MSNsportsNET.com
Jan. 4, 2001

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Tuesday is normally the day Jack Fleming provides us with his Internet commentary on West Virginia University athletics, his personal experiences as a broadcaster, or whatever is on his mind.

Because of the holiday we pushed this latest effort back to today.

I'm finishing what he started.

I talked to Jack briefly Wednesday morning and we discussed different ideas for today's column.

He had Florida State coach Bobby Bowden on his mind.

Jack recalled how they once conducted their interviews in the bowl end of the stadium at old Mountaineer Field. They would climb up the stairs and sit on the wooden bleachers near the top -- away from the commotion on the field.

Jack remembered Bobby's first year coaching in 1970 following the departure of Jim Carlen. During one particular game, Bowden's punter kicked one from inside the Duke 35 that sailed out of the end zone.

"When I saw that punt go flying halfway up into the stands I'm thinking, 'We're in trouble with Bowden coaching us,'" Fleming recalled Wednesday morning. "Boy how I was wrong!"

That morning he also planned to write about his first and only football recruiting trip. Rick Trickett, a member of Frank Cignetti's staff from 1976-79 who recently rejoined the Mountaineer staff for his second tour of duty, asked Jack to help him land a prep prospect from Pittsburgh.

That player wound up being Dave Johnson, a four-year WVU letterman who is now an assistant coach at Marshall.

Jack always had a story in his hip pocket and I was always eager for him to fish one out.

Over the course of the last three years, our twice-weekly telephone conversations often drifted away from the business at hand toward a distant West Virginia game or an interesting event that happened in his life.

Like the time he got into a shouting match with Red Auerbach during a regular season Chicago Bulls-Boston Celtics game.

Auerbach was really giving the officials the business that night and Fleming, never shy of critiquing the zebras on air, finally had enough. In a voice loud enough to be heard at both ends of the bench, Fleming complained that the officials were letting Auerbach get away with murder.

Fleming's stance earned him a legion of fans in Chicago as well as Milwaukee, where WIND's strong signal reached on cold winter nights.

"I still get notes from people from Milwaukee over that," Jack once marveled.

Fleming also enjoyed his days working in Pittsburgh -- particularly his role describing the magnificent Pittsburgh Steelers teams of the 1970s.

Quarterback Terry Bradshaw was one of his favorites. He recalled the time he needed to talk to Bradshaw for his pre-game radio show, but could never quite pin down the superstar. Fleming finally cornered the elusive quarterback near owner Art Rooney's office.

"OK, let's talk in Mr. Rooney's office," Bradshaw said.

Amazingly, Bradshaw sat in Rooney's chair, put his feet up on the desk and lit one of his cigars.

"Unbelievable," said Fleming.

Jack spoke highly of defensive back Donnie Shell, and was pleased to run into him at the Steelers final home game at Three Rivers Stadium in mid-December. Jack battled the cold weather that day to see many of his old friends, perhaps realizing that all of those hellos he said that day were also good-byes.

Yet as much as Jack loved the Steelers, broadcasting their games from 1958 to 1993, his real passion was the West Virginia Mountaineers. It was something he made no bones about.

Jack was a big fan of coach Gale Catlett and treasured their friendship -- which blossomed and grew over the years. He always marveled at how Catlett could rejuvenate himself after each basketball season.

Jack also loved to talk about his favorite West Virginia players -- Jerry West, Bruce Bosely, Fred Wyant, Sam Huff, and Hot Rod Hundley just to name a few.

He always referred to Hundley as "Hots."

When Jack lived in Chicago in the early 1970s, Hundley often called Fleming as soon has he got in to town to meet up for a night out. During that time, Hundley was always working on Fleming to improve his wardrobe.

"He would talk me into these ridiculous outfits," Fleming grinned. "And I bought them."

By his own admission, Jack wasn't a great athlete. His father persuaded him to go out for the football team at Morgantown High but his athletic career was abrupt.

Later in the 1950s when he became an established broadcaster, Fleming was once asked to play tennis with basketball coach Fred Schaus, athletic director Red Brown and the school's physical education dean, Ray Duncan.

Fleming was paired with Schaus and the two proved no match for their athletic counterparts. Each time Jack missed a volley or his shot landed well outside the line, Schaus, a fierce competitor, grimaced and barked, "Concentrate Fleming, Concentrate!"

I could always draw a laugh out of Jack when I would tell him to "concentrate!"

At any rate (Jack's favorite transitional device), he developed a love for sports through broadcasting and writing. To this day many don't know what a fabulous writer Jack was and his knack for always finding the right adjective to describe the moment at hand.

His scene-setters for football and basketball games will never be duplicated.

"… So light up your pumpkins, put on your scariest Halloween masks and keep that radio close by as the hills resound with the sounds of gold and blue football; the West Virginia University Mountaineers are on the air!"

That was his setup for West Virginia's Halloween meeting against No. 2-ranked Penn State in 1986. How could you not listen to the game after hearing that?

***

One of the things Jack truly enjoyed was receiving mail from West Virginia fans all over the country. He was absolutely amazed by the e-mails that came in, many detailing his prominent place in their lives.

"Make sure they have a place to list where they are writing from," were always his instructions.

Jack never really got accustomed to the Internet and e-mail, instead writing out his columns long-hand on legal pads before dictating them to me on the telephone. Those dictation sessions were more like news reports or radio voiceovers, Fleming actually using inflection as if he were reading it to an audience of thousands. I enjoyed every single one of them. He was always interested to learn more about this new thing called the Internet, testing his teenaged daughter's patience to the limit.

Invariably, our conversations almost always wound up with a few words about our families. Jack was intrigued with my brother's military background, himself having served in the Air Corps during World War II as a navigator on a B-17 bomber.

Jack also never failed to ask about my five-month-old daughter, Sydney; he often provided words of encouragement for this new daddy.

Those are the things that came to my mind when I learned Jack Fleming had passed away Wednesday afternoon. 

And those are the things I take from him.

Jack, I'm going to miss you.

-- John Antonik