RedHawks and Blazers might be minor league teams, but they’re major league operations.

→Thank you, thank you, state college and TU sports folks.

→Recently found: a baseball card of 1908 Cubs catcher Johnny Kling inside an envelope inscribed, "To Bob, who remembers when the Cubs were good. Mick.” Thanks again, Mayor.

→My sportswriter of the year: younger brother Terry, who had a heart attack in July and emergency cancer surgery last month. Best writer I ever worked beside.

→State sportswriter of the year: Tulsa World’s Jimmie Tramel, who gave me a delicious spice cake at Saturday’s TU game. He even baked it.

→My greatest honor: Lou Meece asking if she could use something I wrote on Volney’s tombstone.

→My greatest privilege: being Cathy’s husband and Robbie and Katie’s dad.

Bob Hersom welcomes your e-mails at bhersom@opubco.com .

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