Robert Michael Salmon, age 81, died peacefully on May 14, 2023, at his home in Modesto, California, with his beloved partner of 30+ years, Sadhna Perez, and his younger sister, Ann Nichols, at his side. A local Kalamazoo radio legend known as Bob King, he was a longtime on-air personality and half of the duo behind the Doc Holiday and Bob King Show. Bob was born and raised in Edina, Minnesota, and spent twenty years in Kalamazoo, Michigan, before he moved to Modesto in 1985.

After getting his start in radio at KDWB in the Twin Cities area, Bob relocated to Kalamazoo in 1964 and became the on-air talent, sales manager, and ultimately general manager of WKMI radio. While there he was co-creator and one half of the the Doc Holiday and Bob King Show, a long-running morning drive-time program best known for its amusing antics and practical pranks. In 1985 Bob began his tenure as a station owner and operator with the purchase of KMIX Radio in Turlock, California. His group acquired, turned around, and sold several stations in both California and Michigan, including KEWB in Redding, California and WJFM in Grand Rapids, which Bob reformatted from classic rock to country. WBCT (B93), the resulting station, has been a top market performer ever since.

During his long career, he was the mischievous spirit behind and leader of the team who brought the Do-Dah Parade to Kalamazoo, as well as the WKMI Underdogs Basketball Charity Team and the B93 Birthday Bash, an event that still takes place annually. Bob retired in 2006 and, never one to sit still, began a new career as the publisher of Broker Agent Magazine.

Bob was an all-around sports enthusiast and participant. When he wasn’t out on the field or court himself, he was organizing family football or softball games, taking too many of his young children to area golf courses (and letting them loose on the carts), or coaching his sons in the Oakwood Little League while in Michigan and then Riverbank Little League and Modesto Teen Baseball in California. While this started as a way for him to spend time and share his love of baseball with his sons and stepsons, it continued well past when they had moved on from the program. Bob mentored and coached hundreds of Kalamazoo and Modesto-area youth and he regarded it as one of the highlights of his life.

An avid storyteller, the reason Circus Peanuts candy is still made, and continuously disappointed Minnesota Twins and Vikings fan, Bob was most proud of his family.

He is survived by his loving partner Sadhna Perez; his children, Deborah (Dan) Borre, Kathleen (Larry) Lowis, Michael (Laurie), and Casey (Zanna); his stepchildren Todd Schuster, Shawn Werner, Francisco (Malisa) and Richard (Lizett) Perez; his grandchildren, Jonathon (Allyson) Lowis, Jordan (Eric) Beery and Bailey (Macon) Boes, Ethan and Claire Borre, Ava Salmon, Taylor, Tristan, Teagan, Tahlia, and Tarynn Salmon, Marcus, Jessica, and Mikayla Perez, and Rachel and Julien Perez; four treasured great grandsons, Judah, Asher, and Silas Beery, and Shiloh Boes; his sister Ann Nichols; as well as nieces, nephews, and many other loving family members and friends.

Bob is preceded in death by his parents, Robert and LaVerne Salmon, and his brother and sister-in-law Stephen and Kay Salmon.

 Before I had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, I was a kid in San Diego with DJ dreams

 

Radio personality “Shotgun Tom Kelly” poses for a portrait at his home studio.

(Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

I once got to introduce President Ronald Reagan at a campaign rally in San Diego in 1984, later gave him one of my ranger hats, and in 2013 received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

BY THOMAS IRWIN

MARCH 3, 2023 6:20 PM PT

Irwin, known as “Shotgun Tom Kelly,” is a longtime radio and television personality in Southern California and can be heard on SiriusXM 60s Gold(Channel 73) from 4 to 9 p.m. He is working on a book titled “All I Wanna Do is Play the Hits” and lives in San Diego County.

It’s been a more than a 50-year career, and it’s still going strong. I once got to introduce President Ronald Reagan at a campaign rally in San Diego in 1984, later gave him one of my ranger hats, and in 2013 received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

I was born and raised in San Diego and have always been proud to say that San Diego is my hometown. As young as 10, my dream was to be on the air in the radio industry, and I was very fortunate to have my dream realized when I was just 16. I was attending Mount Miguel High School in Spring Valley, and I was the school’s announcer every morning on “The Morning Bulletin.”

 

“Shotgun Tom” Kelly visits with President Ronald Reagan in the oval office in the late 1980s

(Thomas Irwin )

Then, in 1966, I got my first on-air job at KPRI-FM playing standard music through a work-study program. At the time, FM was not the radio giant it is now. AM radio dominated the airwaves with stations like KCBQ and KGB-AM playing the hits, and that’s where I wanted to be, behind the microphone of a Top 40 radio station, playing those hits.

When I started, I needed a Federal Communications Commission first-class radiotelephone operator license to work at the big AM stations. So as soon as I graduated high school, I enrolled in the William B. Ogden Radio Operational Engineering School in Huntington Beach. I graduated from Ogden after six months with my first-class license, and I was on my way.

My first AM radio job was in Merced at KYOS-AM, then I worked at KACY-AM in Oxnard, and later, I was hired in Bakersfield at KAFY-AM.

It was in Bakersfield that I got a chance to host my first television kids show. I was “Nemo, the clown” every Saturday morning on KERO-TV, channel 23. I was in heaven. I was playing the hits and slowly making my way back to my hometown. One day, I got the nerve up to send an audition tape to Charlie Van Dyke, the program director of KGB-AM. He hired me for the 9 p.m. to midnight show. A year later, in 1971, I was the afternoon DJ at KCBQ-AM, at the same time I was asked to host “Word’s A Poppin,” a syndicated children’s game show on KGTV, channel 10. Now, I was working in two media industries, radio and television.

In the late 1970s, I worked at various radio stations in San Diego, including B100-FM and K-BEST 95, and in 1983 I began hosting the KUSI-TV “Kids Club.”

In the 1980s, Rep. Duncan Hunter reached out to me to voice his radio spots. He suggested that I present one of my ranger hats to then-President Ronald Reagan, and arranged for a presentation at the White House. It was an honor. President Reagan got up from the Resolute Desk, walked over and said, “Well, Shotgun, I hear you were the emcee in San Diego and kept the people entertained while they were waiting for me.”

I said, “Yes, Mr. President, and I bring you my ranger hat.” He put it on for a photo.

At that time, I started voicing radio and TV commercials. One of my commercial clients, Mad Jack’s, an electronics retailer, was selling a new piece of equipment, the Sony CD player. I was fascinated with the size of a compact disc and instantly wanted to replace all my dusty vinyl records. The player was portable, which was a new innovation. Of course, I immediately purchased one and installed one in my car.

In 1997, I got my big break and went to Hollywood at K Earth 101and succeeded one of my all-time radio heroes, “The Real” Don Steele.

I worked there for 20 years, and eventually was honored with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Stevie Wonder was one of my presenters during the event.

Working in Los Angeles, I had the opportunity to meet celebrities like Clint Eastwood, Regis Philbin, Vin Scully, Tom Jones, Elton John, Mike Love of the Beach Boys, John Stamos and many others. When I met Clint Eastwood, he knew who I was, and we talked about our favorite jazz DJ Chuck Niles. Regis Philbin and I talked about people we worked with at KFMB. To this day, Mike Love and I are good friends.

Now I work from a home studio and am on satellite radio. I am heard all around the world. I hope my Southern California listeners say, “Tom Irwin made good in San Diego and Hollywood.”

(Note:  Tom is a member of the Modesto Radio Museum, and for years was the station announcer, “The Voice” of the legendary Top-4o KFIV.)

*** To read the Museum’s tribute to Tom click here: “Quite a Ride, when you ride Shotgun.”  

***In his own voice, here are a few of Tom’s favorite radio memories: https://hollywoodandlevine.libsyn.com/ep142-meet-radio-star-shotgun-tom-kelly

Editor’s Note: This was part five in a series about local people connected to the early days of television.

When it comes to discussions about legendary figures in the history of local television, former TV anchor and reporter Stan Atkinson should always be in those conversations.
With a review of Stan’s awards alone, one can quickly gain an understanding that he was far from an average person in the field of journalism.

Stan was a three-time Emmy Award winner and a recipient of both the World Affairs Council Award of Excellence for International Reporting and the Sacramento Region Community Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. And these are just some of the awards that he has received.

Last week, Stan sat down in his Arden area home to discuss his journalism career, which spanned nearly a half-century. But before presenting details about that time, he spoke about the pre-media portion of his life. “I was born (in San Diego) on Nov. 11, 1932,” Stan said. “I was a peace baby, a Veterans (Day) baby.” After being asked to speak about his parents, Stan said, “It’s a long story, because I was adopted. I was raised by the Atkinsons – Stan and Bess Atkinson.”

Although most Sacramento area residents remember Stan for his television days, the majority of those people are not familiar with his relatively brief time working in radio.
In speaking about his first experience in radio, Stan said, “I was the sports editor of my high school newspaper and they started doing a radio show on Friday afternoons. So, I would do the sports segment, and I enjoyed it so much I ended up doing most of the show. I really liked it. I hadn’t had any experience with radio other than to listen to it. I was a high school senior then and I thought, ‘Well, I really like this and maybe this is something I could do (for a living) and should do.’ So, I announced to my father (the eldest Stan Atkinson) that I didn’t want to go to college.

I wanted to go to a school that would get you a first-class (Federal Communications Commission) license. My father was very disappointed, disgusted maybe, because he wanted me to go onto college and he had ideas of me becoming a lawyer. In disgust, he said, ‘Okay, I’ll give you the $300 to go to school.’ And he said, ‘And that’s it; then you’re on your own.’ I said, ‘Okay, good deal.’ So, I went to school (at the William Ogden Radio Operational Engineering School) in Burbank Calif.). I got the first-class license with great difficulty.”
Stan explained that after earning his first-class license in 1951, he had many employment opportunities in radio.

“Gosh, there were 200 jobs out there all over the country for the 25 of us who were in the (Ogden) class,” Stan said. “You pretty much had your pick.”

After reviewing his options, Stan decided that he would like to work for a particular, Armed Forces radio-founded radio station in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

To Stan’s delight, the station, after reviewing his audition disc, offered him a job.

Stan lives in Sacramento and celebrated his 90th birthday on November 11, 2022

Bessie Pappas Grillos, 83, of Modesto, passed away on June 3, 2022, after battling Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
Bessie was born on April 4, 1939, in Hiawatha, Utah, to Nick and Mary Katsavrias, as was active in the Greek Orthodox Church all of her life.
Bessie met husband Pete Pappas at a church dance in Price, Utah. They were married in 1962 and had two (2) sons, Pete Pappas, Jr. and Mike Pappas. Always famous for her cooking, Bessie creating a warm, welcoming home for her family and countless friends. Bessie proved to be a dutiful wife and loving, caring mother.
As a broadcasting professional, Bessie was instrumental in helping husband Pete and his twin brother, Mike Pappas, build, manage and own radio stations in Las Vegas, Tulare and Modesto. Eventually, Pete and Mike, along with brother Harry J. Pappas, built and launched KMPH-TV in the Fresno-Visalia television market. At each location, Bessie was the unsung hero who helped manage the stations in the always-difficult but growing broadcast industry. Eventually, Bessie and Pete settled in Modesto and owned two (2) radio stations, KHOP-FM and KTRB-AM. In 1986, Pete suddenly passed away at almost 49-years old, leaving Bessie a young widow.
In 1998, Bessie married Steve Grillos, a retired CSU Stanislaus professor. They enjoyed travel, spending time with family and friends and serving their church community. Even in her later years, Bessie had a limitless supply of energy and was always active in her church’s Greek Food Festivals. Steve and Bessie shared 22 loving years together until his passing on February 9, 2021. Bessie finished her professional career working for Modesto City Schools and retired in 2011.
Bessie is survived by her sons, Pete Pappas, Jr. and Mike Pappas and his wife Katerina; grandchildren, Panayiota, Manolie and Yianni, all in Denver, CO; brother Gust Katsavrias (Sharon), Price, UT; sister-in-law Noula Pappas, Fresno CA; brother-in-law, Harry J. Pappas (Stella A. Pappas), Reno NV; and many nieces and nephews who all grieve the loss of their beloved Thea Bessie.
Trisagion services were held at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, at Salas Brothers Funeral Chapel, 419 Scenic Dr, Modesto, CA 95350.
Funeral services were held at 11:00 AM on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 313 Tokay Ave., Modesto, CA 95350. Interment at Lakewood Memorial Park, 900 Santa Fe Ave, Hughson, CA 95326.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church.

(The Radio Museum is grateful to Ron Underwood, former faculty member at Downey High School, and advisor to the school’s radio station, KDHS.   Here’s where this story begins:  Bob Pinheiro, Webmaster Emeritus of the Radio Museum, discovered a 1964 recording labeled “Knightime.” The program had audio about activities at Downey High.  They are the Knights.   We asked Ron for details.

He wrote back, and here is Ron’s backstory of “Knightime.”

“Yes, this program was called “Knightime.  It was a fifteen-minute program highlighting Downey High activities, athletics, and student talents.  The shows aired weekly on KBEE-AM 970.

They aired until 1972. (NOTE: 1972 was the year Ron Underwood transferred to Beyer High School.)
Interestingly, the program aired with the same title and the same format in the mid-1950s as well.  Downey Speech teacher Edna Spelts organized and produced those shows through the efforts of her Advanced Speech class.
I was a part of these shows then as a student!   Years later, when I returned to Downey as a teacher,  I told the class about “Knightime” and they seemed eager to revive the show.   So we did!

Furthermore, in the late 50s we added “Funny Paper Time” to our broadcasting efforts. This was a program where the students would read-with character voices and sound effects-from the Sunday comic section of The Modesto Bee.  Our version of the comics also aired on KBEE…..In the late 60s we changed the name to KCEY Comics as the shows were moved over to KCEY in Turlock.

P.S.   I sure do enjoy the Radio Museum web site.
I am looking forward to a visit to the new -in person- edition with one of my future trips to Modesto.

Keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Ron Underwood”

Here is one of those programs.   We are happy to present “Knightime,”  from 1964, produced by the students of Downey High School, and heard on KBEE-AM 970:

One of the guests was Chuck Hughes, for many years, Coach of the Downey Football Knights.   The stadium is named after him.   KFIV-AM broadcast a number of their games.

Editors note:  This Modesto Bee article appeared on November 21st, 1968.  Later, Bee Photographer Al Golub added follow-up commentary. Special thanks to Al, a friend of the Museum, for permission to archive his story.

November 21, 1968

Wellesley Richard “Dick” Boynton was the news editor at KBEE AM, The Modesto Bee’s sister radio station. In November 1968, Dick volunteered to be my subject for a day-in-the-life-of-a-radio-reporter story. My goal was to improve my story-telling skills.

I asked Dick to just do his job and ignore me. We met at 6 a.m. at the Stanislaus County jail to get booking information.

Then we were  off to Modesto Police Department to read the police logs.

At MPD, we discovered a big story was unfolding.  Stanislaus County Superintendent of Schools Fred Beyer and his deputy Joseph Howard had died the night before in a plane crash coming back from Fresno.

Making images was easy under these circumstances: I just followed Dick as he worked. I moved in and out while Dick ignored me, just as I had asked. When he finally sat down to write copy, he talked aloud and banged away on his typewriter. Next thing I knew, he was on the air broadcasting the news.

Boynton worked as the news editor for KBEE for nearly a decade under managers Roy Swanson and Ed Boyle. Earlier in his career, his deep, resonant voice was heard on the airwaves at KWG in Stockton. Boynton had also worked as a newsman for radio stations in Salinas and San Diego. Among racing fans, Dick was known as a winning driver of dragsters and super-stock cars.

Richard Strauss’s childhood mimicked countless other youngsters:   he was hooked on radio.

One generation before Richie’s childhood (he was “Richie” during his younger days), a household’s radio was large, was placed on the kitchen counter, and was controlled by the parent.   Kids listened to Arthur Godfrey, because they were forced to.  Or Don McNeil’s Breakfast Club, which didn’t appeal to youngsters, but it was better than going hungry.  Then, in 1957 things changed.    It was the year Sony  mass produced the  transistor radio.   Overnight radios the size of toasters were replaced by radios the size of  cell phones.   Since transistors didn’t require much electricity, they ran on batteries.   Wow, they were small, lightweight, and could go anywhere!!   They were personal! Since they came with a little earpiece, they were private!!  They made a worldwide splash, and they made Richie Strauss’s world.

Day and night, the radio was on, on the way to school, even during school,  at home doing homework, at bedtime, under the covers.   It was non-stop, it was addictive, it was fun!   The radio station with the most fun was KFIV, known as K-5, Modesto’s first Top 40 Radio Station!

Oh, what a station.   The music was modern and fun.   The disc jockeys were glib, clever, and shared the Low Down on Mo-Town (they knew what was going on in and around Modesto).   What’s more,  you could call them on the phone!!  They were friendly, would joke around with you, and sometimes they played your request.

But for Richie, contests were the real fun.    They were non-stop.  K-5 would give away a brand new ten-speed bike a day for 30 days, and the following day the next contest began.  The size of the prize didn’t matter, from movie tickets, to K-Tel albums, to ski lift passes, to crisp clean hundred-dollar bills, it was fun to play and even more fun to win.

Richie played as often as K-5 allowed.

Often the contestant would have to be “caller number 5” or “13” or “27.”    Richie’s house had two phones.   He would call on one, and then start dialing on the other.    He might be caller “3” and then “11” and then “18”.   And sometimes he got to play.     These persistent players were given a nickname!  The KFIV Program Director, Larry Maher, called them Contest Cuties!    Richie was a dedicated Contest Cutie Craftsman.   Sometimes he won “older people’s” prizes, such as concert tickets to see Englebert Humperdink, or Liza Minelli.   Those tickets he gave to his parents.

One time, K-5 virtually hid an ounce of solid gold.   Listeners did not go dig up the town looking for the gold; they listened for, and studied the clues, which went from vague to more and more precise.     As an example, one ounce of gold was hidden inside the skull at the old dental office exhibit at the McHenry Museum.  (Note:  as the clues revealed the gold was somewhere inside the Museum, the McHenry Museum set all-time attendance records!!  The curator couldn’t figure out what was going on!)

Back to Richie.   He had a cassette player, and he recorded every contest he played.   When it came to contests, Richie was practically an on-air regular.   The jocks could have fun with him.  One time, Radio Rick, on the air, took Richie’s guess, and said, “Richie, over here, I have a big book where we write down the names of people with wrong guesses.   Next to that book, we have one piece of paper where we write down the winning name.    Richie Strauss of Modesto, your name goes. . . . into The Big Book of Losing Guesses!”

Along with all this good fun, Richie fell in love with radio.  His father’s friend, Jerry Rosenthal, managed one of the local stations, and he helped Richie get an intern job at KTRB with news director, Carol Benson.

He graduated from Davis High School in 1988, and then on to UCLA.   He is now Richard, and his extracurricular activities centered around  KLA, the university’s station.    He wrote and delivered newscasts, and covered news and sporting events.   He was at the press conference  in 1991 when Magic Johnson announced to the world he had H.I.V. and was retiring.   With his press pass, Richard covered sports for free, would record quotes from coaches and players, and feed the audio to radio stations.  This Free Lance work paid him fifteen dollars per audio feed.   Not bad for watching games for free.

In his senior year,  Richard left school to work in the Bill Clinton Presidential Campaign.   Traveling with the campaigners, his hard work impressed the Clinton staff.    Dating back to Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s, Presidents delivered  weekly Radio Addresses.

Bill Clinton won the ’92 election, and with his knowledge of the inner workings of the medium, Richard Strauss was appointed White House Radio Director.

Hard work and long hours paid off, and Richard took what he learned about public relations, and started Strauss Media Strategies, which has grown into the nation’s premier communications, public relations, consulting and strategy firm specializing in comprehensive radio and television media relations services.   Now in its 25th year Strauss Media has offices in Washington, New York, Charlotte, and Los Angeles.

You’re in for a treat.   The Museum thanks Ken Levine for granting us permission to post these podcast interviews with the nation’s leading radio personalities.   Their stories give great insight as to what it was like to be “that guy on the radio.”

We think you’ll learn a lot; we know you’l laugh a lot.   After all, these are disc jockeys. . .

We begin with Shotgun Tom Kelly,   a radio star who was given his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame:

Episode 142:  Meet Radio Star Shotgun Tom Kelly

Next Ken talks to Neil Ross, a Modesto Radio Museum contributor, and Ogden Radio School 1963 graduate.  Neil’s  stories range from Roller Derby fisticuffs to backstage with Jim Morrison and the Doors:

Episode 93:  From a radio school dream to announcing the Academy Awards, meet Neil Ross

Bonus:  Neil talks about going to radio school:

Charlie Van Dyke, you hear him everyday as the voice of TV and radio stations across America.    Listen in and you’ll recognize the man Ken calls, “The Voice of God”:

Episode 195 : He’s on the air everywhere.   His voice is One in a Million:   Meet Charlie Van Dyke

Ken Levine himself was quite a YES Man.  He knew to say Yes when the Hell’s Angels requested a song; he said Yes when the FBI asked to enter his studio, and Yes when asked to fill in for Wolfman Jack:

Episode 125:  When you Clap for the Wolfman, you’re applauding the legendary Ken Levine

Ken’s  personal radio favorites are put on display.  Here’s Ken Levine’s Mount Rushmore of Radio Personalities:

 Episode 117:  Ken Levine’s Mount Rushmore of radio stars

When did stations start playing Christmas Music 24/7?   Jhani Kaye, 1967 Ogden Radio School graduate, was the first major market program director to go “All Christmas, All the Time!”

Episode 205:  There’s no such thing as too much  Christmas Music.   National Programmer Jhani Kaye sleighs in with details

The Best DJ no one ever listens to: Deke Duncan has been spinning the hits for 45 years.  No one listens.  No one can.  He’s following his bliss.   We all should be so lucky.

Episode 187:   The best DJ no one ever listens to 

 Ken Levine is a creative giant with at least four huge careers:   Comedy writer for MASH, CHEERS, FRASIER, AND WINGS, among others;  Broadcaster of Major League Baseball for the Orioles, Mariners, and Padres;  prolific writer of books, plays, movies, and one of America’s most-read daily blogs.  His Career Number Four:   Radio Personality!  Yes, it all began with radio.   His podcasts, Hollywood and Levine, focus on Entertainment, Pop Culture, and, of course, all things radio.   Want more?   Ken has over 200 podcasts,  click the logo below:

Superman had his Lois Lane and Wonder Woman had her Steve Trevor.  Before the Wonder Woman movies, Wonder Woman, the TV Show, airing for 4 years, paired Lynda Carter with Lyle Waggoner.   He was a good-looking, mighty fine Steve Trevor.

 And, one day, Steve Trevor came to Modesto.  .  .  

(Rick Myers wrote this back in 1975)

Last weekend, Modesto was invaded by celebrities in tennis shorts.   Comic Fred Allen once said, “A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become famous, and then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized.”   Most of these celebrities did wear dark glasses, but they came to have fun, and help raise money.

The Lyle Waggoner-Best Chevrolet Pro/Celebrity Tennis Classic benefited the Stanislaus Association for the Mentally Disadvantaged.  Twenty-four “famous” people came to Modesto and played tennis over three days at the Sportsmen of Stanislaus (S.O.S.) Club.    The locals paid five dollars per match to watch the stars come out—all in all, a pleasant way to donate to a charity.

Lyle Waggoner, a star of The Carol Burnett Show, organized these charity events around the country.  It was Modesto’s turn.    Lyle came to KFIV several days in advance to set up the promotion, and our first meeting began a wonderful friendship.   When the others at the station were introduced to Lyle, they had the usual compliments:  “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” and “I’ve been a fan of yours for a long time,” “Thanks for coming to Modesto; this is quite a thrill.”  Me? I went for humor (it’s my disc jockey DNA).     As Lyle approached, I stared awkwardly at his feet, looking confused.   Then I said, “Wow,  I thought Porter  Wagoner always wore cowboy boots.”   Lyle laughed and said he was the other Waggoner.  (I had a similar remark about Leon Wagner, the baseball player, but that joke had run its course.) However, with that comment, Lyle Waggoner and I connected.

Lyle Waggoner  was gracious and witty—so few of us have both these traits—and instinctively he knew he could have fun with me. When asked to record a station promo, he was ready, “This is Lyle Waggoner, and whenever I’m in Modesto, I never miss the Radio Rick Radio Show; I don’t listen to it, and I don’t miss it.”  (The audience loved it, and I aired that promo off-and-on for years.)  Later that day, on the air, I asked about his future endeavors, he said, “I plan to do a little screen work this summer; my kitchen door needs repair.”  We were having fun.  Lyle Waggoner conducts dozens of these tournaments but while in Modesto,  I became his go-to guy.

Modesto was rocking with celebrities.  Friday evening found these greats and us mere mortals congregated at a party and Lyle Waggoner, my new friend, saw me first, and–happily for me–it was “Hey, Rick, I want you to meet my wife!”   His wife

was the lovely actress, Sharon Kennedy.   I returned his friendly gesture by introducing my girlfriend who was  five-foot-ten.  Then came Lyle’s marvelous, awkward miscue. He shook her hand and commented on what a big girl she was.  She apologized, explaining her plans were to lose some weight!  Lyle gasped, caught off guard, foot in mouth,  totally embarrassed.  He stammered, searching for an apology, searching his brain for a funny comeback; his brain gave him nothing, and all he could do was  utter that  he meant “tall” and not “heavy.”  I was enjoying this.  Sharon rolled her eyes and  gave Lyle one of those “What does Wonder Woman see in this schmuck?” looks.

Just then, the great actor Cornel Wilde came limping by and Lyle Waggoner seized the opportunity to change the subject, and introduced us.   Nice save, Lyle.    Mr. Wilde had pulled a muscle and was in no condition to run through the jungles as he had in The Naked Prey.  He was supposed to play tennis the next day; maybe he’d use a stunt double.

As he gazed at us, Mr. Wilde pleasantly accused Lyle and me of starting a “height conspiracy,” and limped away.   Wow that was nice; Cornel Wilde, an Academy Award Nominee, was looking up to us.

My eyes scanned the room and there was Ron Ely, a mammoth of a man, who portrayed Tarzan on TV for three years.   As I was wondering if he ever tired of being referred to as Hollywood’s original swinger,  I noticed a celebrity I practically grew up with:   Ozzie & Harriet’s oldest son, David!!

David Nelson is a good-looking young man, but extremely shy.  According to Lyle, my great friend for the weekend, he and David had been neighbors for years before Lyle ever discovered his quiet neighbor’s existence.  Lyle further noted this was David’s first attempt at celebrity tennis.   Even surrounded by admirers, David Nelson appeared so uncomfortable I doubt he’ll attempt another.

Merv Griffen’s pudgy trumpet player, Jack Sheldon, supplied most of the humor.  His jokes were non stop.   And each joke was politically incorrect.

Ex-athletes play tennis, too, and they were there,  returning us to the joys of our youth.  Former football stars RC Owens and Bruce Gossett had put on a few pounds.  They looked like they retired to the buffet table.   However, Y.A. Tittle and Frankie Albert were tanned and fit.  (Moral:  When you retire, it’s best to retire as a quarterback.)

As our weekend with the stars came to a close, I told Lyle Waggoner I was impressed by what a sincerely nice person he was.  (Yes, I could be serious for a change.)  Jokingly, Lyle replied, “Well, you know, the bigger they are, the nicer they are.”  I said, “Lyle, at six-foot-four, you should know.   And I hope you’re right, because I’m six-foot-five.”

(Post Script:  Following his acting career, Lyle created Star Waggons, providing customized location trailers used by the entertainment industry.   He and Sharon were married for 59 years, until his passing at age 84.)