June 29, 2009
Gilbert: McMahon helped launch Liberty Bowl

BY BOB GILBERT
SPECIAL TO THE DNJ

Television celebrity Ed McMahon, who died last week at 86, was as funny in person as when he was Johnny Carson's sidekick on NBC's "Tonight" show.

Our friendship began in 1965 when Ed came to Memphis to help his long-time friend, A. F. "Bud" Dudley, launch the Liberty Bowl football game in Memphis.

Dudley started the bowl in Philadelphia, but attendance was low and even worse when he moved it to Atlantic City. So the NCAA gave him one more year to establish the Liberty's viability. Bud's board of directors included former LSU football great Ken Kavanaugh, Notre Dame's Father Theodore Hesburgh and Ed.

That first Liberty Bowl in Memphis (Ole Miss over Auburn 13-7) drew 38,607, a Liberty Bowl record. At a private post-game party in Dudley's Peabody Hotel suite, Ed unwrapped a 3-foot-long Liberty Bowl replica, complete with tiny players on the field.

"If we had failed tonight," Ed told Bud, "your pals were prepared to give you your own little Liberty Bowl to play with in future years."

McMahon's Marines

Ed once said he wanted the following inscribed on his tombstone: "A great broadcaster and a great Marine."

Ed was a fighter pilot in World War II and flew 85 combat missions as an artillery spotter in the Korean War. He attained the rank of colonel. In 2003 Ed accepted an offer from the Marine Corps to visit one of their combat units in Afghanistan. At age 80, he accepted. His friend Norm Clarke of Las Vegas said Ed always answered when the call came from his beloved Marines.

Johnny Carson was always playing jokes on Ed. One night, as Ed was leaving the NBC lot in his limousine, a security guard stopped him and asked to search the trunk. It was packed with electronic equipment. Ed was ordered out of the car. The security guard was Johnny Carson.

Ed loved corny jokes. In his 2007 book, "When Television Was Young," he noted that people believe kids spend too much time glued to the TV. "When I was growing up," Ed said, "believe it or not, we didn't even have television, so my parents had to glue me to the sofa."

Estefan's Dolphins

Singer Gloria Estefan and her husband Emilio are buying a small piece of the Miami Dolphins. .... Former Vol basketball coach Buzz Peterson has completed his Appalachian State coaching staff. Peterson was Michael Jordan's roommate when they played at North Carolina. .... Maryville High grad Jordan Chaney, who won the 1600-meter run at last month's state track and field championships in Murfreesboro, has been named Tennessee Gatorade player of the year for track and field. .... Most of the major league baseball writers I've talked to don't intend to vote for electing steroid-tainted players to the Hall of Fame. The black list includes Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco and Rafael Palmeiro. Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, now managing the Class-AA Tennessee Smokies, says Sosa doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame.

Bank dies

Bert Bank was a true American hero. Not because he founded the Alabama football radio network and was a leader in Alabama's radio industry for many years, but because of his World War II record. The 1940 Alabama law school graduate was captured by the Japanese in 1942 and survived the notorious Bataan death march on which 20,000 prisoners died.

He spent 33 months in a prisoner of war camp in the Philippines and later wrote a book, "Back from the Living Dead," about the death march and being a POW. He retired from the Air Force with the rank of major. Bank served two terms in the Alabama House of Representatives and one in the Alabama Senate. He ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1978.

His many celebrity friends included Adolph Rupp, Dizzy Dean and Red Grange. Former NBC News correspondent John Cochran, now with ABC News, got his start at Bank's Tuscaloosa station, WTBC. Bank was 95. His funeral was held last Saturday.

Columnist Bob Gilbert, former Associated Press writer, retired University of Tennessee news operations director and author of the Bob Neyland biography, can be reached at rwgilbert@charter.net

Ellie