Passings, 2021

You've no doubt by now heard about the deaths of Henry ("Hammerin' Hank") Aaron, the Hall of Famer right fielder and Larry King, the longtime radio and TV interviewer last week.  Both were significant in my fan appreciation but also had some local ties to South Florida, where I grew up and still reside.  Both certainly left their marks on the world, with achievements that won't soon be forgotten.

Baseball fans know about Aaron's home run record, held for decades before Barry Bonds broke it in 2007.  They also know of Hank's start in the Negro League and the awful racism he endured on his way to the Major Leagues.  His Atlanta Braves had their spring training at Municipal Stadium in West Palm Beach, FL, just a few miles from my childhood homes.  My dad took me to several games there.   We also had a minor league team, the WPB Expos.  Such great memories.  Hank would stop by even after he joined the Brewers and when he later retired.  He eventually purchased a home nearby and became a local.  The Stadium is now a Home Depot, but a street leading into it off Congress Avenue still bears the name Hank Aaron Drive.  He was inducted into the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.  My mother-in-law, who worked at various high end retail stores in Palm Beach over the years, sold shoes to his wife and got a signed baseball.

Just about everyone who watched CNN in the '80s and beyond knows about Larry King.  Long before, he hosted radio programs on WMBM and WIOD in the Miami market.  In between he began his nationwide all-night interview and call-in radio show for the Mutual network.  I believe that is where I first heard him.  For years I would listen to his program as I drifted off to sleep.  I recall guests like Don Rickles, Leonard Maltin, and PBS President Bruce Christensen.  His gruffly amusing and impatient "what's the question?" retorts to rambling callers.   There was something reassuring about Larry at night, almost something mandatory about hearing him before falling asleep.  I don't say that to imply he was boring.

King was sometimes criticized for going easy on his guests, but he tossed a few tough inquiries, particularly on the CNN program, which ran for 25 years.  During that time he interviewed Donald Trump a few times, one which was infamous for Donald's "would you mind sitting back a bit, your breath is very bad."  Trump even guest hosted the show once or twice!

I liked Larry, even when he was visible behind home plate at Dodger games (he was a lifelong fan from Brooklyn to L.A.).  I also can't help but laugh when one of my other fave radio hosts, Neil Rogers (later on WIOD and to whom I listened obsessively while in college here in WPB) would rib Larry's style and tell stories of his alleged infamous habit of not paying people back during his Miami days.  He had a cart with King saying "Loan me $50!" that was played endlessly.  Never got old.  I think Larry found it funny, too.

R.I.P., gentlemen.