Jun. 08, 2007

DON McDERMOTT
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Been there, done that ... and more

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Mark Smith has taken a couple weeks off and will return June 18 with his i-pod batteries charged and his pencils full of lead.

So, your venerable sports editor, the man in charge of the so-called toy department of the Pahrump Valley Times, is running the show til Smith returns from a trip back East.

Being in charge is nothing new; I was managing editor of a Midwest newspaper, off and on, for 4 1/2 years in the early 1990s. We had a micro-managing publisher, who fired ME's faster than George Steinbrunner axed New York Yankee managers. And I was on deck to fill the void, til another poor soul chose to test that publisher's patience.

The publisher and I did agree on one major point, however. Municipal government was squandering too much money on outside consultants, when they wanted studies conducted to determine whether storm water drainage improvement was needed throughout the city. Hey, when water backs up into your yard, that's a problem.

Those government cats did catch on, forming a seven-member super committee, comprised of the council president, a couple council members and some other knowledgeable folks. Working together, they got some big community development block grants and other aid to get a lot of necessary projects completed. They saved about $1 million in fees that would have gone to those opportunistic, self-serving consultants.

Chalk one or two, or three, up for the good guys (and gals).

Being competitive is second-nature -- out of necessity. Among my boyhood friends were Wayne Fontes, who would become the head coach of the Detroit football Lions; Sonny Spielman, whose son Chris would become an all-American linebacker at Ohio State and a studly NFL player, and Ron Blackledge, whose son Todd would quarterback Penn State to some pretty good seasons and became a pretty fair ESPN sportscaster.

We played playground football, backyard basketball, and sandlot baseball, when we weren't hanging out like the Richie Cunningham gang on "Happy Days." We were all smart, too; smart academically and occasionally, smart-alecky.

Those of you who do not know who I am and what I do, here is a brief recap of the last 50 or so years ...

Let us start with May 7, 2001, when I first started writing for the Pahrump Valley Times. One of the first stories I wrote was an interview with real estate owner-entepreneur Hans Seibt, who said "Pahrump could be the next Las Vegas, because of all the land available here."

Pahrump, of course, has trouble being Pahrump, considering the lack of infrastructure (street lights, sidewalks, paved streets, traffic lights, a kazillion curb cuts) and the fact that town has no storm water drainage system or sewers, a Wendy's and a movie theatre.

Of course, both the Wendy's and theatre have been discussed since before I walked into the Times building six years and a month ago.

The hospital opened in April 2006, but I had already spent a week or so in Las Vegas facilities, so it has yet to assist me with its presence.

The casinos are cool; they have excellent air conditioning, and having poker rooms readily available beats the heck out of having to drive to Las Vegas to play a game I have been around since I was eight years old and was watching my dad hustle a few bucks to feed his wife and kids.

Now to some things that may be trivia to y'all ( ... learned that word by living in North Carolina for nine years ... )

Now, back to the beginning ... I wrote a piece in high school on how to "Build a Thinga-ma-jig." Teacher said I ought to become a writer. Voila!

I watched Lebron James, then a freshman at Akron St. Mary's-St. Vincent, lead his team to an Ohio Division III basketball title. I told my colleagues then that Lebron should skip high school and jump to the NBA. At 6-8, 245, he was a man among men and could, barring injury, become the league's next superstar.

In 1962, 1964, and 1999, I covered the World Horseshoe Pitching Championships in Greenville, Ohio. In 2003-04-05-06 and this year, the World Series of Poker was ... and is ... on my agenda. So, it's possible I am the only sports writer extant to cover both of those unique non-stick-and-ball events.

Walter Ray Williams Jr. is one of the PBA's best bowlers, but he is also one of horseshoe pitching's all-time greats. He once passed up bowling for a $30,000 first-place prize in a PBA event, to go after the $3,000 first-place money in the world horseshoe pitching tournament. I got the story, but amazingly, no national news organization picked it up -- not even the ubiquitous ESPN.

I did get mentioned in "Broad Street Bullies," a book written by Jack Chevalier about the 1974-75 National Hockey League Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers. I got the quote of the playoffs (according to Chevalier) and that bulletin-board quote I wrote helped precipitate one of the roughest and penalty-marred playoff series in NHL history; it matched the Flyers and New York Rangers.

In 1972, I covered Adolph Rupp's last game as basketball coach at the University of Kentucky. It was in the Mideast regionals in the University of Dayton Arena. The Wildcats had eliminated Marquette 85-69 in the semifinals, but then lost 73-54 to Florida State.

In 2000, I covered the Cleveland Browns' return to the NFL. What a bummer; the Browns lost 43-0 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Cleveland's new football stadium.

Assignments included the Indy 500, NASCAR Winston Cup, and Formula One grand prix races ... the World of Outlaws ... the United States Auto Club-sanctioned open wheel series (sprints, midgets, Silver Crown cars) ... the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs ... the Baltimore Orioles ... the Philadelphia Phillies ... the World Football League Philadelphia Bell ... the World Hockey Association Philadelphia Blazers ...

There have been interviews with Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson and many other top male golfers ... Jan Stephenson and Nancy Lopez, among the women greats ... Jeff Gordon, A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Rick Mears, Tony Stewart, Michael Shumacher, Nigel Mansell and Lyn St. James, and many other stars from auto racing's not-that-distant past and its present.

There could be more written, but y'all got ham, eggs and toast to cook for breakfast ... and I drink my coffee black.