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By Root 2372 0

“Leave the camera man here with me and I’ll see what I can get.” A policeman from whatever military squad came up and looked at me kind of funny in my coat, tie, and jacket with Bermuda shorts and sneakers, and I told him, “It’s okay, I’m with the media.” He said, “Well, it’s not safe; you’re going to have to get out of here.” So we moved around the building and watched as the National Guard blocked off streets and put up barricades. We wound up being the only media that stayed in the downtown area. Whenever someone came up to me, I stretched the truth a little, saying, “We’re supposed to be here reporting on what’s going on.” We were able to do a kind of play-by-play of how security and the Olympic Committee were handling the situation and clearing everybody out for safety—except us, of course. As soon as they were able to determine that it was a bomb, a Code Red went into effect. I stayed on the air, and the last report I did was at eight in the morning. ABC News and Nightline carried us, along with local stations too, because there was no other news source that was there while it was going on.

JACK EDWARDS:

The six o’clock SportsCenter on the night after the Olympic bombing reported that Richard Jewell was in the “first circle” of suspects. Every single network chased the tail of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which jumped to its conclusion based on a hypothetical psychological profile of the bomber and came up with Richard Jewell, and the Journal-Constitution in spectacularly irresponsible fashion identified him. I’m sure you remember the campout at his condo as all the law-enforcement people went in there. We had a tremendous investigative producer who had an unimpeachable source, and we went on the air and said that Richard Jewell was no closer to the center of the FBI’s “first circle” than any other suspect. We never varied from that, even while everyone else was identifying Jewell. I’m pretty sure I’m the anchor who said this first.

For me, that was SportsCenter’s greatest moment, because we were the only, and I do mean only, news agency anywhere that was not pegging Richard Jewell and putting him in the electric chair. And then lo and behold, years later, it comes out, no, it wasn’t him. It was that freak who was bombing abortion clinics, not Richard Jewell. Tom Brokaw had gone on NBC and said, “No one has told us that he is not the guy,” a double negative. And NBC I believe ended up writing a big check to Richard Jewell. And the poor guy had all kinds of psychological problems and stress issues for the rest of his life, and died way before his time. I lay his death right at the editor’s desk at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; it’s on them. That was terrible journalism. But we did it right.

An August weekend in 1996 turned out to be one of the saddest in ESPN history because of two unexpected deaths. Even as the hour drew near for a memorial service honoring Allan B. “Scotty” Connal, the former executive vice president of ESPN and TV sports legend who had died earlier in the month, Bristol was shaken by the news that Tom Mees, forty-six, a sportscaster with the network from its beginning, had died in a drowning accident, apparently while trying to save his four-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, who survived. Mees also left behind his wife, Michele, and another daughter, Lauren.

Mees had been one of the network’s first on-air personalities. Behind the scenes, he was described by more than one coworker as “the life of the newsroom.” Boyish and, considering his profession, unusually humble, he had an unquenchable love of sports and an especially infectious enthusiasm for hockey. His dedication to the “Frozen Four” NCAA Hockey Championships helped it grow into the national event that it remains today.

Connal, who died of a heart attack in an Atlanta hospital, was sixty-eight, and Mees was to have been one of the speakers at his memorial service. The wake for Mees was on Friday, the memorial service for Connal on Saturday. Connal’s family asked Bob Ley to mention Mees in his remarks eulogizing Connal, and he did.