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When Dad was on the Giants' roster he was one of the few players on the team who was from the deep South. And since my mom was a great cook, many times some of dad's teammates would come to their place on Sundays and eat the pre-game meal.
Now anyone who knows about the South also knows there isn't a dime's worth of difference between what's called 'southern cooking' and what's called 'soul food." It's basically the same. And so one player who loved to come and eat with them was the legendary Rosie Grier--he'd be a big player even now but in those days he was a monster of a man. He'd say that mom's cooking reminded him of his grandma's.
Rosie was also a good friend, and so Dad was a bit taken aback when Mom singled him out and said:
"Pat, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't invite Rosie for the pre-game meals all the time."
"Kathy, please tell me that it's not because he's black. He's my brother...he's my teammate."
"Oh lord no," said Mom. "The man eats a pound of bacon, a dozen eggs, and three-quarters of a loaf of bread every time he comes over. We can't afford to feed him!"    PAT SUMMERALL

[Humble Narcissist]

When Dad was on the Giants' roster he was one of the few players on the team who was from the deep South. And since my mom was a great cook, many times some of dad's teammates would come to their place on Sundays and eat the pre-game meal.
Now anyone who knows about the South also knows there isn't a dime's worth of difference between what's called 'southern cooking' and what's called 'soul food." It's basically the same. And so one player who loved to come and eat with them was the legendary Rosie Grier--he'd be a big player even now but in those days he was a monster of a man. He'd say that mom's cooking reminded him of his grandma's.
Rosie was also a good friend, and so Dad was a bit taken aback when Mom singled him out and said:
"Pat, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't invite Rosie for the pre-game meals all the time."
"Kathy, please tell me that it's not because he's black. He's my brother...he's my teammate."
"Oh lord no," said Mom. "The man eats a pound of bacon, a dozen eggs, and three-quarters of a loaf of bread every time he comes over. We can't afford to feed him!"    PAT SUMMERALL

Pat was probably drunk when he told that story.

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     How Pat Summerall Got His Job
Bill knew sports and he knew broadcast talent, but most importantly, he was loyal. He kept in touch with Summerall for all the years I was at CNN and he was always happy to tell us how he had accidentally found one of the great sportscasters of all time.
By
Reese Schonfeld, Contributor
Founding CEO of CNN
04/17/2013 07:13pm EDT | Updated June 17, 2013
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.
CIRCA 1980's: CBS NFL play by play announcer Pat Summerall (R) and color commentator Tom Brookshier (C) in the booth calling an NFL football game mid circa 1980's. Summerall has been a Color Commentator/Analyst/Play by Play announcer since 1964 for CBS, FOX, and ESPN. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
CIRCA 1980's: CBS NFL play by play announcer Pat Summerall (R) and color commentator Tom Brookshier (C) in the booth calling an NFL football game mid circa 1980's. Summerall has been a Color Commentator/Analyst/Play by Play announcer since 1964 for CBS, FOX, and ESPN. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
In December of 1958, a couple of days after the Baltimore Colts had defeated the New York Giants in what has since been called "The Greatest Game Ever Played," Bill MacPhail, the President of CBS Sports, called Charlie Conerly, the Giants quarterback, to invite him to tryout for a job as a sportscaster. Conerly was not home, and his roommate, Summerall, answered the phone. MacPhail relayed his request to him and then suggested that Summerall "had a pretty good voice" and why didn't he come down for a tryout too. We all know the results -- Summerall sounded great, Conerly not so good, and Summerall got the job.

MacPhail was a great judge of talent and a great sports executive. It was he who created the bond between CBS and the Masters Tournament, a bond that has lasted more than 50 years. In 1963, MacPhail introduced Summerall to the Tournament and Summerall was the voice of the Masters for the next 27 years.

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Bill MacPhail was my friend. I hired him at CNN when we desperately needed him to make peace between sporting events and our network. Ted Turner had offended much of the sports world when he put the Atlanta Braves on his national satellite. Suddenly, home teams faced competition for the television audience. They were not in the mood to make a deal with us. Bill solved all those problems; his father had owned the New York Yankees. He also brought in the NFL -- Bill had been best man at Pete Rozelle's wedding. Once we had both baseball and football, basketball was easy and for two years CNN was able to exclusively air clips from all those sports.

Bill also made sure that CBS got the rights to the 1960 Rome Olympics, the first Olympics broadcast in the United States. He was the premature Roone Arledge. But he was inventing the new sports medium while Roone merely improved upon it.

Bill knew sports and he knew broadcast talent (click here), but most importantly, he was loyal. He kept in touch with Summerall for all the years I was at CNN and he was always happy to tell us how he had accidentally found one of the great sportscasters of all time. Charlie Conerly didn't do too badly either -- he played the Marlboro Man in Philip Morris commercials.

[Gregzs]

When Dad was on the Giants' roster he was one of the few players on the team who was from the deep South. And since my mom was a great cook, many times some of dad's teammates would come to their place on Sundays and eat the pre-game meal.
Now anyone who knows about the South also knows there isn't a dime's worth of difference between what's called 'southern cooking' and what's called 'soul food." It's basically the same. And so one player who loved to come and eat with them was the legendary Rosie Grier--he'd be a big player even now but in those days he was a monster of a man. He'd say that mom's cooking reminded him of his grandma's.
Rosie was also a good friend, and so Dad was a bit taken aback when Mom singled him out and said:
"Pat, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't invite Rosie for the pre-game meals all the time."
"Kathy, please tell me that it's not because he's black. He's my brother...he's my teammate."
"Oh lord no," said Mom. "The man eats a pound of bacon, a dozen eggs, and three-quarters of a loaf of bread every time he comes over. We can't afford to feed him!"    PAT SUMMERALL

Happy 91st Birthday to American actor, singer, Protestant minister, and former professional American football player ROSEY GRIER! He was a notable college football player for The Pennsylvania State University who earned a retrospective place in the National Collegiate Athletic Association 100th anniversary list of 100 most influential student athletes. As a professional player, Grier was a member of the New York Giants and the original Fearsome Foursome of the Los Angeles Rams. He played in the Pro Bowl twice. After Grier's professional sports career, he worked as a bodyguard for Senator Robert Kennedy during the 1968 presidential campaign. Grier was guarding Ethel Kennedy when Senator Kennedy was shot. Although unable to prevent the assassination, Grier took control of the gun and subdued the shooter, Sirhan Sirhan. Grier hosted his own Los Angeles television show and made approximately 70 guest appearances on various shows during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1979 Grier appeared on season three, episode 14 of The Love Boat.