Words To Live By: Football

As we approach a new year, let’s throw a Hail Mary pass to one of President Reagan’s favorite sports….football. So in this podcast, we’ll cover his thoughts on sports, his New Years Address, 40 years ago on January 1, 1982 when he focused on the Rose Bowl competitors, Iowa and the Washington Huskies, we’ll catch his Remarks at the opening of the Champions of America exhibit, and we’ll listen to his interview with Tom Brokaw at Superbowl 20 in 1986.

It’s been said that Ronald Reagan’s early infatuation with football may have been in part an attempt to win the approval of his older brother’s rougher, tougher crowd. Boys in those days were supposed to excel in team games, and Ronald Reagan’s extreme nearsightedness disqualified him from baseball as it would in adult life from military combat. He was short and slight of build when he entered Dixon’s Northside High School in 1924 at the age of 13, with thick, horn-rimmed glasses that he detested. But he played on the lightweight football team for boys weighing less than 135 pounds and displayed pluck and persistence that overcame his lack of skill and size. He was made captain of the lightweight team and promoted to the varsity his junior year. By his Senior year, he gained 30 pounds and was the best and the lightest tackle on the Dixon High team, which lost 7 games and won only two.

So let’s kick off this "Words To Live By" right now with a few reflections from the President about how sports and football helped him land his first job in radio.

“…Right around my second year in high school, I got one of the best jobs I ever had. I began the first of seven summers working as a lifeguard. I worked seven days a week, ten to twelve hours a day, for fifteen dollars, later 20 dollars, a week. One of the proudest statistics of my life is 77…the number of people I saved during those seven summers.

“By my junior year, I had shot up to 5’10 ? inches and weighed over 160 pounds. But although I had made the varsity football team, by mid-season I was still warming the bench. Then one Saturday morning, the coach read off the names for the starting team. I’ll never forget it, “Right Guard – Reagan.” Once I got in, I never let the other guy get his position back.

“After high school graduation, I was drawn to one college in particular, and entered Eureka College when I was seventeen. By then, I stood almost six feet one and weighed about 175 pounds. My hair was in a crewcut style and parted down the middle like the hero of the comic strip, Hero Team. I wore thick eyeglasses. I took a trunk filled with almost everything I owned and a head full of dreams.

“As in a small town, you couldn’t remain anonymous at a small college. Everybody gets a chance to shine at something and to build a sense of self-confidence.

“While I didn’t play much football that fall, I did experience another type of combat: my first taste of politics. In the autumn of 1928, Burt Wilson, the new President, decided to lay off part of the faculty and impose other cuts. We students thought he was doing it in an underhanded way and formed a committee to consider the possibility of calling a strike. I was elected to represent freshmen on the committee and was later selected to present our committee’s proposal for a strike.

“I reviewed how the cutbacks threatened not only the diplomas of the upper classmen, but the academic reputation of Eureka. I described how the administration had ignored us when we presented alternative ideas for saving money, and how they planned to pull off the coup in secrecy while we were away for a fall break.

“Giving that speech, my first, was as exciting as any I ever gave. For the first time in my life, I felt my words reach out and grab an audience and it was exhilarating.

“Despite my preoccupation with extracurricular activities, I’m convinced I got a solid liberal arts education at Eureka especially in economics. It was a major I chose because I thought one way or another, I’d end up dealing with dollars, if not in my father’s store, then in some other business.

“Early in 1932 with graduation a few months off, I faced the same question that gnaws at all college seniors: what do I do with the rest of my life? It’s easy to look back now and say the answer had been inside me for a long time. I suppose it had. But I still couldn’t say aloud, even to myself, that I wanted to be an actor. To say that I wanted to be a movie star would have been as eccentric as saying I wanted to go to the moon. But I had an idea to start in radio.

“Radio had created a new profession, the sports announcer. As radio’s influence grew in America, broadcasting play-by-play reports of football games…people like Graham McNamee and Ted Eusey (sp?) had become as famous as some Hollywood stars. And often more famous than the athletes they reported on. I started with stations on the Illinois side of the Mississippi but struck out and then crossed the river into Iowa. My first stop was station WOC in Davenport where I found myself shaking hands with a Ruddy faced Scotsman, Peter McArthur, who was balancing himself on a spindly pair of canes.

“I told him I wanted to get a job in radio because eventually I wanted to become a sports announcer.

“Could you tell me about a football game and make me see it as if I was home listening to the radio?”

“Yes, I’m sure I could,” I replied with the bravado of youth.

“Peter led me into a studio and stopped me in front of the microphone. My mind raced for something that would impressive him. I decided to describe a game with high drama and an exciting finish. Naming names and describing specific plays, I improvised drawing on my own experience and recounted the last twenty seconds of one of Eureka’s most exciting games….a sixty-five yard touchdown run to tie and a drop kick point to win with Eureka’s fans cheering. I ended the broadcast saying, “We return you now to our main studio.”

“When Pete clumped back into the studio, there was a smile on his face. “Ya did great,” he said. “Be here Saturday. You’re broadcasting the Iowa Minnesota homecoming game. You’ll get $5 in bus fare.”

“Well, I was at last on my way to my dream of being a sports announcer. I’m reminded of my parents’ teachings: that in the end, everything works out for the best and that individuals determine their destiny through their own ambition and hard work.”

Now let’s read his New Year’s Remarks delivered 40 years ago in 1982. You’ll hear him thank Michael at the beginning of the address – that’s NBC Commentator Michael Landon who was covering the Rose Parade and threw the feed to our 40th President.

“Thank you, Michael, and good morning.

“Although I know most of the world celebrates the New Year with us today, I think this holiday is an especially American tradition. Most of us are at home or with our families this morning, getting ready to watch the splendor of parades and excitement of football. Later our families will gather around the dinner table, and we'll pray for guidance and strength in the New Year. Today we take a short and well-earned break from the building and industry and enterprise that make our country strong. We pause to reflect on the values of God and family and freedom that make us great.

“I wish both teams this afternoon the best of luck, but Iowa has a special place in my heart. Years ago I broadcast their football games on WHO in Des Moines. I find special meaning in that this New Year's Day this Hawkeye team has made it to the Rose Bowl.

“You see, when I knew them back in the thirties, the Hawkeyes were struggling to get out of one of those low periods that come every once in a while to a school and a team. The first game I broadcast turned out to be the game in which Iowa scored its first touchdown against a Big Ten team in 3 years. And that marked a turning point in Hawkeye fortunes.

“?Like the Iowa Ironmen, we Americans are known for dreaming with our eyes wide open. We live our dreams and make them come true. Our ideas and energies combine in a dynamic force. The kind of force that brought the Hawkeyes to Pasadena enables America to overcome great odds. We call it the American spirit.

“In 1982 this country faces serious challenges. We're gripped by a recession brought on by decades of government mismanagement. But we're making a new beginning as a nation. The road to recovery is never easy. But America is no stranger to challenges. We need only live up to our convictions to set things right. We need only believe in ourselves, in our country, and in tomorrow.

“Happy New Year.”

So now, let’s reconnect with the President as he joined in the hoopla for Superbowl 20 in 1986 with recollections of his football days on the gridiron and the silver screen. At the time, the Superbowl was expected to attract an audience of perhaps 115 million Americans with advertisers paying as much as $550,000 for a 30-second commercial. To compare, in 2022, 36 years later, NBC is asking as much as 6 and a half million dollars for …yes…a 30 second commercial.

To refresh your memory, the Chicago Bears were playing the New England Patriots.

Mr. Brokaw. Mr. President, thanks for being with us today.

The President. Well, I'm pleased to be here.

Mr. Brokaw. Over, what, almost 20 years now, I've asked you a lot of questions about a variety of subjects -- --

The President. Yes.

Mr. Brokaw. -- -- but seldom have so many people been so interested as they are in this next question. I know you're the representative of all the people, but the time has come, Mr. President, for you to make a choice. Now, who do you like: the Bears or the Patriots?

The President. I think they're both great teams. I recognize that, in my position, I'm not supposed to take sides. I have to say it's very easy, though, to really be, well, proud of and approving of both of these teams. The Patriots and all that they've gone through and -- starting, as they did, later in the season, recovering and coming back and being there in the Super Bowl -- and the length of time the people have waited for this, but on the other hand I go back in memory to the Bears and a close personal friendship with ``Papa Bear,'' George Halas, when he was alive. So, I'm just going to say, ``May the best team win.''

Mr. Brokaw. We shouldn't read too much into the fact that you're wearing red, which -- Patriot colors.

The President.?I worried about that while I was watching the pregame show here and wondered whether I maybe should change into a neutral color. And then I saw a shot of the Chicago Bears, and one of them was wearing a red sweater, and I decided it was all right.

Mr. Brokaw. Super Bowl Sunday has become a kind of undeclared national holiday. Do you think that occasions like this help shape our national character, or are they really just kind of entertaining diversions from things like the deficit and terrorism and Qadhafi and so on?

The President. Well, I think it's typically American that we can have -- or be diverted by things like this from the serious problems, and I think it's part of the American personality. And I know that other countries take athletics seriously, too, but there's something different about it in America. It's so much a part of American life that I think it's a part of our personality.

Mr. Brokaw. I know that football was important to you as a young man, so last week I called your old college football coach, Ralph McKinzie, at Eureka College. He's 91 years old -- --

The President. Yes.

Mr. Brokaw. -- -- still strong of voice. Now, here's what he told me. He said that you were ``eager, aggressive, better on defense, but overall an average football player, but an outstanding talker.'' [Laughter] Is that a fair scouting report?

The President.?Well, probably. And I'm pleased that he did remember that much. After 91 years, he's still coaching. So, there've been how many hundreds or thousands of young men have come through the ranks with him. But I remember him very vividly as a coach. He could demonstrate as well as tell you, because he had been a star at Eureka College, a great star himself.

But I remember, for example, one day running plays. And to make scrimmage more even in practice, we would have the first-string backfield with the second-string line and the first-string line with the second-string backfield -- kind of even things up. So, he was teaching a play to the first-string backfield over there, and the fellow that was to carry the ball wasn't getting it right. And Mac -- this was his way -- he just came in and gently pushed him aside and says, ``Now, wait a minute. Watch this.'' Now, we in the line on the other side, we know what the play is; we know where the man's coming. In fact, I got my hands on Mac when he came through, and I hurt every place he touched me. And right through the varsity line and the second-string backfield, back with the ball, threw the ball down, and says, ``Now, do it that-a-way.''

Mr. Brokaw. Now, you were a guard; and Presidents Ford, Nixon, and Kennedy also played in the line. What is there about the line that prepares you for Presidential politics better than the backfield, it appears?

The President.?Well, you know, the line certainly feels that those fellows behind them wouldn't be able to do anything if we didn't pave the way for them. But, no, I was a guard; and 3 years of varsity ball at Eureka, I averaged all but 2 minutes of every game.

Mr. Brokaw.?And then when you became a film star, you got to play the part of the legendary George Gipp of Notre Dame, the Gipper, a great running back. But lately, we've learned that Gipp was not only a great athlete, but he was a bit of a rogue. He was a pool shark and a card shark and -- --

The President.?There were some, but he was as loyal and as principled about football and winning for Rockne. Yes, I knew some of those stories about him. As a matter of fact, I had been trying to write the story, when I got in pictures, with the idea of playing Gipp. And Warner Brothers bought the life story of Knute Rockne, and there it was. But, yes, Gipp was older than the rest of the fellows and totally dedicated to winning and all, but he was a fellow that could almost -- it was like Babe Ruth pointing at the center field fence and then hitting it over that fence -- he could almost do whatever he said he would do. And Mrs. Rockne, who was on the picture with us, told us that he was the only man in all those years that ever really got under Rock's skin to where there was a kind of father-son relationship with him.

Mr. Brokaw. The Oval Office may be the only office in America that doesn't have a betting pool going on the Super Bowl. Someone has estimated that, what, $2 billion may be wagered on this Sunday, most of it illegally. Does that bother you at all -- that there's so much betting on football?

The President.?Well, I wish that it could be without, because I think when it gets up to that kind of money, then there is too much temptation to try and fix things. And human nature being what it is, we know from past history that sometimes they get away with that. That was one of Rockne's greatest determinations, was he threw a gambler out of his office one day, bodily, who had come to see him and was seeking some information about who was going to win. And Rock just -- he hated the idea of gambling associated with football.

Mr. Brokaw.?Mr. President, football is a metaphor for so many things in American life, including politics. Now, at the end of this game today, one team is going to be in a deficit situation and all those players are going to face a very taxing year in 1986. You're about to deliver the State of the Union Address. Are you going to put the American people through the same experience in 1986 -- a taxing year?

The President. A tax year, you say?

Mr. Brokaw.?A taxing year. Will this be a tough year for them?

The President. I don't like the use of that word. It might be taxing for me and my energy. But I don't like the idea that someone might hear this and think I'm thinking of taxing them, because I'm not. [Laughter] I don't want any tax increase.

Mr. Brokaw.?Right now all you have on your mind is the Super Bowl? Watching it with Mrs. Reagan, I gather?

The President. That's right, and remembering football much more vividly than you normally do. It all comes back, and you find yourself kind of remembering what the cleats felt like under your shoes.

Mr. Brokaw.?Well, we hope you have a great afternoon, and we hope that it's a great game. Final chance -- do you want to pick a score or a team?

The President.?No. Do I have a second so that I could tell you a little incident in my memories of football?

Mr. Brokaw. Sure, absolutely.

The President.?Well, it was our ball back on our own 35-yard line. We were 1 point behind. There were 20 seconds to play, but we thought the ref had said 2 minutes. And Bud, our quarterback, called an off-tackle run with himself carrying the ball. As a running guard, I came out and led the interference. And the key to the play was me getting that first man on the secondary; I missed him. But Bud cut back to the sideline, went 65 yards for the touchdown, and we won the game. Now, that stuck with me. I never could figure out: How did he do it with me missing that block?

And the very next season, when I was auditioned to become a sports announcer, and they told me to stand in front of the microphone and imagine a football game and describe it on radio. So I did, and I chose that game because I knew enough of the players' names that I could get by and so forth. And I thought, ``I won't start with the kickoff or anything. I'll start in the fourth quarter.'' I had the chill wind coming in through the end of the stadium. We didn't have stadiums; we had bleachers. But anyway, I did all those things; and then I called that play. And this time I nailed that man in the secondary. [Laughter] I claim this is the first instant replay. Only it wasn't instant; it was a year later. But, no, it was a beautiful, earth-shaking block.

Mr. Brokaw.?The great thing about being a President or a sports announcer, you can go back and correct all those mistakes, all those missed blocks.

The President. Yes.

Mr. Brokaw.?Mr. President, I hope you have a great afternoon watching the game. Thanks again for being with us today.

The President. Looking forward to it, and thank you.

In 1981, the Smithsonian curated an exhibit entitled “Champions of American Sport.” And our 40th president graciously held an opening reception for the exhibit at the White House. After the event was over, he held a private reception for the athletes and families. And noted in his diary that he was particularly moved by meeting the family of men like Jesse Owens and Joe Louis.

“It's a pleasure to welcome you all to the White House. I know that I used to talk about some of you on my broadcast when I was sports-announcing, and now I get to meet you in the flesh. I'm trying to remember what all I said about all of you. [Laughter]

“Sports have played an indispensable role in the development of American character. You who were participants have provided, especially for young Americans, I think, an inspiration, something to look up to. It was sports heroes in my day that created in me the ambition to participate in sports -- first in high school and then in college. Indeed, if it hadn't been for football, track, and swimming, I might not have been able to go to college. We didn't have athletic scholarships in those days. We had to do things like wind the clock in the gym. [Laughter] But I loved it when it was plain and simple and honorable. [Laughter]

“I maybe shouldn't admit this, but I went to a very small school in the Midwest, and my senior year -- it was the conference that this school was in, had a rule which you could employ someone as an athletic instructor and still leave them eligible to play -- in my senior year, on the starting 11, there were 7 physical ed instructors, and I was the swimming coach. [Laughter] For 8 years, I will also confess though that I didn't know very much about grades like A's and B's, scholastically. The eligibility requirement was a C average, and that became my top goal.

“I know there are some in the room -- you know, there's a little nostalgia beginning to creep in here, as you can see. And George here must be champion, because his was baseball. I couldn't play baseball, because I couldn't see good enough. [Laughter] That's why I turned to football. The ball was bigger, and so were the fellows. [Laughter]

“Speaking of that, there was one that I know -- there are some people, if I read the guest list correctly -- there are some people here who know this particular fellow. I found myself in football -- I was a guard -- right guard -- [laughter] -- and I was playing against a fellow who later was All-Pro Tackle with the Chicago Bears for 8 years -- George Musso. And as you will recall, in those days you played both offense and defense. So, for 60 minutes I was opposite him. He outweighed me 100 pounds -- [laughter] -- and it was a busy time. I couldn't go under him. I wouldn't do that. [Laughter] And I certainly couldn't go over him. I tried going around him once and ran into one of our men coming around him from the other side. [Laughter] It liked to kill me.

“But enough of that. The men and women of sports have done much to bring this country together. One of our first great sports heroes was John L. Sullivan at a time when there was a great discrimination in this country against the Irish. And when Jim Corbett finally took his world title away from him, Sullivan won the hearts of the Nation with his words: ``I have fought once too often, but if I had to get licked, I'm glad it was by an American.''

“Years later, another champ, the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis, would capture our hearts. And what American can forget the pride that swept this country last year when our U.S. ice hockey team beat the Russians? The image of those boys after the victory on the ice with their country's flag in their hand, I think, is a national treasure.

“We owe something else, seriously, to the world of sports. When I was broadcasting major league baseball, there was a rule barring some Americans from playing in organized baseball. And I'm proud that I was one of those in the sports-reporting fraternity who continually editorialized against that rule, that baseball was for Caucasian gentlemen only. And finally, thanks to Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson, baseball became truly the American sport.

“And I'm sure many people have forgotten any feelings of prejudice they might have had as they've cheered black athletes who were bringing home victory for their favorite team. Those players have made baseball better, they've made America better, and so have the great black athletes in all the other major sports.

“If there was ever a golden age of sports, this is it. More people are attending sporting events than ever before, and there are a wider variety of sports events today. And just as important, there are more people involving themselves directly in sports. We can be proud of our country's sports tradition. And as spokesman of all our citizens, I want to thank all of you -- the sports men and women this afternoon -- for adding a bit of joy and inspiration to our lives with the achievements that you've made.

“So, welcome here to your house, which you're letting me live in for a while. [Laughter] God bless all of you.”

From all of us at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, we wish you a very Happy New Year and extend our belief that the best is yet to come.

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