Casting a Spell
April 14, 2009 04:10 PM | General
(4:10 pm)
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While reading all of the touching tributes following the sudden death of Philadelphia announcer Harry Kalas, I couldn’t help but remember Jack Fleming – West Virginia University’s Harry Kalas.
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| The iconic Jack Fleming holds up a 'Beat Pitt' sign during a WVU basketball game in 1988.
WVU Sports Communications photo |
On ESPN.com Jayson Stark wrote that Kalas WAS the Phillies. There is no denying the importance of the play-by-play man to a team’s fan base but Stark’s analogy seems a bit of a stretch - raw emotion sometimes has a way of overtaking your senses.
“He didn’t just describe the games,” wrote Stark. “His voice took hold of those games and made them his personal amphitheater.”
Fleming cast a similar spell on Mountaineer sports fans. Listening to all of those memorable Kalas calls being replayed on ESPN this morning while driving to work, my mind kept drifting off to some distant West Virginia play Fleming described that has now become permanently embedded in my memory bank.
Fleming, like Kalas, had a distinctive style. At his peak, Fleming didn’t describe events - he controlled them. Jack admittedly didn’t possess a technical understanding of the games he called (on air he sometimes made fun of those who overanalyzed things), nor did his pregame prep work match that of today’s extremely well-prepared Tony Caridi, but Fleming’s sense of timing was unapproachable. Years of broadcasting taught him when to recognize key moments in games.
Take for instance my personal favorite Fleming call: Pat Randolph’s 1984 touchdown run against Penn State at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown.
As the play began to unfold you can hear Fleming’s voice rise to a crescendo as Randolph turned the corner and found a clear patch of turf in front of him to the end zone - Fleming's excitement increasing with each step Randolph took.
I can close my eyes and still hear Fleming describe the play:
Harvey Smith and Wayne Brown set up out to the right. The flanker out wide … and the handoff given to Randolph with blockers, swings out to the right, cuts down over the 20, THE 15, THE 10, THE FIVE, TOUCHDOWN, WEST VIRGINIA! Gooo Pat! Scott Barrows with a block for the Mountaineers! Barrows pulling and leading the blocking and Pat Randolph racing into the end zone and West Virginia scores! From …twenty … two yards out.
http://www.msnsportsnet.com/jackfleming/mp3/Fleming-3.mp3
Randolph’s run finally put West Virginia ahead in a game the Mountaineers eventually won 17-14. The victory snapped a streak of 25 consecutive losses to Penn State. Having been involved in nearly all of those 25 defeats (the exceptions being the short time Fleming’s station lost the broadcasting rights in the early 1960s and the few years he spent calling Chicago Bulls games for WIND in Chicago) Fleming fully understood the meaning of the Penn State victory to West Virginians.
Notice how he took the extra time to give the listener the exact distance – 22 yards, and how he was able to weave in Scott Barrows’ critical block that made the run possible. Fleming realized that he was relaying an important moment in WVU history, and he took great care to make sure he got it right – including recognizing the key participants in the play.
West Virginia football fans will always remember the names Pat Randolph and Scott Barrows, thanks to the brilliance of Jack Fleming.
Harry Kalas shared that brilliance.
It has been said that Phillies fans enjoyed Kalas so much that they could listen to him read the phone book. Fleming, too, had a rabid following.
Having had the opportunity of getting to know Fleming during his later years, I realized that Jack was uncomfortable with the adulation he often received because sports were just a small part of his life. Fleming had a wide, wide range of interests well beyond the playing field.
In reality, that is probably a big reason why he became so appealing to Mountaineer fans.
Tuesday Tidbits:
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| Greg Van Zant |
This week, Collegiate Baseball has WVU ranked 26th ahead of Georgia Southern, Vanderbilt, Eastern Illinois and San Diego State.
The Mountaineers are not presently ranked in the two other major baseball polls: USA Today/Baseball Weekly and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
Just six times in school history has the baseball team finished the year nationally ranked: 1961 (24th), 1962 (20th), 1963 (11th), 1964 (15th), 1967 (20th) and 1982 (16th).
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| Joe Alexander |
If the Bucks can remain patient, there could be a pot of gold waiting for them at the end of the rainbow.
http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=wvir&media=113024
You must have a MountaineerTV subscription to watch Saturday’s spring game.
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| Sidney Glover |
“It’s good to get him back,” Casteel said Tuesday morning. “He had a hamstring injury and sometimes those things are tough. We wanted to make sure that he was healed up so it didn’t hinder him when he starts running this summer.”
Mortensen’s point being that the skills players are using in the spread offense generally do not translate well to the pro game, i.e., offensive linemen that are rarely asked to put their hands on the ground and drive defensive linemen off the line of scrimmage in the running game, the imprecise routes wide receivers are being asked to run, and the lack of success spread quarterbacks are having in the pro game.
It was an interesting discussion but I began to wonder, how did all those great wishbone players Oklahoma and Nebraska produced through the years transition to the NFL? I don’t recall Billy Sims having too much trouble with the Lions.
Sometimes I think people are getting paid a lot of money to over-think things. If you can play, you can play.
Graduation and early departures have already claimed 11 of the 16 players on the three all-Big East teams selected by league coaches with Connecticut’s Hasheem Thabeet’s announcement to enter the NBA draft a forgone conclusion.
Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody is still weighing his options but is likely to return. That means just Harangody, West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler, Cincinnati’s Deonta Vaughn and Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell are the only returning all-conference players for 2010.
Harris told the Syracuse Post-Standard yesterday that he didn’t originally intend to declare for the draft, but the school issued a statement announcing his plans because the coaching staff had not heard from him for more than two weeks.
Harris said he will remain in the draft but he will keep the option of returning to Syracuse open. Meanwhile, a report yesterday from Syracuse claims that Flynn plans to sign with an agent.
Additionally, Georgetown freshman center Greg Monroe is also contemplating testing the NBA waters.
Here is the list of Big East early entrants as of April 14:
* Koshwal and Harris are testing the waters and have not yet signed with an agent.
John Brady, who guided LSU to the Final Four in 2006, is coaching at Arkansas State and former George Washington and St. John’s coach Mike Jarvis is at Florida Atlantic.
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| Devin Ebanks |
Enjoy your week!
