ANALYSIS/OPINION:
America said good bye this week to David Letterman on late night television, which stirred up favorite memories of many people from the talk show host’s colorful style — from stupid pet tricks to “Camping with Barry White” and so many more.
Letterman is a sports fan (he has owned an Indy car racing team for years, having grown up in Indiana) and has had all the big sports stars on his show over the past three decades — and invited quarterback Peyton Manning to be on the finale Wednesday night.
But he had particular fond and memorable moments on his show with two Hall of Fame athletes who were also favorites of local sports fans here — former Washington Senators first baseman Harmon Killebrew and former Baltimore Colts defensive tackle Artie Donovan.
Killebrew is best known as the Minnesota Twins slugger who hit 573 home runs over 22 seasons. But he spent his first seven years, from 1954 to 1960, with the Senators before the franchise relocated to Minneapolis, and remained a fan favorite of Washington baseball fans.
When he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984, Letterman invited Killebrew — one of the most beloved and respected players of his time — to appear on his NBC show. But he wound up getting bumped that night in favor of singer Bette Midler.
To make up for it, Letterman held a “Harmon Killebrew Night” two years later on the show. They had a ceremony hanging Killebrew’s sport coat from the rafters of the studio and invited teammate Bob Allison to appear with him.
Letterman even brought in Killebrew’s favorite singer — country western star Charley Pride, himself a former Negro League ballplayer — to sing to Killebrew.
It was a special night for the Hall of Famer, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 74 from esophegeal cancer. The night before he died at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, surrounded by his family, they watched the DVD of Letterman’s “Harmon Killebrew Night,” according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
“We laughed; all five of us kids sat around and watched it,” his son Kenneth said. “Dad got a good kick out of it.”
Another area Hall of Famer — this one from football — became a Letterman favorite because he made the host and his viewers laugh.
Donovan became a regular guest on Letterman’s NBC program. A producer had seen Donovan telling stories on an “NFL Films” segment, and booked him for the show. He was invited back often because he told stories like this:
“We had a quarterback named George Shaw. He wasn’t a very big guy, but he was a talented fella, a lot like Francis Tarkenton. Well, we were playing the Bears in ’55, and Dick Szymanski was the center. It was in the second quarter, and Shaw goes back to throw a pass, and just as he’s about to throw, a lineman breaks through and hits him. At the same time, a linebacker, George Connor, comes blitzing in with a 20-yard head start, and he hits George [with] a shot. Jeez, he leveled him. He put a shoulder right in his face, busted the face mask. They pulled George off the [field]. His nose was bleeding, he didn’t know where he was. So he’s on the bench, and he says to Szymanski, “Hey, Szyzzie, how do my teeth look?” And Szyzzie says, “I don’t know, George, they aren’t there.”
Donovan told Sports Illustrated, “In my first appearance I was telling stories, and people were laughing, and everything was great. When we cut to a commercial, the guy says, ’Can you do another eight minutes?’ I said, ’Hell, I can do eight months.’”
Donovan, who passed away in August 2013 at the age of 89, made a connection with Letterman, who liked the colorful former player so much that when he did a Super Bowl commercial with Oprah Winfrey and Jay Leno in 2007 for Super Bowl XLI, he wore an Artie Donovan jersey.
Letterman’s long list of athletes who appeared on his shows on both NBC and CBS include such stars as Shaquille O’Neal, Magic Johnson, Joe Namath, Andrew Luck and George Foreman, among many others. But perhaps his best moments were with these two former area stars whose humor and humanity connected with the Midwest talk show host who said farewell this week.
• Thom Loverro is co-host of “The Sports Fix,” noon to 2 p.m. daily on ESPN 980 and espn980.com.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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