Column by JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
In the picture on the cover of the biography of Dave Nitz, a book released earlier this year, you see the legendary Louisiana Tech broadcaster very much in his element. Courtside at a basketball game, somewhat outdated headset covering both ears with his eyes keenly watching action that he will immediately translate to the listening audience.
In that picture, I may be one of two people on Earth who notice the guy sitting to Nitz’s right.
Me.
At first, it was kind of a cool look back at a moment in time, but with Dave’s passing earlier this week, that cover picture took on a special meaning to me.
If I had to guess, I’d say that picture was taken at Blackham Coliseum on the campus on the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now UL-Lafayette) in December, 1980. (I can tell by my questionable senior-in-college wardrobe.)
But if the scene wasn’t at Blackham Coliseum for a basketball game, it was in Beaumont, Texas, for a Southland Conference baseball tournament game. Or a few weeks later at Disch-Falk Field at the University of Texas for an NCAA Regional.
A few years later, it might as well have been for a Shreveport Captains playoff game in Wichita. Or San Antonio. Or Jackson.
Dave always had that “come sit by me” approachability when he was broadcasting. As a kid just getting in the sports journalism world, Nitz was always a safe place to land. You think Brent Musburger would have offered up a chair?
But that was Dave. By now, you’ve probably read quite a few tributes and by more than a few who have talked about how Nitz would offer up the second microphone to just about anybody. (Even me, though on that night in Austin he was aghast when I commented that the last time I had been at the University of Texas “some guy climbed up in the tower and starting shooting people.” He reminded of me of that for 40 years.)
Of course, I never let him forget about the night at a bowling alley in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., when Nitz might have been a little overserved and insisted that Vernor’s ginger ale was the best beverage ever and insisted that I try one. (Tasted like lighter fluid.)
Hundreds of stories from hundreds of people in hundreds of places. Nitz was always a packed suitcase and heavy bag of radio equipment away from his next adventure.
Still, after all of those games in my college years and early days as a sportswriter, Nitz had an even bigger impact on my professional life. And it happened basically on a whim.
But it didn’t exactly go as planned.
For almost 33 years, I’ve had a side hustle radio career that I owe mainly to Dave Nitz leaving me standing by the side of the radio road. In 1992, the idea was brought up by a mutual friend in the radio business to do a local sports talk show that would be hosted by Nitz (veteran, respected radio professional) and me (hack sportswriter with zero radio experience).
We met one day that summer and plotted out the whole thing. These types of shows were popping up all over the country, so it was worth a shot. And since I had a radio pro as a co-host, I figured it was be easy to ease into the business.
Only one problem – for various reasons, Dave had to back out.
As was said often in the movie Airplane as the plane was going down, “Good luck, we’re all counting on you.”
Decades later, SportsTalk been as much fun as a second job could possibly be, but without Dave being the original linchpin to the whole idea, it would have never happened.
But it wasn’t as if Dave never recovered from it.
Here is the understatement of the year: Louisiana Tech was fortunate to have Dave Nitz. And I’m not sure everyone in the Tech community appreciated that. Nitz was as good as anybody in the business. He was a pro’s pro and what made him even better was his versatility. Though he loved baseball most of all, he was at the top of his game in any sport he covered.
Name any major university you want; Dave Nitz was every bit as good any whoever they put on the air to call their play-by-play. And he did it for 50 years.
There’s no way someone as good as Nitz should have stayed in Ruston without moving on to a better opportunity. But he did.
Time, however, is undefeated with a 0.00 ERA and moved Nitz slowly into retirement, First it was football and eventually it was baseball, with the finale coming when signed off after Tech’s appearance in the 2024 baseball regionals at Arkansas.
Ever the pro, he gave a few quick words of thanks – not a hint of his voice cracking – and ended it like he always did.
“So long everybody.”
Thirteen months later, those words are even more appropriate.
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com