EDITORIALS

Farewell, Pat Summerall

Record one more in the loss column

Pat Summerall, in this April 10, 1994, file photo, is pictured in the broadcast booth at the final round of the Masters.
Pat Summerall, in this April 10, 1994, file photo, is pictured in the broadcast booth at the final round of the Masters.

WITH ALL that’s happened in the past couple of weeks-with all the explosions and smoke and sirens and deaths and grief from Massachusetts to Texas, with a manhunt unseen in this country since maybe April of 1995 after the massive Oklahoma City bomb blast, with a search for missing bodies from little West, Texas, to the search for missing bodies in the Sichuan province of vast China, with the still raging debate in this country over gun control inflaming political rhetoric from Washington to right here in Arkansas (thank you, State Representative Nate Bell, R-Idiocy), you might have missed this item in the obituary pages.

Pat Summerall died.

Not that his death was overlooked by the media. The phrase “overlooked by the media” wouldn’t apply to an obituary that appeared on the front page of the Washington Post. His did. But so did so many-too many-others last week. So for a moment, if you will, allow us to pause from other news to mourn Mr. Summerall, too:

The headline in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette may have said it best: “Football loses its voice.” Maybe not since the death of Howard Cosell has the sports world seemed so bereft by the loss of a broadcaster. Pat Summerall was the voice behind 16 Super Bowls, 26 Masters Tournaments and various other of sports’ big stories. He was supposed to always be there. Calling the game. It seemed that’s the way it was meant to be. How could Pat Summerall just be gone? The same thought occurred when Gilda Radner died. Just the thought of that remarkable comedienne still brings a smile to so many American faces. How could Gilda Radner just end?

For the record and just so’s you’ll know, Pat Summerall was one of ours.

Oh, sure, they’ll tell you that George Allen “Pat” Summerall was born and raised in Florida and played for New York’s football Giants-also for the Chicago Cardinals and briefly for the Detroit Lions. And, yes, he lived many of his adult years in Dallas. But he’s ours. He went to college and played football for the University of Arkansas. He’s a Razorback. And like all Razorbacks, he’s ours. Most folks never saw him play at Fayetteville or anywhere else. (Though as a Giant he played in the 1958 NFL Championship Game, aka The Greatest Game Ever Played.) Most folks knew him from his years as a broadcaster. The man who kept John Madden on the ground.

Football fans will understand. The ever-animated John Madden would- boom!-describe the previous play for the audience and either-right there!-utter something brilliant that would educate the audience about some detail of the sport or, more likely, would say something that had the rest of us scratching our heads. (“And that’s what that’s all about.”) Then the voice of Pat Summerall would thank him and/or talk his partner off the ledge, and the game would continue. (“Thank you, John. Third and four now from the 21.”)

The voice of Pat Summerall was also perfect for golf. It was as if he were standing behind you in the gallery, explaining the action in a muted whisper lest he interfere with the golfer’s concentration.

TALK ABOUT the perfect broadcast voice. Pat Summerall was just as good at calling the plays over the voices of 65,000 screaming Chiefs fans at Arrowhead Stadium or describing a four-foot putt in a whisper. Could you imagine David Feherty broadcasting Monday Night Football? Or maybe John Madden at the Masters? Boom! Pat Summerall was at home in either Candlestick or Augusta. That’s a special talent.

Pat Summerall did have his demons. Who doesn’t? He was a recovering alcoholic who had a liver transplant in 2004. (His donor was a 13-year-old junior high football player-from Arkansas.) He died April 16th, right in the middle of everything else happening in the news that week. And his loss was felt across the sports world and all across the country. But especially in Arkansas.

Ray Tucker, executive director of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, said Pat Summerall helped get that outfit’s annual golf tournament off the ground in 1999. And was planning to come to this year’s tournament.

To quote Ray Tucker: “People would tell me all the time, ‘I didn’t know Pat Summerall was from Arkansas.’ Well, he’s not from Arkansas, but he’s one of us.”

And we were always proud to claim him.

Editorial, Pages 16 on 04/27/2013

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