The Mouth of the South and More

Jack Bett's most recent blog entry about the death of Bill Currie, the former "Voice of the Tar Heels" (I know it's hard to imagine that anybody came before Woody) brought back a flood of memories. As a freshman RTVMP major at UNC in the winter of 1965, I was invited to apply for an internship with the news department at WSOC-TV in Charlotte to help cover the upcoming session of the General Assembly. I got it and the following summer resulted in an internship with the station in Charlotte where I came face to face with Bill Currie who was WSOC's sports anchor. (His son Bob was actually a classmate in Chapel Hill).

As Jack points out, Bill Currie was one piece of work. While I didn't get to spend lots of time with him, he did serve as the ultimate role model for a young kid whose ambition was to become a sports announcer. I actually missed his famous "artificial insemination" description of the slowdown game between Carolina and Duke in the ACC Tournament because I was there in the old Charlotte Coliseum (yeh, the one on Independence Boulevard that actually is still there) for the game. I was crushed when Bill decided to go big time to KDKA in Pittsburgh but I could forsee that move opening up an opportunity for me. It didn't and Woody's still there.

That experience with WSOC covering the 1965 General Assembly was followed by opportunities to cover the 1967 session and then later the 1971 session after I got out of the Army. In between the '65 and '67 sessions I did stringer work for WSOC. During the course of those years I filmed (yes, it was 16mm film, not videotape) Richard Nixon in Asheboro campaigning for Jim Gardner; Hubert Humphrey in Cameron Indoor Stadium giving a very long speech; and many other noted politicians of the day.

I listened to the Speaker Ban debate at the General Assembly and then covered Herbert Aptheker (head of the US Communist Party) give his talk from the sidewalk on Franklin Street while across the stonewall, nearly 500 students listened (maybe) to a very dull talk. I also covered the growing threat of the KKK with much of our film being sent to NBC National News. I covered Dr. Martin Luther King in Montreat and the Grand Dragon in Granite Quarry. In the General Assembly I saw a fascinating array of politicians and came to fully understand the mindset of one party domination as Republicans were relegated to the back and ignored in debate.

I have special memories of those powerful politicians who took time to be nice to a college kid lugging a heavy camera around and trying to act like a real reporter. My favorites were Skipper Bowles and Eddie Knox but I always made a point to listen to the likes of Julian Alsbrook when he rose to speak and of course Herbert Hyde of Asheville. And I remember a skinny, youthful mountain Republican legislator with big ears and a mountain accent that made mine sound downright urban named Jim Holshouser. Frankly, when I heard he was going to run for governor I said "no way." Was I ever shocked when Jim Holshouser was elected the first Republican governor in the 20th century.

So I mourn the loss of "the Mouth of the South" and thank him postumously for the great memories. I never got to follow in his footsteps because all that exposure to politics set me on a path to law school, political involvement, a judicial career, 4 statewide electoral wins, and now my own race for governor. And for all those doubters, I understand. Remember, I didn't think Jim Holshouser could win either.