Kansas City Royals Quiz (1969-99): 1) Who is #2 in hits behind
George Brett? 2) #2 in home runs to Brett? 3) Who had the
most hits in a single season? 4) Most wins in a career? Answers
below.
Sam Phillips
When I did my pieces for Black History month, I probably should
have done a bit on Phillips back then. Author Joel Williamson
says that Sam Phillips, white, was a “self-conscious racial
revolutionary who played a substantial role in bringing down the
thick wall between the races in the South and the rest of
America.”
Born in 1923, Phillips was raised on a farm in northwestern
Alabama where he had full access to the broad stream of black
culture. There was a black Methodist church just down the road
from his and he would stand outside to listen while the
congregation sang.
By 1945, Sam settled in Memphis with his family, and some
experience in radio in northern Alabama. He went to work for
station WREC where his older brother Jud sang with a group.
Soon Sam was the engineer for a regular nationwide broadcast
over CBS of the big bands that played in the rooftop Skyway
Room of the Peabody Hotel. [A great hotel, by the way, with one
of the best lounge areas for people watching I”ve ever been
around.]
But Sam tired of the Big Band sound and in January 1950, he set
up his storefront Memphis Recording Service. He recorded
anything to make enough money to survive, but Sam wanted to
give some of the “great Negro artists” a chance to be heard. He
wanted “Negroes with field mud on their boots and patches in
their overalls…battered instruments and unfettered techniques.”
Phillips barely got by. In late 1951 one of his records was B.B.
King”s “Three O”Clock Blues.” Another was Ike Turner”s (yes,
that Ike) “Rocket 88.” And while Sam was respected by his
fellow workers, he had to pay for his unorthodox interest in black
people. Sometimes, the language directed towards him was
rather poor.
Black artists learned that Sam Phillips was the man in Memphis
who understood their music, who was fair, and who might record
and sell their work. By early 1952, encouraged by the success of
recordings he had produced for others, Phillips established his
own label, Sun Records. And then one Saturday in the summer
of 1953, young Elvis Presley, age eighteen, walked in. White and
blue collar.
Elvis became the great star of Sun Records, but well before he
walked in, Phillips was already into broadening his search for hits
by mining whites in the lower social orders. And Sam brought
forth a stream of talent that is astounding. As Williamson writes,
“They were fully as untutored and spontaneous as he could have
wanted. They were also ambitious.” Out of the tiny storefront in
Memphis came Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and
many others.
While all this was going on, Phillips made a revolutionary move in
the area of gender, creating the first radio station in America to
have an on-the-air staff made up entirely of women, station
WHER.
On Saurday, October 29, 1955, WHER Memphis came on the air.
That same day, Phillips sat in the booth of a restaurant of the
newly opened Holiday Inn and agreed to sell Elvis Presley”s
contract to RCA for $35,000 and the $5,000 he owed Elvis in
back royalties.
By industry standards it was a high price. Sam needed the money
to support his new radio station and the new talent he was
developing. But it was a controversial move so Phillips
confronted his friend Kemmons Wilson. It was Wilson who was
executing his own revolution – a chain of “Holiday Inns” offering
in locations everywhere the “same highly dependable, moderately
upscale, quality motel accommodations.”
Kemmons told Phillips. “Jesus Christ! Thirty-five thousand
dollars? Hell, he can”t even sing, man. Take the money!”
Phillips has been ridiculed over the years for the deal but the fact
is he didn”t have the capital and the organization to market Elvis
the way RCA and Colonel Tom Parker could.
Phillips continued on with his WHER for 25 years as well as the
record company. And he was later chosen to be one of the first
two non-performers selected for The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
(along with Alan Freed).
[Source: “Forgotten Heroes,” Edited by Susan Ware. Article by
Joel Williamson.]
Billy Packer…and the NCAA
Personally, I”m sick of college basketball. Number one, I”m sick
of the coaches. I can”t look at any of them without thinking they
are nothing but sleaze. And the network shills keep glorifying the
jerks. Did you see that idiotic Dick Enberg piece between the
Final Four games on Saturday? And as for the caliber of play, give
me the games of 10 or 20 years ago any day over this garbage. [And
all this venom comes from a guy who IS proud his Wake Forest Demon
Deacons won the NIT].
And speaking of Wake Forest, and its alumni, man am I sick of
our own Billy Packer. Geezuz, can”t he just shut up now and
then?! I agree you need a color-man during the telecast but do
we need an explanation for every single trip down the floor?
Actually, Packer gives us an explanation for every pick and
almost every dribble. During the Carolina-Florida game Ed Cota
was dribbling up court. Packer said the following:
“How ”bout splitting that double-team? And I like the way Cota
is dribbling it close to the floor.” The freakin” play hadn”t even
developed yet! All Cota did was dribble the ball up court like
he”s supposed to.
Or when Packer got on Wisconsin”s Vershaw for moving his head. He
gets out the telestrator and circles the head, telling us to “watch
his head.” What are we, morons?!…actually.
And here was a good one. Vershaw is evidently the only married
player in the Big Ten. Totally irrelevant drivel. But Packer and
Jim Nantz took it further.
Packer: “I guess guys that play a lot don”t date a lot.”
Nantz: “They don”t have time!”
No, you jerks. Today”s Division I players have too much fun
picking up hookers, or having them supplied for them.
You want to see some good action? Next year, go to some
Division III games. They are more competitive, the players listen
to the coaches and they play their hearts out for the right reason,
they love the sport. And speaking of D-III, it”s time to honor a
school that has had one helluva ride this academic year…
St. Lawrence
My good childhood buddy, George, brought this to my attention
last week and, upon further scrutiny, what St. Lawrence (upstate
New York) did in Men”s Soccer is worthy of praise. The Saints
went 22-0-0 last fall in winning the Division III championship.
They were the first team to go undefeated and untied en route to
the D-III crown. So congratulations to coach Bob Durocher,
whom George (a former Saints player himself) tells me is also one
helluva guy. But wait…there”s more.
St. Lawrence hockey…Folks, we all missed perhaps the greatest
single college athletic event ever. Seriously. In the East
Regionals of the NCAA hockey tournament (where St. Lawrence
is Division I), the Saints defeated Boston University, 3-2, to
advance to hockey”s Final Four, to be held this coming weekend.
What is so spectacular is the fact that the game went into a 4th
overtime!! Sports fans, just think about that. These guys ended
up playing 124 minutes! More than two full games. [The
previous record for a NCAA tournament game was 100 minutes].
And think about the goaltending, on both sides. Boston
University”s Rick DiPietro stopped 77 shots while the St.
Lawrence netminder, Derek Gustafson, saved 72. I would have
paid anything to be there. That”s top-notch amateur athletics at
its finest. So we”re going to follow the Saints as they go up
against defending NCAA champ, the University of Maine, on
April 6th. [It”s in Providence, RI, if you live in the area].
ESPN
Geez. Did you see the review in Sports Illustrated this week of
the book, “ESPN: The Uncensored History”? Here is a small
snippet from the book, authored by Michael Freeman.
“There was a ticker machine outside (the) SportsCenter (studio)
that had so many razor blade nicks in it from people using razor
blades to cut up their cocaine,” Freeman quotes one former
employee as saying, “they had to replace the top of the machine.”
Or there was this episode. “I know you want to screw me,”
Freeman has anchor Mike Tirico telling a female coworker at a
party in 1992, “so let”s leave.” [Tirico is evidently the subject of
about 17 pages in the book.] [The review was by SI”s John
Walters.]
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/30/74: #1 “Sunshine On My
Shoulders” (John Denver) #2 “Hooked On A Feeling” (Blue
Swede) #3 “Seasons In the Sun” (Terry Jacks).
Quiz Answers: 1) Frank White, 2006. 2) Amos Otis, 193.
3) Willie Wilson, 230 in 1980. *Willie was also the greatest
high school football player, ever, in the state of N.J. 4) Paul
Splittorff, 166.
Two late sports notes: Congrats to Dale Earnhardt Jr. for his first
NASCAR win yesterday. And Kevin Johnson”s return, after two years
of retirement, to the Phoenix Suns is a great story in the making.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday. I forgot my notes on my friend J
Mac”s favorite baseball player, Dummy Hoy. So our official
Opening Day missive will be delayed until then.
*And finally, I have to add…what a great “Sopranos” this week, eh?
