Those Guys Have All the Fun - James Andrew Miller [251]
JOE VALERIO, Producer, The Sports Reporters:
The last Sports Reporters show that Dick [Schaap] did was the Sunday after 9/11. It was September sixteenth. Of all the shows we’ve ever done, it’s without question the one I am most proud of. All the NFL games had been canceled and Mark Shapiro had told me he wanted us to do a full hour on Sunday morning. I told all the guys that I really wanted the “parting shot” to be what it’s like to be an American citizen. Dick was very resistant to doing something like that. He didn’t like to show a personal side of himself, and he always thought that journalists should keep their private opinions and lives to themselves. But he wound up delivering a very eloquently written commentary, which included recollections of when President Kennedy had died. All of us were very pleased.
Dick went into the hospital for his hip operation the following Thursday, and what happened was terribly unfortunate. The problem was, he developed an infection and a fever that Saturday and the hospital was understaffed. Very few doctors were around because so many of them were at memorials for people who had died on 9/11. He didn’t get the care that he should have gotten. I called up Norby Williamson and told him, “I think we’re going to have some real problems. Dick isn’t going to be coming back for quite a while.” I was thinking in terms of maybe by the spring, so we thought about who could replace Dick for the interim period. We tossed around some names and he came back to me and said, “What do you think about John Saunders?”
When I called John up, he was very hesitant and skeptical. He came in when Dick was in the hospital and did a great job, but he thought the guys working on the show were very, very egotistical. I think he mistook their commitment to the show for egotism. Meanwhile, I was going to the hospital to see Dick on Sundays, but for a long stretch he was in an induced coma. I guess the last time I was in his room was the week before he died. It was very sad. After we went to Dick’s memorial service in early January, John was very reluctant to continue with the show. He said, “Why would I want to replace such an iconic figure?” I said, “John, don’t look at it that way. The show is going to stay on the air. We’re going to continue to do the best job we can.”
JOHN SAUNDERS:
Originally they approached me just to fill in for a week or two, and I’m not sure why, other than the fact that maybe because I live in New York it wouldn’t cost them a hotel room or a car service to get me down here. I thought Dick Schaap was not just the greatest writer and host but also a gracious, gentle human being. I didn’t know him well, but every time I saw him, every time I had an interaction with him, he treated me so well that it was an honor, and so I felt it would be an honor to fill in for him. After I did the show, I went home and said to my wife, “I don’t know if I can do this again. I’m not sure I’m the guy that can handle those personalities.” But as I continued to do the show week after week, and got to know the personalities a little better, I realized the show was in some ways tailor-made for my personality, because it allowed the other guys to be who they were. When it comes to television, my philosophy has always been that I don’t get upset at people, I don’t have a big ego about it, and I’m not in it for the celebrity.
JEREMY SCHAAP:
When my father died, I certainly had no expectation that anyone would want me to try to replace him as host, and as far as I know, no one did. It would have been a bad decision. At thirty-two, I