There’s a scene from a Seinfeld episode in which George Costanza enters Jerry’s apartment to inform his friend that he has just gotten a job at the New York Yankees. Jerry, of course, can’t believe it and says incredulously –
“Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle … Constanza?”
That’s pretty close to how I feel about this weekend’s induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Believe me, I have no problem if many are saying “Maravich, Guidry, Manning, Saban … Marshall?”
The Hall of Fame choses a select group of outstanding athletes each year – it’s always an impressive list – plus others who have contributed to the state’s sports landscape during their careers. In this case, I’m an “other” and will be a recipient of a Distinguished Service Award for sports media. It definitely isn’t for throwing a touchdown on a screen pass for the only points in the 1976 state championship game (although as screen passes go, it wasn’t bad.)
Saturday night’s program will be a full one with lots of the state’s sports figures to celebrate. It is well orchestrated for television (it’s on LPB) and the last thing they need is some media hack giving a speech and how he learned about the perils of splitting an infinitive.
And I’m not being inducted for my marvelous oratory skills, so nobody’s missing out. But I do feel the need to express some thoughts and feelings, so if I had been asked to give a speech, it would have gone something like this:
“Since it’s because of words – written and spoken – as to why I’m here tonight, here are two to get this started –
“Honored.
“Humbled.
“And by the way, it’s a tie between those two as to which one hits the tape first.
“It’s an honor to be in this class of inductees, but far more of an honor to be among those who came before me in the state’s media. These are people I have admired and who I consider giants of our state’s media.
“It’s humbling to think that this could have even happened in the first place.
“Years ago, when I was president of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, I remember coming to these events to hand out plaques to recipients such as the NFL’s Charles Alexander and the NBA’s Calvin Natt.
“And now, someone’s going to hand ME a plaque? Does not compute.
“I don’t feel very far removed from the young whipper-snapper who wrote 2,000-word game stories on a meaningless Huntington-Parkway football game and got away with it. I did that because I was allowed to. I was surrounded by a cast of sportswriters at the old Shreveport Journal that was the greatest collection of talent that a mid-sized paper could have ever had. Any city, any state. You had to bring it every day, every byline.
“Though I had no reason to think that I’d do anything other than have a 40-year career as a sportswriter and then retire, I am thankful that I was afforded the ability to explore my creativity in ways I had never thought of before.
“That helped led to a three-decade career in sports radio as well as to a career in journalism-based educational instruction, neither of which I was necessarily qualified for. The ultimate ‘fake it ‘til you make it.’
“I like to say that in my heart, I have always been a sportswriter, even though I haven’t been one on a full-time basis for more than 30 years.
“I started this by saying I’m honored and humbled by this. But there is actually another word that may be even more apropos: fortunate.
“Fortunate to be surrounded by colleagues, friends and, most importantly, family who had supported me as I branched out into something new to explore that next creative challenge. The 2,000-word game stories may have disappeared, but the creativity that goes into them never leaves you.
“Which is good news for me because I’m not done. There’s always another story to tell. And I want to tell it.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com