Legend [19796]
TigerPulse: 100%
Posts: 17325
Joined: 8/18/05
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Well folks, 19 years ago today I was (long and personal)
Sep 9, 2022, 7:17 AM
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In Florence, SC getting ready to watch MNF and turn in early when my sister called me from Greenville. She said you need to get up here, dad is in ER and they don't think he's going to make it. I honestly didn't believe it. No way he could die. He was really healthy for 69. He was supposed to play golf earlier that day. But I headed to the truck to drive to Greenville. Just as I was getting ready to pull out, I heard what can only be described as a "still, small voice;" "go get your suit."
Driving I began to consider the possibility he might die. I hadn't spoken to him that week. We always talked, especially in football season. But I was slammed running my own business, and we'd just gotten spanked by Georgia 30-0 nine days earlier, so things fell through the cracks. He'd just called his 403rd Tiger football game 2 days earlier, ironically against Furman, and it was an uneventful game. I'd catch up later that week.
When I arrived in Greenville he was in emergency surgery. The surgeon came out periodically to give us updates as hours passed. About the third time, he had actually realized who he was operating on. He was a Clemson fan. He told us his heart is perfectly healthy. He smoked for 50 years so that kind of surprised us, but as he explained things through his own emotions, he told us the aneurysm that had ruptured in his heart was in a place it could not be repaired. He was going to die. We were all just in shock.
Me, my sister and mom headed over to his condo after he passed. His alarm was set and none of us knew the code, so I climbed into the attic and ripped out the speakers. I called Tim Bourret, informed him, and asked if the school could release the news. Then I called my fellow long time spotter Sac Bagley, who just passed in the last few weeks. Then down the list, calls I never thought about making. Everyone was in disbelief.
After 3 hours on the phone I took a break, flipped on WCCP to see if the news was getting out. Dan Scott's old show was on, and it was wall-to-wall Jim. I was overwhelmed. I called Dan in a commercial break to thank him and he put me on the air. The response was just amazing, how many lives he had touched. Not just as "The Voice," but as the man. As we watched on TV crowds of all of you laying flowers at the Rock on the hill, person after person, were contacted by I have no idea how many of you, read the tributes in the media, and just a compilation of thousands began by someone who later gave them to us, it looked like a dictionary it was so thick, all from fans and friends. It carried us through that week.
Clemson was amazing. I met several times with Billy D as we worked through how we'd handle things. It just kept getting larger and larger. The outpouring of love. We had to move the visitation from Mackey Mortuary to the President's Box at the stadium to handle the crowd. Done. I asked that Tim Bourret be allowed to call the next game as dad's long time partner. Done. We went from Bob Fulton speaking at the funeral to calling a series in the MTSU game. Done, and, touchdown. Everything we asked for and needed. Done.
The week was a whirlwind. I didn't really grieve until after that MTSU game on which I was part of the pregame and post-game radio broadcast. As we signed off with George Jones "Whose Gonna Fill Their Shoes," the release finally came.
Every year, this time, those memories flood back. The regrets of not getting to speak with him one last time. That he never got to hear me as a preacher, as that all happened afterwards. Never saw me married. He's missed so much he would have loved, including what has happened with Clemson football. But, those regrets are short lived. He led as full a life as anyone could ask. Did exactly what he was meant to do until the day he passed. Hung out with his heroes, but remained down to earth.
I have a unique joy. I can still hear his voice anytime I want to. Just have to go to YouTube and he's there, doing what he loved. To all of us, he was "The Voice." But to us, me and Terri, he was dad. We did pretty well in that department.
Thanks for all the love and appreciation expressed here, regularly. I can tell you first hand, he never got over how much Clemson loved him.
Now I'm going fishing. Y'all have a great day!
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