Jones was true pro, with pipes of velvet

This article was written by Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union Tribune. It is a marvelous tribute to Charlie. Please enjoy.

I remember so much more than The Voice. But when people think of Charlie Jones, it's what first comes to mind. The Voice. It was as though Charlie's began from a faraway place, from a fairy tale, and went through all kinds of Grimm trouble before it reached our ears. It was a sports voice, a football baritone that rustled the autumn leaves from their perches.

Fortunate as I was to spend quite a bit of time with this kind man, when we were together I couldn't help but think what The Voice was like when he was a child in Fort Smith, Ark. His first words probably scared his family and no doubt had something to do with “first-and-10” or calling the finish of a mile run.

Charlie passed away last week at 77, of heart failure, and his was a heart I never thought could fail. It was as big as his larynx. That's what I remember most about Charlie Jones. His graciousness, his generosity, his willingness to help people on the way up, his preparation, his literacy and his great love for family (his wife, Ann, is one of the all-time kicks), sports and travel.

“I never travel light,” he told me, and he traveled, sometimes logging hundreds of thousands of air miles over 12-month spans during his 38-year network career. He loved what he did, always saying he had the best job in the world.

He had such a great love for golf. It's sad his death came before the end of the U.S. Open, played out at Torrey Pines, close to his home above La Jolla Shores, where he lived from 1967.

He covered too many sports to mention here, but there were Super Bowls and the Olympics and Wimbledon. He was the voice of the Padres, Reds and Rockies. He was on the sideline for the first Super Bowl and eventually was honored with the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Pete Rozelle Award for his radio and television work. He wrote several books, including “Heaven Can Wait: Surviving Cancer,” in 2003. He worked 25 college bowl games and the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. He won an Emmy.

Charlie loved to tell a story about that World Cup. He was flying commercial from Mexico City, nonstop, to another town for a match. “There was this guy on the plane with a bunch of World Cup pins,” he said. “The guy told the pilot he'd give him some pins if he made an unscheduled stop in this other town. And the pilot did.” Jones, who did a turn in the Air Force, loved to fly. “He wanted to be a pilot so bad,” Ann says. “But he had a problem. He couldn't see.”

As a broadcaster, he sure could see, and he had a way of making you comfortable, because he always seemed comfortable. It didn't matter how many curves he was thrown.

“In football, I had over 60 different colormen (analysts),” Charlie once said. “In baseball, I had at least 10. I did 27 different sports and every one had a different man or woman (analyst). All the people I worked with, if I could have worked my career with Jerry Coleman, I'd be a lot healthier.”

Charlie loved to help. Maybe I should say his ego wasn't such that he was afraid to help. “He was the best coach,” says ESPN's Bill Walton, urged by Charlie to get into the broadcasting game. “He was always positive. He had a way of teaching you so you didn't want to quit.”

Merlin Olsen, the Hall of Fame Rams defensive lineman who worked with Charlie on the air and also as a partner in their production company, once carried him up the stairs of an old Colorado hotel when Charlie had a broken leg. “One of the most unique people I've ever met,” Olsen says.

Despite his pedigree, Charlie never allowed it to get in front of the laughter. There was enjoyment to him. A celebration of his life was held Wednesday at La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, which was fitting, because this was a man who celebrated life.

For the first time, I met his sister, Virginia, a kind woman who comes complete with an Arkansas accent. If Charlie had an accent, it was hidden in those marvelous chops.

He loved to tell the story of working football at NBC with the late George Ratterman. At the time, George was sheriff of Newport, Ky., and was shutting down the casinos there, which didn't sit well with the bosses.
The two were about to do a Raiders game at Oakland's Frank Youell Field and George informed Charlie that the FBI had called and said there was a price on his head, that a sniper had been hired to rub him out from a high-rise during the game. “George,” Charlie asked, “do they know what you look like?”

We know what Charlie Jones looked like and sounded like. If you didn't really know him, you missed someone special. The voice has been silenced, but it remains loud and clear.

Written by Nick Canepa: (619) 293-1397; nick.canepa@uniontrib.com

Editors Note: This blog will be maintained and added to frequently by two of Charlie's friends, Kim Doren and Greg Anton. Should you care to contact us, please send us a comment note by clicking on the link below.

Good Bye Charlie, we will miss you greatly...

Our friend Charlie passed away on Thursday of this week. Here is a copy of the story on most of the news wires.

Sportscaster Charlie Jones, 77, dies of heart attack
By BERNIE WILSON

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Charlie Jones, the deep-voiced sportscaster whose career as a play-by-play announcer dated to the beginning of the American Football League in 1960, has died. He was 77.
Jones died of a massive heart attack Thursday at his home in the La Jolla district of San Diego, said his wife, Ann. Jones, who retired in the late 1990s, had been in poor health for several years, she said.

Jones worked for ABC and NBC in a career spanning 38 years. "He said, 'I never felt like I ever went to work,'" Ann Jones said Friday. "He loved it. He said, 'I've got the best seat in the house.' Jones started at ABC in 1960, the year the AFL made its debut. He moved to NBC in 1965, remaining with that network until 1997. Jones announced 28 different sports, while with NBC, from golf to tennis, baseball to figure skating. He called events at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

"He really liked them all," Ann Jones said. "He really did. He wasn't particular, because they were all so different."

NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol called Jones "one of the great pioneers of NBC Sports. His work in particular on the NFL, golf and the Olympics left a lasting legacy." Longtime agent Martin Mandel said Jones was "one of the legends of sports broadcasting.""He had a wonderful kettledrum voice. He was known for that and his versatility," Mandel said.

Jones will be cremated and his ashes spread over the Pacific Ocean. A celebration of his life will be held Wednesday afternoon at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club. "He had it in his will that men cannot wear ties," Ann Jones said.

Jones also is survived by two children and three grandchildren.

Associated Press Writer Solvej Schou in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

If you have a memory of Charlie you would like to share, please click on the comment link below and let us know.

MY FRIEND - JIM McKAY

Over this past weekend, We lost Jim McKay, the only true host of "ABC's Wide World Of Sports." For most of you under 40, you didn't have a chance to appreciate what he brought to television. Jim had this wonderful touch with words and the world of sports. He could stand in the pits in Monaco, talk to the cowboys in Calgary, or call Bob Hayes World Record in St. Louis.
That's where I met Jim, in St. Louis. It was my first assignment on Wide World. I was to do the live interviews, with the winners, of the 1963 AAU Track and Field Championships.

That Saturday morning, I met Jim and the rest of the ABC crew in a production meeting in the motel coffee shop. Afterwards everyone left for the stadium, but Jim said, "You go ahead, Charlie and I will have another cup of coffee before we come out.

Jim McKay then spent the next two hours explaining the Wide World concept of sports. There was more emphasis on the personalities of sports and what made them tick. He also included me in the telecast, making me a true part of their broadcast crew. Then it was off to the stadium, where the temperature was 103 degrees.

Three hours before we were to go on the air, and without video-tape, (it hadn't been invented) Bob Hayes broke the world record in the semi-finals of the 100-yard dash in a time of 9.1 seconds.

After the cheering died down, Jim called me on his phone from the broadcast tower. He said, "Charlie, will you go tell Bob Hayes that he wasn't on television, as we don't go on the air, live, until 5:00 o'clock So, would you ask him if he would run a 9.1 world record, again in the finals." My response, "You've got to be kidding?" Jim's reply, and I believe he had his tongue placed firmly in his cheek, "No, I'm not kidding, let's see if he will do it." Okay. When you are young and eager, naturally you'll try.

All dressed up in my brand new navy, blue, "ABC Wide World of Sports" jacket, I found Bob Hayes. "Bob, congratulations on your new world record of 9.1 in the hundred. (pause) We don't go on air until 5:00 o'clock so we missed it. (pause) Would you do it again in the finals?" (This time Bob Hayes paused.)

He had a funny kind of smile on his face. Then his face changed. I could almost read his thoughts. If I was crazy enough to ask him, then he just might do it. "Yea." (another pause) "I'll do it." (smile) "I'll run another 9.1 in the finals."

He did. And I interviewed, live on-camera, courtesy of Jim McKay, the new 100-yard dash, World Champion, Bob Hayes.

Comments welcomed...Please click on the "Comment" link just below and let us know what you think - CJ.

BLACKWATER'S DECEPTION

Let me see if I have this correct. Blackwater Worldwide, you know, the company that has made millions of dollars from this present Washington administration, for its shadowy work in the Iraq War, has leased a 61,600 square-foot warehouse in a business park, three blocks from the Mexican border, in Otay Mesa, CA, which is zoned for a vocational school.

Blackwater, the military training contractor, applied for permits under the names of their affiliated companies, (thus not raising the tainted name of BLACKWATER), with their applications stating they were leasing the building for a vocational school. They immediately built an indoor shooting range, a simulated Navy ship, and classrooms for counter terrorism training. Just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill vocational school.

Naturally, the city took them to Court. Blackwater countered seeking a temporary restraining order, insisting their due process rights had been violated and failure to open on time would jeopardize its contract with the Navy. U. S. District Judge Marilyn Huff, took the side of Blackwater, saying there is,"a strong likelihood of success on the merits of that claim." And Blackwater, opened its vocational door to the Navy, the next day.

Doesn't this whole operation smell of the current administration in Washington? Obfuscation. Secrecy. National Security. Federal Judges.

Comments welcomed...Please click on the "Comment" link just below and let us know what you think - CJ.

LETTER TO OBAMA

On this night when Barack Obama officially became the presidential nominee of the democratic party I'm going to send him a letter. This letter contains an idea that has been rolling around in my mind for the past few months. If this idea appeals to you, then join me and write to the Senator.
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Dear Senator Obama:

In as much as you have spoken out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I would appreciate your consideration of this idea.

When you are elected our next president, I would like you to PUT A HOLD on all of the celebrations in Washington, on inaugural day. That hold to last until our troops have come home from the wars. Then, and only then, will we hold a HUGE CELEBRATION all over this great country.

What would you do the rest of the day after your inauguration? Announce at the end of your speech, that you are headed to the Oval Office for a meeting with your commanding officers to start the process of bringing these terrible wars to a close. When that happens, church bells will ring throughout the land, and we will all celebrate.

Sincerely, Charlie Jones

Comments welcomed...Please click on the "Comment" link just below and let us know what you think - CJ.

FOR GRADUATES ONLY

This is that special time of the year known as graduation. From Kindergartens to Universities this is both an end and a beginning. Here is my graduation present for you.

On my first day as a 17 year old freshman at the University of Southern California my first class was Speech 101. I arrived early and grabbed a seat in the fourth row on the far side of the room, away from the door. There was a lot of talking, when suddenly the door swung open, but no one was there. The room became very quiet. Next I heard a scrapping-sliding sound, but I had no idea what was happening. Some of the students in the middle of the room stood up to see what was going on and they completely blocked my view.

Then from behind the podium in front of the class, like Phoenix rising from the ashes, this tall gaunt, ageless woman appeared. She dramatically raised her right hand. Paused. Then she spoke for the first time. "Dare to be different."

Those four words, from this wonderful teacher, who crawled into our classroom on her hands and knees, 60 years ago, have meant more to me than all the schools, all the classes, and all the diplomas. I give them to you. Guard them well.

And always,"Dare to be different."

Comments welcomed...Please click on the "Comment" link just below and let us know what you think - CJ.