Chick Hearn remembered

Hearn was in Peoria during the early days of wavy and snowy television. The technology was not very good. You could actually see the shadow of the newscaster against the plain white background. The programming format was also pretty loose. I remember that Hearn used to joke around with Bill Houlihan, the weather forecaster. I distinctly remember one time when Hearn threw a snowball at Houlihan while he was giving the weather.

Judging from the press coverage of Chick's death he was a very revered sports announcer and person. Most people from this area, including myself, lost touch with Chick's career when he left Peoria in the late 1950's for Los Angeles. Peoria had a reputation years ago for providing television personalities for the big media markets. In addition to Chick Hearn, newscaster Bob Arthur and sportscaster Tom Kelly also made it big in California. Weatherman Jim Jenssen made it big in New York.

I had a personal meeting with Chick Hearn in 1955. It was in the middle of the darkest year of my life as I lay in bed with rheumatic fever for 4 months. Needless to say, for a thirteen year old boy who didn't feel that sick it was quite depressing to be incarcerated in a bedroom while listening to the kids playing ball across Johnson Street on the grade school playground.

Chick had come to Minonk to give a talk at the MDR athletic banquet. After the banquet, Jack Pierce, who was the MDR athletic director, brought Chick Hearn to my parents house for a short visit. It was a totally unexpected visit and I will always be grateful to Jack Pierce for his thoughtfulness in getting Hearn to stop and visit a sick boy.

I can still remember Chick Hearn entering the front door of our house. He was an impressive man, tall, Hollywood handsome, with real dark auburn wavy hair. But what was more surprising than his visit was his lack of words. He appeared to be speechless and didn't really know what to say. Here was this glib, funny, smooth sportscaster who is reknown for his phrases. He created the words "slam dunk" and "air ball". But he was reduced to muteness by the presense of a sick boy.

I am not saying this out of anger or spite. But what do you say to an athletically inclined boy bed ridden with a disease that may not allow him to ever participate in sports? I supposed he could have said, "Well Dave, maybe you can be an accountant when you grow up." In any case, I am sure he felt sympathy for me because he sent me an autographed picture of himself when he returned to Peoria.

A young Chick Hearn

In his obituary I learned that Chick Hearn had lost his only two children in tragic circumstances, one due to a drug overdose and the other to anorexia. One wonders if Chick's excellence and longevity in the broadcasting world may be due in part to things other than a love of what he was doing. It is not uncommon for one to lose one's self in a career, partly to drive out the pain of personal tragedies. It is a question we all can ask ourselves. How much of our career or worklife is driven by the desire to escape the pain in our personal life?

I have no idea if this is one of the reasons Chick Hearn excelled so long in his career. I do know that he is considered the best broadcaster this country has ever had. And millions of people will remember him and miss him. That is quite a legacy for a boy born in Buda, Illinois.

Kudos to city for beautification guidelines

As I have often mentioned in the past, Minonk's future lies in its ability to make itself unique. One way is to restore and preserve the victorian architecture from the 1800's. You want sameness, go to Bloomington. You want a pleasant shopping experience that reminds you of the past, you go to Minonk and visit its soon to open antique mall and other quaint little shops.

This is why I am so opposed to Dollar General's ugly yellow sign. It does not fit in with the downtown image that we want to convey.

I have reviewed the guidelines and they appear to be comprehensive and well thought out. I give credit to the Economic Development Council for their efforts. If these guidelines were in place 20 years ago we would not have the former IGA store eyesore that is so totally out of character with the rest of the downtown stores.