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Interview with legendary Alabama sportscaster Eli Gold · The Gulf Coast Sports Pulse with Gulf Coast Media

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: You are listening to the Gulf Coast Sports Pulse.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: All Baldwin County athletics all the time.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: Hello and welcome back to the Gulf Coast Sports Pulse.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: My name is Parker Gillam, as always, the sports ed here with Gulf Coast Media, and I'm thrilled to be joined by a special guest on the podcast today, is just legendary sportscaster Eli Gold, graciously agreed to hop on for an episode to talk about just kind of a myriad of topics regarding his career, which has seen him be named Alabama Sportscaster of the Year four times, unless I'm mistaken, as well as be inducted to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, all while earning the fitting nickname The Voice of the Crimson Tide.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: So Eli, really appreciate you coming on.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: First, just kind of wanted to ask a bit of an icebreaker before we get into the meats and potatoes, your career.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: Just kind of take me through a bit, just from your perspective.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, you're not with the team anymore, but just the post-Nick Sabinera, just kind of how has Alabama handled it?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: Just, you know, the from the fans and also the program.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: Just your thoughts on that.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they seem to be doing quite well.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know I've met Calen De Bohr.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: I know him.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's a great guy and a very accomplished coach.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, everything seems to be moving along swimmingly.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's a different world now, obviously, uh than when Nick Saban was there.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, it's it's all everything has changed.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, you know, it's it seems to be going along quite well.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Heck, anytime they're right there in the top five, knocking on the door of the top five, that's where you expect to see Alabama every year.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was about to say, in the um in the upcoming matchup this weekend with Georgia, typically, as as usual, is a top 10 matchup, you know, every everybody will be be down in Tuscaloosa for that one, I bet.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: But uh, but awesome.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, we'll uh with that being said, we'll kind of just dive into a bit of your history as as much as you're kind of willing to share for for the people in the region that you know may not be familiar or just kind of interested to see kind of what what you're up to now.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: So um for the few that may be unaware, just and correct me if I'm wrong on any of this.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: But you were you were born and raised in Brooklyn before moving down to Alabama in your early 20s, and just kind of take me through.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, what was that culture shift like?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: And then can you recall any, you know, welcome to Alabama moments in those early days?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I enjoyed the move.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was born and raised in New York City, right in the city.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: I had, you know, life in New York was different.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: Collegiate sports didn't exist.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you had the occasional, you know, interest when St.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: John's basketball was doing well under coach Lou Karna Seca, but uh otherwise it was not uh it was a professional sports situation, the Rangers, the the Islanders, the Knicks, the Nets, the Yankees, the Mets, uh, you know, and so on and so forth.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I was but I was ready to leave New York.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it was just the hassles, the traffic, the the hubbub.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Not, you know, it was good when I grew up, because that's all I knew.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I knew.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: When my family went on a vacation, as is often the case for city dwellers, we went to another city.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we went to Boston, we went to Los Angeles to see other cities.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: I was tired of the city life.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: So when I moved to Birmingham back in the mid to late 1970s, after an intermediate stop in Virginia, where I was working my way up the minor league hockey ladder, uh, I loved it here.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: I really did.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I still do.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: I've had so many opportunities to move.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: I have been offered a lot of jobs, thank goodness, over the years, but I just never considered them.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um and my wife will tell you that every time we go back to New York, which hasn't been regularly in the last couple, three years because of my health, which is now fine, thank God.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: But before that, when we went regularly, I would always say, Why would anybody live here?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Why would anybody live here?
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you show up, you go to the garden, you go to Yankee Stadium, you catch a few Broadway shows, eat some great meals, and then leave.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, why subject yourself to the hassles of the city?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I enjoy it here, still do, always have, and uh, you know, this has become home, obviously, after what I've been here 40 some odd years now.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was gonna say after after that time, yeah, I would imagine it did become home.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um you touched on it there, and that kind of leads me into my next question.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, before you got involved with Alabama Athletics and anything along those lines, from what I could tell, you you were in your early years kind of uh dabbling in some other sports, you know, hockey, NASCAR.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: Just kind of take me through how how some of those gigs might have set you up for for future success.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: More than dabbling.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I was the radio voice, one of the radio voices of NASCAR for 41 years.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: My apologies.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: You were one of the main voices.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: More than a dabble.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: I was in hockey for many, many, many, many years.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Started in the minor leagues just like the players would, and worked my way up through the minor league system and eventually became the voice of the St.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Louis Blues on television, and then eventually did uh radio for the Nashville Predators.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: So hockey has been uh a long, a lifelong favorite of mine.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, I did baseball in the professional ranks for many years.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I just love sports, and I've had this God-given ability to describe things as they happen.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: I may not be an expert at any of these sports, excuse me.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: I may not be an expert at any of these sports, but I certainly have the ability to see something and describe it, and describe it vividly.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that has got to be God given, I guess.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, but in any event, that's what I do.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, I people sometimes ask me, What do how do I describe myself?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I say, I'm a professional describer.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's you know a way to do it.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, things have gone very well for me, but you're right.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: I started uh when I was in my late teens as a hockey broadcaster and have uh not looked back.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, so that is uh it's interesting, yeah.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: From from New York, starting with hockey at 19 to now to the then going kind of the the deep south and covering a program like Alabama.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um things were different in those days, Parker.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, people were not clamoring to be uh affiliated with NASCAR at that point.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: NASCAR had not yet gone in that meteoric rise that we now have known of.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they weren't doing that uh in New York City.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: There was, as I said, no collegiate sports to speak of.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Notre Dame played a game a year at Yankee Stadium in those days.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, uh St.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: John's hoops, as I mentioned, but collegiate sports were just, I mean, the the the games from the deep south, uh, the third Saturday of October, Alabama and Tennessee would get that much of a write-up in the New York Times in what they call agate print.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's that teensy weency little newspaper print that you almost need a magnifying glass to see.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's all it got.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, why would you give the newspaper any column inches for that when you had the Giants and the Jets playing the next day, or the Rangers, or the Knicks, or whomever it might be.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: So it was altogether different.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and crazy how times have changed.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: But now, I mean, that that third Saturday in October, I mean, it gets it gets all the media coverage, that's for sure.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it does down here.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: It is still, you know, and it's and it's of course on television, but it is still hard.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: I did the Alabama was off one weekend years ago, not that many years ago, probably, I don't know, maybe a dozen years or so ago, and I was asked to do the Michigan, Michigan State national radio broadcast.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: Bama was off, and they said, Hey, we need somebody to do Michigan, Michigan State.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Can you come up to East Lansing?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: The game was at Spartan Stadium.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Can you come up to East Lansing and do the game?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I did myself, my spotter, my stat guy, we all hopped on the plane, flew to East Lansing.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: The day before the game and the day of the game, you had to go in the Detroit Free Press and all of the papers up there, you had to go to page four to find the story about Michigan, Michigan State.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that was a a local sporting event.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: They had the front page was occupied at that time of the year by the Tigers, by the Red Wings, by the Pistons.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, every all of that stuff in the big markets comes before the college game.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, it's different.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: It really is.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing wrong with it.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Neither way is right or wrong, but that still goes on in many of the big markets.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, yeah.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: So you so you really grew up kind of in more of that that pro sphere and then came down here before you got, you know, the college perspective in a way.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's interesting.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, okay, and then I also um I want to ask a bit about, you know, from from a you know, I mean, me as a journalist and just kind of for for the audience as well, just what it what was your process like in terms of preparing?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, not just Alabama, any any games.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: Just in terms of preparing for calling a game, um, do you have routines?
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: There's certain things you always do to be ready, or are there just or are there certain aspects of the role that you know everyday people might not think about?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: So just just what comes to mind?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm sure there are so many things that the everyday folks don't think about.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, commercial formats.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, why does a, you know, why does the guy working at the office down the block need to worry about commercial formats?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh excuse me, he would normally either run to the men's room or the kitchen when the commercials come on or something.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, we have to know when to break and to take care of our sponsors.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um the preparation, the preparation is just you know crazy.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and that's just the way it is.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: You have to do your homework.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I we always say, no broadcast is difficult if you've done your homework.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Don't do your work, don't do your prep.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: You're up the creek without a paddle.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Then if something bad goes on, if the if the game is stopped because of lightning, if the lights go out at the stadium, if whatever it might be, you are so much more at ease sitting in the booth, knowing you have all this preparation done, and you got tons of stuff to talk about, and you can kill all sorts of time versus oh my god, what do I say now?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: What do I do now?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so you know, then of course there's the basics of you know, talking to the coaches, getting the rosters.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't matter what sport it is, but getting the rosters, memorizing the names and the numbers.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's one thing that I love about this business is that it keeps your mind sharp.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, I'm a good bit older than you are, so you don't have to worry about that quite yet.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I need to really work hard to keep my mind sharp, memorize this roster today.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Then, you know, then the next thing you know, you have to forget it and memorize the next roster.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then you've got to forget that and get ready for a Wednesday night broadcast if Conference USA has a midweek game.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: And you've got to forget that because on Friday you're doing volleyball.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then you've got to forget that because on Monday basketball is playing.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a you know, that's a strain on the brain, but it keeps you sharp.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that's one thing we always laugh around here.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: I can't remember to bring home a container of milk, but I can memorize a roster fairly quickly.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: So there are things that go on, but I do I spend all week preparing, whether it's one broadcast or two or three or what have you.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: I am I am known for my over preparation.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: I will honest to goodness probably use gosh, no more than five or eight percent of the prep work that I have done on a given broadcast because you just have to prepare for all eventualities and which player might do this and who, and get the biographical data and what have you.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's it's a lot of work.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: But I also tell people, and I mean this very, very seriously.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: I tell people I work my butt off every week, but I have never worked a day in my life because you know this is fun, it's enjoyable, it's the toy store of life.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, you got to be prepared, man.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: You do because the people jump all over you if you make mistakes.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: Especially, yeah.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: In this industry, journalism, specifically yours, where you are live broadcasting.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it is it's I was telling somebody last night.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: I was out with somebody last night, and we were at uh a coach's show that I had done for Jacksonville State University, and we were talking, and I said, you know, I was sitting with a newspaper guy and a very good one at that, and I said to him, I said, you know, when you work talking to him, the paper newspaper guy, I said, You have something we don't have.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: When I say something, you see those words just disappear into the microphone and they're gone.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: You can't bring them back.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Meanwhile, you're sitting there with the backspace key.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: And if you don't like what you said, if you misspelled it, what have you, you backspace, you make the change, you move on, and there's nothing wrong with that.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: But the mediums are so different.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, you say something on my line of work, and it's out there for everybody to nitpick at.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: And to wrap this up, I will tell you that one of the other sayings that we all have is those who can do those who can't criticize.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: I think that and that transcends to a lot of industries.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Very true, it does, and it does transcend to a lot of, you know, what was that guy thinking about?
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he knows his business.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about it.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and another another thing that came to mind, um, that I don't even know if you mentioned intervals, I mean, pronunciations has to be of names and just stuff like that.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's got to take be a whole nother ball game when you're memorizing.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Let me reach back here and grab one of my football charts and uh show you what I'm talking about.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is the game against Middle Tennessee last weekend.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, well, I don't need this one though to try and get the one for the middle, the chart for them.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, here's their chart right here.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, these are all notes that I put together all week long, uh but the chart itself, the spotting chart, you know, here it is for the Middle Tennessee offense, and then here it is for the Middle Tennessee defense.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: You've got all these biographical notes and so on.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: But if you notice up here, if you notice these pink, I hope you can see them, the pink add-ons, those are pronunciations.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and also this guy, the defensive tackle, first name Z-E-I-O-N.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now you look at it and you'd say, well, that would be Zion or Zion.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: It is actually Xion.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: And you write down Z-A-Y-O-N.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: So everywhere you have a questionable name, you just write them in phonetically.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I don't claim to know everybody and everything about everyone, but the fact is, if you do your homework and you do your preparation, uh, you get that stuff.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, and it's it's sometimes a pain in the kaboose, but you gotta do it.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: You gotta do it.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: And in the long run, you benefit forward and you thank yourself later later down the line.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Especially when you have some of these teams that have a lot of Tongan players or Samoans when you play the University of Hawaii, excuse me, when you play BYU, when you you know a lot of Southern Cal.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of those names are you know, are Tongan or or or whatever, and the pronunciations are quite long, and the worst thing you want to do is mispronounce names.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: There's just no excuse for that.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's laziness if you don't pronounce the names right.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's strict, total laziness, and you just don't want to make those mistakes, and I work hard not to.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so you've all you've almost had to become a bit of a somewhat of an expert in in uh phonetics and just in pronunciation, all that stuff.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, as part of your job, is it?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, these players deserve, Parker, these guys deserve to have their name pronounced correctly.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not that our broadcast is being heard on the island of Tonga.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's not, although it is potentially with you know worldwide distribution nowadays.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but it's just these guys deserve to have their names pronounced correctly.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it'll be no different than somebody doing an interview with me and you know, calling me Eli Gould.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, that's not right, that's not my name.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the same thing with these guys.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I work hard to do that.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll talk to coaches, I'll talk to the players before a game.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'll ask them, say your name for me.
• 19:23
  unknown: Yeah.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes the pronunciation guide is not clear.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and in the times when I have mispronounced a name, we had a guy, you might remember him.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: He was a basketball player for Wimp Sanderson, Latrell Sprewell.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: You might you might be too you might be too young for him, but in any event, you've heard the name, and Spree was a great, great player.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: Went on to play for the Milwaukee Bucks and other stuff.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: He was very, very good.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Wimp always introduced him when he was signed and a whole bit, everything.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: It was Lattrell Spreule.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's how they introduced him.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Tony Giles, all the meat, everything.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: Pronunciation, last name, Spruel, S-P-R-E-W-I-L-L, Spruel.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how he was for his first two years at the University of Alabama.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: And he finally came up to me before the next season and he said respectfully, he said, Mr.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: Eli, is it possible for you to pronounce my last name the way we pronounce it?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, sure, Luttrell.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: I said, I thought I was.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, No, he says, the coach never got it right.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: We pronounce it Spreewell.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Why did you wait three years to tell me?
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: He said, Well, I just didn't want to uh and the another one, even more recently, you might remember Patrick Sertan, the great uh DB.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, his daddy played in the National Football League for years, and he was one of the all-pros, one of the greats.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: And uh his name was also Patrick, but he pronounced the last name Sertane.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, or at least the broadcasters did, and the coaches did, and his teammates did.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: He was always Patrick Sertane.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then here we get his son, and he's pronouncing it Sertan.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: And well, what did I do?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: I went up to him at practice one day.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Patrick, how do you pronounce your last name?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: I said, I want to do it the way you guys do it.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, You know, that's a great it was sure.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great question.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, I've always said Sertan.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: My dad says Sertane.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, Let me get back to you.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: This is true.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: And he saw me the next day at practice or two days later, whatever it was, and he said, Our name is Sertan.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: And uh will and that's and he has become Patrick Sertan ever since then.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: But if you know, for those who are a little bit older than you and remember his daddy playing, he was always Patrick Surtane.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, the names are important, they really are.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: And speaking of uh a couple names, this segues me into um, I've got there's three kind of key local individuals from our area that that you've been associated with in your time, both in the past and modern.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so I did the first one I want to ask about was uh a certain Julio Jones.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, obviously a legend kind of across the state, across the country, really, but his legacy began down here in Foley.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you obviously had a ton of experience kind of calling his game.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: So just what are some moments that stand out from watching him and just any anything else notable that you recall from just kind of being around him as a player?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he's a nice guy.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he was always very pleasant uh in those days.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um still is, I'm sure.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: But uh no, he I all I remember about him is he made me just shake my head in amazement at some of the receptions that he made, some of the biggest plays in the history of the University of Alabama.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Julio Jones was the receiver on the pass play.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: So he was spectacular.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, working with um Kenny Stabler from Down Your Way, um, he was as amazed, and Snake used to work with guys like Freddie Bolitnikov and other great receivers.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: And Julio even made Snake shake his head in amazement.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, he was that good.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: That is that, and then you that kind of touches on the next one.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh Ken Stabler, just take me through as much as you can, just what it was like kind of calling games alongside him and just you know, just what you remember about that.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: He was a brilliant man, he was a brilliant football man.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he looked at the games.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was good.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: He looked at the games like a player would.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't do that.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: I could study till the cows came home.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: I could never, you know, I'd never taken a snap in the NFL, let alone the SEC.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: So um he was he was a wonderful guy, funny as all get out.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: Many of his greatest lines we couldn't repeat here on the air.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: But uh he was, you know, he was he had his own way of living.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't like to have people tell him how he needed to do things.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: He was very much a free spirit.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: But boy, oh boy, when he would sit down, I'd watch him each sit here to my right, and he'd sit down and he would diagram plays as the game went on.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: He'd have this big long sheet of a big long pad, a yellow legal pad.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: And he would, you know, he'd write on the top corner of the page it'd say uh three-eight.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: So he would remember it was a third and eight play.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then whatever the other team did, he diagrammed it for himself.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then later in the day, there'd be a pivotal third and eight play, and he would remember it, and he would wet his fingers, he'd always wet wet his fingers and go back in that yellow page, a yellow pad, and find that third and eight play.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: And he'd say, Now remember Eli.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's how he talked.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: Remember Eli said back here in the first quarter, they did this, and son of a gun, they did it again.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: But here's where it didn't work this time because Bama made this adjustment and he could uh sight-read the game to a degree as you'd expect from a quarterback in the National Football League and in the Hall of Fame.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he wasn't just a QB, he was a Hall of Fame quarterback.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, he was but his stories and some of this the offhand comments.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: We were we were doing a game somewhere very early, and we were talking about uh Leroy Jordan.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you know Leroy.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: He was a he's deceased now, but he was a great uh linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: He was probably the best linebacker in the National Football League in his day, and had this remarkable range.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: He'd play from sideline to sideline.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: He was just, he was great.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: And and I'd say, hey, there's Leroy Jordan.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: We'd be on radio and I would say he's down there with such and such and such and such.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: And how nice to see him.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: He was a former Bama player, you know, nice to see him here, and yada yada yada yada.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: And Snake would just say, Yeah, I've been underneath him, you know, little stuff like that.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: That was just his, that was just his style.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, Kenny was a great guy.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: He really was.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: Walking through the airport with him was like walking through the airport with Paul McCartney.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was a rock star, and he never, ever, ever, ever turned down a request for an autograph, never turned down a request for a picture, never turned down a request for a handshake.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: He was just so nice to so many people.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: So that that perfect balance between being very knowledgeable, obviously, but then also having the being personable and being able to relate to people and being being nice like that.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: That is awesome to hear.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um being nice to people is a whole lot easier than being a jerk.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: I don't understand people who are jerks.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't get it.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: It is so much easier just to be nice.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: It is so much easier.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: And and and in Kenny's case, I mean, he just wouldn't he refused to to treat fans poorly.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: He knew that those are the people who really he worked for.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't sign his check, but those are the people he worked for.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: And he is uh yeah, and he goes on as a uh a great representation of of uh the area down here as well.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um and speaking of that, there there's one other name I did want to ask about from your modern uh kind of uh I guess happenings.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um Caden Creel is a Fairhoe Pirate alum from uh the Baldwin County area, and he's obviously kind of starring as the quarterback for Jack State right now.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_02: So just you know, what have you seen in your time kind of calling his games and just you know, either on the field or off the field?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: Just kind of what what stands out about him?
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: A great guy.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's point number one.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: You always look at character.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: He was he's a nice, nice man.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: But boy, what talent.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: He's the only guy right now to have better than 3,500 passing yards, you know, and all these rushing yards and all these touchdown passes.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he was alone.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: He was the first guy in in the conference and in FBS uh to have all these accomplishments.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: He's very because he plays at a smaller school, he didn't necessarily and doesn't necessarily get as much uh accolades or as many memories about him as others do.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: But I would put him again, the way he can take off and run is just spectacular.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: So, and he has a great work ethic.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: Great, and that came from Foley, it came from his folks, it came from everybody.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he has a great, great work ethic, and that's what uh makes him so spectacular.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: It really does.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, he's he's very entertaining to watch, but then I think, I mean, just after the games, because I keep track of a lot of the local guys and do a uh series on him, and just seeing his stat lines after these games, I mean, it's like, man, I mean, did he just carry the team on his back?
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: And they're a great team around him, but he, I mean, he'll he'll go for 250 passing, over 100 rushing, couple touchdowns just every week almost.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: So exactly.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that's what makes him so very special.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and they are they're very proud of him, him down here in Fairhope.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, uh, just one kind of kind of last one for you as we wrap up here.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but just there's bound to be some some young sports journalists or broadcasters who who give this a listen, maybe high school is kind of in the area or whatever, even kind of speaking for myself.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but just from your perspective, you had you had one of those kids in front of you, just what would you tell them about kind of getting into this industry and just how to be successful from from your experience?
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: How to get into it and why to get into it, it's because it's a magnificent way to make a living.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: It is a spectacular way to make a living if you're a sports fan and if you don't mind being away from your family and missing a lot of stuff.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I there was a stretch in my career back years ago in hockey that I missed, I want to say it was 10 or 12 Thanksgivings in a row.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: I was on the road just the way the schedule hit.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: I was on the road for Thanksgiving's galore.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I missed dance recitals from my daughter because I was off doing a NASCAR race and a flight coming home was delayed, or the race was that same day, or what have you.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: There are sacrifices in this business.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of them.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: The greatest play-by-play people in the business began as guys who used to sweep the floors at their local radio stations in Wyoming.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it was just it's not easy.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's not easy, but it is worthwhile.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: The effort is worthwhile.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you got to work hard though.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: You got to prepare.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: There's no shortcomings to it.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: And we see this now virtually every day.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody will criticize a broadcaster for something he said, how he said it, something that was not factually accurate, whatever it might have been, you've got to have thick skin, but at the same time, just have enough confidence in yourself to go about your business and know that you're doing the right thing.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a wonderful way to make a living.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: It really is.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but there are prices to pay, and you've got to be willing to pay those prices uh so as to succeed down the road.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: And the goal is, as you put it, to eventually not have to work a day in your life because you're enjoying it so much that that's you know, it feels like you're not working off.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said before, you I work my butt off.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: I do, I work my butt off, but I've never worked a day in my life.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: And that's uh, I think that that's one of the themes of this episode, if anything, is is also being prepared, you know, in any industry, especially this one.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: Being prepared um is is definitely a key theme as well.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um awesome.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh, we have a couple extra minutes, just real quick, another, just a quick fun question for you.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: If anything comes to mind, um, just you've called a ton of games, obviously, throughout your history.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't have to be just Alabama, but if it which ones come to mind game-wise, just are most memorable, or just you look back on, you're like, man, that was incredible to be there for that.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you you you use the word memorable, which is different than favorite.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yes.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's very different, much different.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: Memorable was Auburn's kick six.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_02: I felt like that.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: Was it a favorite?
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: Heck no.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: Not from an Alabama standpoint, no.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: But it was certainly very, very uh uh, certainly very, very uh memorable.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um one of the other ones is uh when Dale Earnhardt passed away.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I was on the air.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: That was my call at Daytona when Dale passed away.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I just, you know, that is certainly uh certainly a memorable deal, far from a favorite, but uh definitely a deal that you remember clearly from a positive standpoint, the national championship win over Georgia, the overtime game when Tua hit Devante for a touchdown pass in the overtime.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: That was, you know, that was just an amazing, amazing moment.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: So there are a lot of things that uh I have been blessed to be able to do.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I, you know, so many first-time winners in NASCAR, uh, so many big games in in college ball.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I have been blessed uh doing Stanley Cup playoff games at the Montreal Forum, well, which no longer exists.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_01: The building has now since been replaced.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but uh, you know, uh, there were so many memories to me that I've I've been I'd be hard pressed to put them in a list.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: And but memorable and favorite are two totally different things.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's a very good point from from the perspective of an Alabama, you know, someone who was with Bama as a fan or anything else.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: Not even Bama.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: Not even Bama.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: Where do you how do you compare a special happening to the passing away of an icon on the racetrack?
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's memorable.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'll never forget that day and what I said and how we did it and so on, but it sure as heck wasn't a favorite.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you lost a friend and you lost a great icon.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but there are differences.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: When you when you ask that question, you've got to be very careful as to the what you're asking, whether it's memorable or favorite.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: Those are not the same.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_02: True.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, look at this.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm getting some I'm getting some uh some pointers here as well.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm benefiting as well as uh as a young journalist too.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_02: So awesome.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate it.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's all uh about we we have for you guys today.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um again, a massive thank you to Eli for taking the time to join me today.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um and if you enjoyed what you heard, be sure to share the episode on social media platforms and tell family, friends, or just whoever you think may be interested in sports podcasts, following county twist.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, as mentioned during the show, you can obviously catch Eli uh broadcasting a lot of Jack State athletics uh currently.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um and other than that, we'll be back for another episode the same time next week.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: So enjoy this weekend slate of games.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_02: We'll catch up with you guys then.