Pressurized call of a lifetime!
My time as a student assistant in OU's Sports Information Office prepared me for the shock of my life.
Up in the press box right before the 1966 season opener kicked off, boss Harold Keith handed me a list of 7 radio stations to call after each quarter with live reports. "Don't write anything, there isn't time -- just speak it," he said.
"Keep it short: a sentence or two," Mr. Keith said, adding: "Because you'll be live on the air. Oh, and say, 'This is Rusty Weller reporting from Owen Field.'"
What, live? On air? Without writing? And telling listeners who just mistakenly mumbled something? Well, there was no time to be nervous, so at the end on the first quarter I dialed away and blurted something about Steve Owens seven times. Multiply that by four that day for the other quarters, then by five home games to total 140 times I had to report something without the chance to first write what I was going to say. I didn't stutter or stumble on the calls and actually enjoyed the chore.
That wasn't the shock, however. It came later when the "Oklahoman" asked me to cover Ardmore High's opener a couple years after graduation when I was sports editor of the "Daily Ardmoreite." To make the statewide edition I had to be on the phone at a certain time -- which came with five minutes still left in the game. Anticipating that, I paid a guy to hog the only pay phone at the stadium so I could be on time to dictate my game story -- something I thought I had never done before.
I remember having to keep an eye on the down marker as it moved on the sideline while dictating my story in order to report accurate yardage statistics.
When done, the voice in the other end asked if I knew who was speaking. When I said no, I heard:
"Well, this is Bob Hurt! I'm sports editor of the "Daily Oklahoman!" And, son, you're HIRED!"
While I had applied for a desk job, I had no idea the call in reality was a job interview, one apparently calculated to not only see how I'd do under pressure but as an editor to understand the difficult demands of a reporter -- because as it turned out, Bob was recruiting a staff that would transform sports reporting.
Had I known it was an interview, I'd have choked. But the things I learned in Sports Information paid off that life-changing night.
For years, decades even, I wondered what miracle enabled me to somehow handle that withering pressure to speak a game story into reality as if reading it. Complete with accurate stats at that. Without any prior experience.
Then I recalled those nervous
