Forty years ago tonight...
Dec. 8th, 2020 03:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
damont(I originally posted this ten years ago on LJ but various things got broken in the move to DW, so I am redoing the post today, and taking advantage of that to add a link and possibly update the previous ones.)
...I was a senior in high school, doing some sort of homework while watching Monday Night Football, which was my usual Monday night routine during the NFL season. As the 4th quarter was about to end -- it was approaching midnight in Pennsylvania, and the game ended up going to overtime -- this happened.
Thirty years later, ESPN told the story behind the scenes of how ABC had gotten the story (completely by accident -- literally) and how Howard Cosell broke the news during the Monday Night Football telecast.
Here's a fuller video from the broadcast itself ...
Howard Cosell, before a 3rd down play: "but it's suddenly been placed in total perspective for us..."
Frank Gifford, after that play: "Time out is called, three seconds remaining, John Smith is on the line. And I don't care what's on the line, Howard, you have got to say what we know in the booth."
Cosell: "Yes, we have to say it: remember this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy, confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City. John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City, the most famous perhaps of all of the Beatles. Shot twice in the back. Rushed to Roosevelt Hospital. Dead on arrival."
The clip abruptly cuts just before the field goal attempt, which was blocked, to a point during the overtime period when Cosell repeats the sad news for those who might not have heard it earlier.
Howard had interviewed John on MNF briefly in 1974 as shown in this little retrospective from many years later.
(The third man in the booth at the 1980 game is not represented in the clip. That week it was Fran Tarkenton. It is somewhat ironic that the *other* "third guy", along with Cosell and Lennon, is now gone: Don Meredith passed away on Sunday, 5 December 2010, just before the thirtieth anniversary of Lennon's death.)
There were a number of us in my high school class who were rather big Beatles fans. I was actually more a fan of George's than any of the others at that time; most of John's work didn't impress me as much then -- but I remember the shock, and the numb feeling not going away, and my mom helping me make a black armband to wear to school the next day. Mom didn't necessarily understand what was going on in my head, but she knew what to do to help me right then.
My favorite radio station (WKAP, then 1320 on the AM dial) played about half an hour of John solo music after they announced the tragedy, then half an hour of Beatles featuring John. They would keep the Beatles and Lennon's solo work on extra-heavy rotation for the next three days.
Tuesday morning came, and I remember Chris, the resident Lennon fanatic, came up to me dressed in *all* black - shirt, pants, socks, shoes, jacket and tie (Catholic school, boys had dress codes but color was not specified). He simply said to me: "He's gone."
There was a memorial rally in Allentown on Wednesday night (the 10th), which I attended and most of the local pop and rock radio stations (including WKAP) covered.
I don't recall anyone in my crowd staying home from school in grief on Tuesday, or any other day that week; I expect we all needed each other's support. It was one of the events that shaped our class (already weird by most metrics).
...I was a senior in high school, doing some sort of homework while watching Monday Night Football, which was my usual Monday night routine during the NFL season. As the 4th quarter was about to end -- it was approaching midnight in Pennsylvania, and the game ended up going to overtime -- this happened.
Thirty years later, ESPN told the story behind the scenes of how ABC had gotten the story (completely by accident -- literally) and how Howard Cosell broke the news during the Monday Night Football telecast.
Here's a fuller video from the broadcast itself ...
Howard Cosell, before a 3rd down play: "but it's suddenly been placed in total perspective for us..."
Frank Gifford, after that play: "Time out is called, three seconds remaining, John Smith is on the line. And I don't care what's on the line, Howard, you have got to say what we know in the booth."
Cosell: "Yes, we have to say it: remember this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy, confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City. John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City, the most famous perhaps of all of the Beatles. Shot twice in the back. Rushed to Roosevelt Hospital. Dead on arrival."
The clip abruptly cuts just before the field goal attempt, which was blocked, to a point during the overtime period when Cosell repeats the sad news for those who might not have heard it earlier.
Howard had interviewed John on MNF briefly in 1974 as shown in this little retrospective from many years later.
(The third man in the booth at the 1980 game is not represented in the clip. That week it was Fran Tarkenton. It is somewhat ironic that the *other* "third guy", along with Cosell and Lennon, is now gone: Don Meredith passed away on Sunday, 5 December 2010, just before the thirtieth anniversary of Lennon's death.)
There were a number of us in my high school class who were rather big Beatles fans. I was actually more a fan of George's than any of the others at that time; most of John's work didn't impress me as much then -- but I remember the shock, and the numb feeling not going away, and my mom helping me make a black armband to wear to school the next day. Mom didn't necessarily understand what was going on in my head, but she knew what to do to help me right then.
My favorite radio station (WKAP, then 1320 on the AM dial) played about half an hour of John solo music after they announced the tragedy, then half an hour of Beatles featuring John. They would keep the Beatles and Lennon's solo work on extra-heavy rotation for the next three days.
Tuesday morning came, and I remember Chris, the resident Lennon fanatic, came up to me dressed in *all* black - shirt, pants, socks, shoes, jacket and tie (Catholic school, boys had dress codes but color was not specified). He simply said to me: "He's gone."
There was a memorial rally in Allentown on Wednesday night (the 10th), which I attended and most of the local pop and rock radio stations (including WKAP) covered.
I don't recall anyone in my crowd staying home from school in grief on Tuesday, or any other day that week; I expect we all needed each other's support. It was one of the events that shaped our class (already weird by most metrics).
no subject
Date: 2020-12-09 08:02 am (UTC)