—  It is Super Bowl weekend. It is the last football game this season, so those of us who are serious about our football have settled down for a long dry spell in spite of the rain. Thinking about sports reminds me of my sports hero when I was growing up. “Bill Stern, the Colgate Shave Cream Man, is on the air … Bill Stern, the Colgate Shave Cream Man, with stories rare …”  If reading these words puts a happy melody in your head, you are well over thirty.

 Bill Stern’s Sports Newsreel represents the best of classic radio. Stern’s program was a staple of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) from October 1937 until September 1953. Then the program moved to the American Broadcast Company (ABC) where it remained for the rest of its life--until 1956. For most of this time Colgate Shaving Cream was the sponsor. In the final years Budweiser, All-State Insurance, and several other advertisers kept it on the air. Those were the days when the family literally gathered around the radio for their entertainment.

 I remember well the fun of hearing the Bill Stern show with my mother and father on a Sunday night and in 1943 when the show was moved to Friday night. Bill Stern was a sportscaster, one of the best we have ever had. In those days the sportscaster had to describe the action so that a listener could visualize exactly what was going on down on the playing field. Stern was the master at doing just that and his style can be heard in some of the more colorful news and sports commentators of today.

 He was not just a great sportscaster. Bill Stern was a most gifted storyteller. It was that gift which made his program a success. He was the Paul Harvey of the sports world. He never allowed facts to get in the way of a good story. His repertoire included stories about presidents, legislators, actors, actresses and bandleaders of his era, as well as Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth in the sports world.

 An example of his stories is one program in which his guest was Red Grange, the “Galloping Ghost” of the University of Illinois. The broadcast was done the night before Illinois was to play the University of Michigan (date not known). In this broadcast Red Grange told how he got his nickname, Galloping Ghost.  It was in the 1925 game between Illinois and Michigan that Illinois received the kick off and Red Grange took the ball 96 yards for a touchdown. In the next 12 minutes of the game he scored three more touchdowns. His performance led sports writer Warren Brown to write, “Today I have seen a ghost, a galloping ghost …” The name stuck and the rest is sports history.

 I chose a little nostalgia today -- to look back to a time of the innocence of radio. A time when language we hear commonly on today’s radio and television would get a radio station knocked off the air and fined a healthy fine.

 Kids could lie on the rug in front of the radio after school and listen to Jack Armstrong, The All American Boy, and Captain Midnight, followed by Hop Harrigan, Ace of the Airways. All of these taught both moral and practical lessons. I look at what kids are watching on TV today, teen-looking actors and actresses who portray youngsters as rebels and disrespectful to parent and teachers. I may not want a lot of the “good old days” back but I must admit I long for these.

 

 

Jerry Bullock has written his weekly column for the Daily Record for more than 20 years. Jerry is a retired Air Force colonel, an ordained Baptist minister, professional counselor, military historian, speaker, and writer. He is a native Texan tracing his Texas roots to the days of the Republic.