He First-downs it!

 he first-downs it




      One of the strange and singular parts of growing up in LA was the presence of broadcaster Bill Welsh. Bill, by any standards was a terrible announcer. Yet he was ubiquitous on TV throughout our childhood and into our adulthood. It was a common thought around McNerney that Bill was married to the station managers sister at KTTV because there was no way he could be holding the job due to merit. However, Bill Welsh was most definitely as Los Angeles as Joe Pyne or Bob Kelly who we loved just for their identification with our city. Bill Welsh was around when I was a toddler but Greg probably started to hear the voice in the mid to late 1950's. Welsh was a fixture on Channel 11 from 1951 forward and somehow was made director of sports and special events for the powerful local station. He always did Rose Parades and even beauty contests where he might speak off the cuff stuff like "she has rather big nose but  she is beautiful!" Legend has it that Bill covered 63 sports including football, basketball, wrestling, auto-racing, and even golf. All badly described since he only was behind the mike when a regular play by play man was not available. So Welsh would be covering LA State vs. Long Beach State football not USC or UCLA. The title of this installment comes from a time when we watched a meaningless football game in the front room on McNerney and a runner reached the needed yard marker and Bill shouted "he first downs it!" Greg never forgot those words and in moments of joyful achievments by our beloved Bruins he would shout at the TV "he first downs it!" While Bill Welsh was not exactly Vin Scully or Chick Hearn he was one of us, a son of Southern Cal. Amongst other things Bill Welsh hosted the totally eggish "Star Shoppers," Easter Sunrise Services, divorce court and he just may have been the man who introduced us to Sammy Tanner, the flying flea at the South Gate raceway.





 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Athletic Club Flower shop

Image
  Athletic Club Flower shop      This phrase is actually the telephone greeting at Greg's uncle Johnny Tassano's flower shop at 808 W. 8th street near Flower street in downtown L.A. Greg loved the place and culled many a story and line from his experiences at a place he worked and visited fondly. Even when he wasn't employed he drove around with cousin Kent (Kevin Smith) and they had a ball observing the absurdities of modern living in the Southland. The phone was answered by different employees and each had a unique turn of "Athletic Club...flowershopppp" There was owner John Tassano, right-hand man Ronald P. Lord, "Speed," a delivery man, and Carmen who cut flowers and told odd anecdotes such as the origin of pizza. I believe Greg and Kevin could go on for weeks about the people they met on their deliveries as they set forth across the city of the angels to spread floral joy. This might include places to eat, fascinating neighborhoods, cemeteries, lone...
Read more

Oil and gas crowd

Image
  Oil and gas crowd       This one comes from cousin  Kevin's bold political action volunteering for the Fred Harris presidential campaign in 1976. Kevin got a terrific piece on the campaign published as an editorial in the Los Angeles Times and also developed an imitation of the candidates speaking voice. Fred Harris was everything you would want in a public servant  and had come close to being asked to be Vice President but his brand was not widely known. Despite representing Oklahoma as a senator Harris managed to be an admirable liberal who favored the Great Society and economic democracy. Way ahead of his time Fred wanted to wrest control away from corporations and millionaires. He travelled in a recreation vehicle wth young Smith aboard to cut down on costs and was as grass roots as it gets. Fred was married to native-american LaDonna and to this day we have buttons stating "LaDonna for First Lady." Kevin would repeat the phrase from Fred's speeches a...
Read more

alright mother

Image
  alright mother- “You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what’s in your heart.” —Carol Ann Duffy  Greg was always delighted by a story told by his mother in law about a "sortie" dinner party attended by a Doctor "Putty" Putnam who had been forced to attend an opera by his wife. When asked by a clueless guest if he enjoyed the opera, his response was  "fuck you!" When I was visiting Bear Cove and sitting next to the matriarch Greg goaded her into telling the tale. But a rum n' coke had loosened "Minnie's" tongue and when she got to Putty's answer she blurted a rather hard FUCK YOU!  Roy, hearing his bride curse thusly said across the table "Alright mother!"
Read more