Belfry of Bedlam
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FRONT ROW of THE WRITER'S LEVEL of Press Box shows newspapermen covering N .D.-O.U. game. CURT GOWDY reported N.D.-O.U. game for NBC. Belfry of Bedlam High above Owen Field "Operation Press Box"-in preparation for 10 long months-was being put into operation. Down on the field the Sooners were swapping tackles with Notre Dame. By ADD IE LEE PICKARD BARKER, '39journ ND-Day, 1953! played in the 94-degree heat of the late for them on the photo level amid a forest In the slender, three-decked press box Oklahoma summer . Air-cooled hotel rooms of camera tripods. high above Owen Field, nerve-twitching in Norman and Oklahoma City had been Crowded into the 19 front wall positions tension was building up like pressure in a found and reserved for all of them. Coaches on the roof were Life magazine, Phillips whistling tea kettle . It was Sept. 26, 1953 . Bud Wilkinson and Frank Leahy had 66's Big Seven Game of the Week, the na- The zero-hour approached . Deep within stolen away from their charges to partici- tion's four major television newsreels the stadium Notre Dame's and Oklahoma's pate in a social get-together for the press at (ABC-TV, NBC-TV, Telenews and UP football warriors were arraying them- the Skirvin Hotel in Oklahoma City on the Telefoto), Movietone, Paramount and Uni- selves for battle . Kick-off time was still eve of the game. versal theatre newsreels, WKY-TV's three two hours distant, but Operation Pressbox On the radio (second) level of the press cameras, Oklahoma and Notre Dame had been underway since 8 a.m. box all ten booths-one television, seven movie cameras, and photographers from The elevator creaked and groaned under radio, and one each for Oklahoma and the Daily Oklahoman, Kansas City Star, its load of radio, television, movie and Notre Dame coaches, the official timer, Tulsa World, Wichita Eagle, and Musko- newsreel crews and their heavy equipment and the stadium public address-were gee (Okla.) Phoenix. as it labored the 130 feet from the ground jammed to capacity. Unexpected complications always show entrance beside the tennis courts to one of All the V.I .P.'s of radio and television up the first game of the season, in press the three levels of the box. Already frantic and all the major radio networks with box strategy as well as on the football field . newsreel cameramen were sending out coast-to-coast hookups were here-Harry When the new Oklahoma press box was S.O.S.'s for everything from a parking per- Wismer of ABC-TV, Bill Stern and Bob built in 1950, we bragged that it probably mit to hard-to-locate six volt batteries (we Finnegan of ABC radio, Curt Gowdy of afforded sports writers more room-foot finally borrowed the latter from the Dorsett NBC, Art Gleason of Mutual, Joe Boland room, elbow room, aisle room, typing room Laboratories) . of the Irish Network, John Henry of the -in which to do their job than any other Ten months' meticulous planning and Big Red Network, Dick Bingham of CBS, press box in the country. preparation had led to this climactic mo- and Bob Murphy of WKY-TV which did But this was a grandpappy of a game ment. The country's ace sports writers and a live local telecast of the game. as far as press coverage was concerned. Not sportscasters had been invited, courted and CBS radio tardily applied for space the only were all 67 red leather swivel stools finally persuaded away from home-stretch day before the game. We had no room. So in the writers' (first) level entirely occupied big league baseball to cover a football game we made room, building a temporary booth by shirt-sleeved sports writers and their JULY, 1954 AT PRE " - BOX's TOP LEVEL newsreel and TV cameras jammed every inch of available space. BILL STERN covered for ABC radio network. special Western Union operators, but also fications for their stories and features and field at the North Campus or scheduled crowded into this level were the 12 unpaid grabbed a bite to eat at the snack bar on flights from the Oklahoma City airport members of our statistics crew and 23 spe- the writers' level. and thus meet Sunday deadlines in base- ball or professional football hundreds of cial Western Union operators sitting back That snack bar did a rushing business. miles away. to back in the upstairs aisle. Its purpose is to give the busy writers On Friday afternoon before the game During the summer we had built a lunch on the working site so they won't our student helpers had lugged boxes of temporary balcony on the press box roof have to stand in line for hours at some res- official programs, forms for keeping the for 34 additional sports writers and ar- taurant and be late for the game. ranged another overflow section of chairs statistics of the game, our stiff cardboard The menu for the Notre Dame game on the sideline . All these accommodations "flip" cards which listed three-deeps and included 254 pounds of fried pheasant were full. rosters of each team, a line-up sheet and chicken, 500 ham sandwiches, 300 bread In addition, cameramen and writers as- special press program, programs for pre- and butter sandwiches, 50 relish sand- signed to cover the sideline and the crowd game and half-time activities, pencils, car- wiches, sweet pickles, potato chips, 750 and color in the stadium used the facilities bons, yellow copy paper, typewriters, a ditto cups of coffee, milk, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pep- of the box for writing cutlines and identi- Continued page 17 per, 7-Up, and doughnuts. The food bar opened at noon and served cafeteria style The author of this fast-moving article, throughout the game. After the game and Mrs. Addie Lee Barker, '39journ, for the until nearly dark, hot coffee and dough- has been assistant to Harold past three years nuts were served continuously to the sports of sports pub- Keith, '29ba, '39ma, director writers busily filing their stories amid the licity. hubbub of voices, clatter of typewriters, sports Known to hundreds of grateful and click-clack of telegraph keys. writers and sportscasters all over the na- tion, she serves the University as a writer, Two special busses had picked up mem- researcher and in an important public re- bers of the working press who had had lations capacity. Besides, she is Keith's hotel accommodations in Oklahoma City secretary, the job for which she was orig- or had arrived there by plane or train the inally hired, and supervises his busy office morning of the game and brought them which maintains a live contact with maga- directly to the press box at Owen Field. zines, newspapers, radio and television sta- Immediately after the game, one bus took tions all over the country. a load back to Oklahoma City while the In addition to the pressures of her job, second bus waited for the remaining writ- which entails much overtime, she is the ers who needed more time to write and mother of three children. Her father, the wire their stories. late Claud Pickard, was a well-known Valuable assistance was rendered by the early-day Norman business man, played state highway patrol and University police left end on the University football team who escorted some newsreel, television and of 1904, and served as sheriff of Cleveland radio crews through the snarled traffic im- county for two terms on the Republican mediately after the game to catch planes ticket . from the University's Max Westheimer ART GLEASON did play-by-play for Mutual radio. 10 SOONER MAGAZINE "Hey, where's the telephone man? This ville, is stationed at Ft . Lee, Virginia, with the side line passes. Also a log of those to whom gone haywire!" Army . He formerly was a junior engineer for we had issued parking permits to drive teletype's and wind ve- Cities Service Oil Company. their station wagons or cars close enough "What's the temperature in John C. Reddell, '53bs, is a football coach to the press box gate to unload their heavy locity now?" Oklahoma City . He has one child, John Calvin, here to- equipment. Also hundreds of match books "What's the estimated crowd Jr ., 2. day?" Thomas J. Abbott, Jr ., '53pharm, is stationed at and a box of aspirin. phone buzzed constantly . Even Ft . Sam Houston, Texas, with the U. S. Army . Spotters, cue men, and caption writers The was formerly a pharmacist at Doolen's Phar- though the stands were not yet filled nor He are essential for radio and television broad- inacy, Wichita Falls, Texas. the stadium public address turned on, every casters as well as photographers, movie Phyllis Virginia Jarvis, '53ed, is teaching English town in Oklahoma seemed to have an and newsreel crews. We must obtain some- in Sayre, Oklahoma . emergency to report. Notes flowed up the Richard Lee Jones, '53eng, is an engineer trainee one who can recognize and preferably has elevator pipeline from working newsmen employed by the Gulf Oil Corporation. He, Mrs. memorized the numbers and positions of Margaret, 2 and Lynn Carolyn, 3 who had forgotten or lost their passes and Jones, Kaye %z , all players and who is familiar with the Crane, Texas. months, are at home in offense. Freshman foot- Mrs. Phyllis Elsbeth Black, '53ed, is living in team's plays and or an in- Yoder, Wyoming. She has two children, Nancy ball players, a recent letterman, Elsbeth, 4, and Michael Alan, 2 months .