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50 years and counting for Daily News sports writer Stan Hochman
A NEWSPAPER LIFE: Augusta to Brownsville to Corpus Christi to Waco to San Bernardino to Philadelphia. Stan Hochman arrived here to work for the Daily News on June 9, 1959 - 50 years ago today.
Larry Merchant, now the HBO boxing analyst, was the sports editor who brought Stan to Philadelphia to cover the Phillies. On his first day, he gave Stan a phone number for Richie Ashburn and told him to ask Ashburn about some trade rumors. Stan got Ashburn to say that, given his druthers, he'd prefer a trade to Chicago. At the end of the season, it happened.
The next day, Hochman covered his first game. The Phillies lost and fell into last place. They remained there for the rest of the season. Stan almost quit after the first road trip, only to have his brother convince him to give his new city a little more time. He began in an era when his stories were sent back to the office from the press box in San Francisco by a man tapping out Morse code. He remains vibrant in an era where his voice is imitated on the radio by comedian Joe Conklin. Fifty years later, that voice remains as respected and distinctive as any this city's newspapers has ever produced.
We sat down recently for a long lunch and I did what I have enjoyed doing for as long as I've known him: asking Stan questions and listening to Stan tell stories. The words that follow are his. The pleasure, for a half-century and counting, is ours.
- Rich Hofmann
Henry Aaron
There I am in Augusta, Ga. I'd just gotten out of the Army. They're going to play the first integrated game in the state of Georgia, the Augusta Tigers against Jacksonville. Henry Aaron is playing second base for Jacksonville. Horace Garner is playing rightfield. The game begins, first inning, Aaron hits a home run to dead center - silence in the ballpark. Jacksonville goes out into the field and Horace Garner is ducking. From the press box, I can't tell why he's flinching. Then, I realize - they're throwing stones at the rightfielder.
The manager calls his team off the field, they go into the safety of the dugout, the managers and umpires meet at home plate and decide what to do. They transfer Garner from rightfield to leftfield because the Negro bleachers are in leftfield. They continue the game and I write a story. Here's this Yankee from New York and I call the people who threw the stones "yahoos." It was the softest word I could think of. I wrote how Aaron ignored the fuss to play the kind of game that would get him Rookie of the Year - and he winds up Rookie of the Year in the Sally League.
And Henry and I always had that because I was there that night.
Vince Lombardi
We're getting ready for Eagles-Green Bay, the championship game, 1960, and I'm in the office and Merchant says, "See what you can get from Lombardi." I said, "Vince Lombardi?" He said, "Yeah, who else?" I said, "Vince Lombardi doesn't know who I am." He said, "You'll identify yourself as the Philadelphia Daily News, here's the name of the PR guy, tell him you need a few minutes with Vince."
I'm the good soldier. I called the PR guy and asked. He said, "Let me check," and then he comes back and says, "Here's Vince." He's on the phone with me. I'm stuttering and fumfering, but I get the basics. I ask him how a guy from New York could find happiness in Green Bay and he gives me good stuff, how the fans own the team, invested emotionally and with their pocketbooks. I say, "Coach, there's been a lot written about this, but can you give me your philosophy of coaching?'' Now, he's dealing with a guy, a rookie Philadelphia Daily News reporter, and he says, ''Discipline with love.'' Three words, sums it up. I can't believe I'm getting this. He says he might really chew out a guy at practice, but afterward he makes sure to go by the guy's locker and rumple his hair. What little I had read about Lombardi, he was a fascist, a total tyrant. Now I get this.
What are the odds you could get that today? The week of a Super Bowl game, one-on-one? That's the way we operated back then. Get on the phone and see if you can get Lombardi.
Our man in Puerto Vallarta
I'm keeping a diary of the '64 season. I'm going to write a book, "Diary of a Champion." They start losing. Ray Hunt, the managing editor, comes by, dusts the ashes off his cigar, and says, "If they blow it, we ain't interested." I said, "How about a nightmare diary?" He said, "If they blow it, we ain't interested." So, of course, they blow it. I go off to cover Cardinals-Yankees in the World Series.
I come back and Ray Hunt is waiting for me. He says, "We're sending you to Puerto Vallarta." They're making a movie, 'The Night of the Iguana.' John Huston is the director. Richard Burton is the star. Sue Lyon is in it. Elizabeth Taylor is there with Burton. Ava Gardner is in it. He says, "It sounds like what we need because they're about to raise the price of the paper.'' We're going from a nickel to a dime. I say, "How long do I stay?'' He says, "Until you have enough for a series . . . Oh, and don't tell them you're coming.''
