Hard work always key for Philly Hall of Fame inductee Phil Jasner

PHIL JASNER was covering the Sixers, Knicks, Jets and Eagles, some colleges and high schools for the Trentonian when he got a call to take a test at the Daily News for a job covering high school sports. He remembers nothing of the test. Whatever it was, he passed it.

A few days later, Stan Hochman, then the Daily News sports editor, called to say the job was his.

Jasner remembered thinking, "Do I really want to cover high school sports full time?"

"My good friend Merrill Reese literally pinned me up against the wall and said, 'Get your foot in the door,' " Jasner remembered.

That was 1972.

It was announced yesterday morning at the Sheraton Society Hill that Jasner is the "Legacy of Excellence" winner for Class VII of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

"When I think of some of the previous winners, I'm just humbled to be in their company," Jasner said.

It is strong company. The first Legacy of Excellence winner was Harry Kalas. Subsequent winners were Stan Hochman, Bill Conlin, Bill Campbell, Bill Lyon, Ray Didinger, Gene Hart, Merrill Reese, Jack Whitaker and Harvey Pollack.

"Aside from being this marvelous honor, it felt like an achievement, almost like a validation of my body of work," Jasner said.

His body of work began at the Daily News those 38 years ago. It includes a brief time on the preps, several years covering the Big 5, Sixers home games for a few years, the Eagles for 2 years at the beginning of the Dick Vermeil era, and, for the last 3 decades, the Sixers. In addition to all that and so much more, Jasner covered the "Dream Team" for the Daily News at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Jasner did not merely get his foot in the door. That door was caved in by the weight of the effort.

It is impossible to quantify who works the hardest. However, it can safely be said that in his nearly 4 decades working in this town, nobody has worked any harder than Phil Jasner.

He covered Bobby Jones. He grew up watching Bobby Shantz.

The A's were still in Philadelphia and Phil's dad used to take him to A's games.

"To me, this is living history and the idea that I'm part of it is really hard to get my arms around," Jasner said.

Jones and Shantz are among the members of PSHOF Class VII. That it took 7 years to get to some of these names explains the depth of athletic talent in this city.

Alphabetically, the other new members who will be formally honored on Nov. 11 at the Sheraton are: Dick Allen; Hobie Baker (the award for college hockey's best player is named after the legendary Princeton athlete from Bala Cynwyd, who is in the Hockey Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame); diver Elizabeth Becker, two-time Olympic gold medal winner in the 1920s; Eagles great and one of the nicest people in the history of the world, Tom Brookshier; Flyers goalie Ron Hextall; wonderful amateur golfer William Hyndman III; Cleveland Browns running back Leroy Kelly, from Simon Gratz, who scored 90 NFL touchdowns; Tug McGraw, who threw that pitch in 1980 nobody will forget; La Salle High and then La Salle College grad Jim Phelan, who won 830 games as coach of Mount St. Mary's; Eagles receiver Mike Quick; Immaculata great and two-time national championship coach at Old Dominion, Marianne Stanley; and "Jersey" Joe Walcott, the great heavyweight from Merchantville, N.J. The Lighthouse Boys Club will receive a Lifetime Commitment award.

Allen and Quick, two of this city's sports all-timers, were at the Sheraton yesterday morning.

"This is not what I expected when I got drafted in 1982," Quick said. But the great wideout and now Eagles radio analyst clearly earned it.

"It's been a long, hard road getting here today," Allen said after explaining that his mother was "the best hitter" he ever saw. Something about 10 kids and a switch.

The Sixers beat was what Jasner always wanted. And he covered it with passion, skill and commitment.

"I didn't get to cover Doc's first year, but I think I got to cover 9 or 10 of his years with the Sixers," Jasner said. "That was a ride you couldn't duplicate. I had Moses and Cheeks and Toney and Bobby Jones. And then along comes Barkley. I thought I was going to have a breather and then along comes Allen [Iverson]. And that was like nothing I had ever experienced, that no one will ever experience. I just consider myself incredibly fortunate that I got the opportunity to do what I love for as long as I did it."

Jasner was the sidebar writer the night the Lakers and rookie Magic Johnson beat the Sixers in Game 6 to win the 1980 NBA championship at the Spectrum. His assignments were Magic and Lakers coach Paul Westhead, the Saint Joseph's grad who coached at La Salle.

"I left the Spectrum at 3:30 in the morning," Jasner remembered. "Paul waxed poetic. And Magic was enthralling."

When Magic Johnson went into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Jasner gave him copies of the two articles he had written that night.

Jasner has stories for every occasion and he has been there for hundreds of occasions, many of them special.

Jasner does not keep many mementos, but he does have hand-written letters then-Lakers coach Pat Riley sent him after the championship series of 1982 and 1983, saying how much he appreciated the coverage.

"Can you imagine that happening today?" Jasner wondered.

In fact, you can't imagine somebody like Phil Jasner today. He is a throwback with a work ethic that will matter in any era. And when he is honored in November, nobody will have to ask why. *