A sportscaster’s career and life with ailing dad

Sports broadcaster Jim Nantz watched his father battle Alzheimer's while he achieved great success in his own career, and reflects on this emotional journey in his new book. Here, an excerpt from chapter one of "Always by My Side: A Father's Grace and a Sports Journey Unlike Any Other."

May 26, 1995, had been shaping up as “just another day at the office” — albeit an office whose desk faces a television camera, a monitor bank, and a bay window that, on this one Friday afternoon, was set up to overlook the 18th green at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

My parents, Doris and Jim, had come up from Houston to visit me, and as a bonus they got to cheer on one of my college roommates, Blaine McCallister, who was playing in the PGA Tour’s grand old tournament, the Colonial. I was also blessed to be surrounded by my CBS “family” — in particular, Ken Venturi, our analyst, who sat to my right; the legendary producer/director Frank Chirkinian, who was, as we say in TV, “in my ear”; and Frank’s protégé, associate director Lance Barrow, who sat just to Chirkinian’s left in the production truck.

There I was, thirty-six years old, and about to celebrate my tenth anniversary at CBS Sports, the very network where I had envisioned myself working ever since I was in grade school. In my first decade, I had already been privileged to broadcast virtually every sport the network had to offer. In short, I was fulfilling my lifelong aspiration to narrate the great stories of American sports.

What would I have done with my life had I not been fortunate enough to defy the odds and land behind CBS’s anchor desk? Well, perhaps I might have been content to sell them that desk, joining my father in his office-furniture wholesale business. That was always the fallback plan, something I could do to help make life easier for Dad in his later years. Now, though, I was developing a far better father-son business model — one that centered on the three things, besides his family, that Dad loved most: traveling, meeting people, and sports. My schedule was growing more and more hectic. Wherever I turned, the demands on my time continued to increase. So I thought, why not enlist my father as my full-time, on-the-road business partner? He had plenty of management experience, and no one had better people skills. We’d work as a team, traveling together regularly, just as we did when I was growing up.

“Everywhere you go, people absolutely love you. Besides, there’s no one whose advice I value more,” I told him as I tried to pitch this concept. “Dad, there will be plenty for you to do, and besides, I need you!” I must have told him on a dozen other occasions — and I really felt that way. No matter how I worded my argument, he would invariably deflect it with a noncommittal, “We’ll see, Son.”

My father’s fierce independence didn’t surprise me. He never wanted anything handed to him — or even perceived to be handed to him — from anyone, including me. For the time being, Dad was more than content to remain a “free agent.” Whenever our schedules allowed, he’d join me at a big football game that I was calling — or the Final Four or the Masters. Then, when it was time for me to go on the air, he would stop watching the event — and simply stare at me. Somehow, he could do this for hours on end — sitting silently just off camera, listening on a spare headset as the producer orchestrated all the different elements that bring a telecast to life. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him beaming with pride, that beatific smile etched onto the world’s friendliest face, as if he could hardly believe that all of this was really happening to his only son.

...

“Oh, my God!” I muttered reflexively when my father entered the tower that day with about three minutes to air. I’d never seen Dad like this: His eyes were disoriented. His face looked confused. His speech was halting and barely coherent. We rushed to get him something to drink and some towels. Dad was a “young” sixty-six — vibrant, active, and strong. But on this sweltering afternoon, the heat and humidity — and his haste to make it back to the tower in time for the start of the broadcast — had left him seemingly overcome by exhaustion and dehydration. Instead of taking a few sips of water, as he might usually do, I watched him gulp down two full bottles.

“Listen, Dad, why don’t you go over to our CBS hospitality suite in the clubhouse. Cool off, catch your breath, and then come back here,” I told him. “We’ve got all weekend together, so you take your time — there’s no rush.” Normally, he would have waved off my suggestion, insisted that he was “just fine, Son,” and propped himself into his regular front-row seat so he could fixate on my every move. Instead, he nodded slowly and turned for the door at the back of the tower and started down the steps.

...

And so for Ken Venturi and all the crew, this is Jim Nantz, saying so long from Fort Worth, Texas. We’ll see you again tomorrow at three Eastern time on CBS.

The moment I finished signing off, Frank Chirkinian gently instructed, “Jimmy, don’t get off headset yet.” Frank’s booming bark was now modulated to a solicitous whisper as he asked me, “Are you sitting down?” Instantly, it dawned upon me — and on Ken Venturi, who was at my side, also listening — that my father had not returned to the tower. I had assumed that once Dad had gone inside, he probably made some new friends — as he invariably does — and decided to stick around, tell some jokes, and watch the broadcast with them from the comfort of the air-conditioned clubhouse.

“First, let me assure you that your dad is just fine, Jimmy,” Frank said. “But he was taken to a nearby hospital. Apparently, as he left your tower, he collapsed at the base of the stairs. Your mother insisted that I not tell you while you were on the air. I’ve been getting regular updates for the last ninety minutes, and we’ve got a car waiting to take you to see him. Now, Son — don’t you worry. Everything is going to be all right.”

At times such as this, Chirkinian instinctively referred to me as “Son,” and he and Venturi were among several individuals who were important father-figures to me — and they remain so to this day. The one saving grace for my father was that the 18th hole at Colonial was directly across from a first-aid tent, and just a few hundred yards from where ambulances were parked on the other side of the clubhouse. The paramedics stabilized my father and rushed him to Harris Methodist Hospital, less than ten minutes away.

Kenny and Frank both offered to go with me, but I knew that Mom was there, and I figured that in this situation too many people in a small hospital room might overwhelm my dad. Quickly, I packed my briefcase and bolted down the same sixteen steps that had fatefully altered the course of my father’s life and mine.

When I reached his bedside, Dad’s eyes brightened — he still had his gift for communicating by eye contact — and he tried to speak. But the left side of his face was droopy, and it caused him to slur his speech. I couldn’t make out every word, but the gist of it was clear: He was apologizing for putting us through this, and he was sorry for having ruined all of the great plans we had made for this weekend. This was so typical of Dad — to be concerned about everyone in the room but himself.

My father had suffered a mini-stroke (technically called a transient ischemic attack, or TIA). But this episode was probably the latest in a series of setbacks that we had failed to recognize for what they were, dating back perhaps to the untold amount of head trauma he had incurred playing football in the era of leather helmets. In fact, there had been numerous other warning signals. For instance, my sister, Nancy, recalled a recent incident on a vacation, when Dad went to the hotel lobby for a quick cup of coffee and forgot what room he was staying in. We also remembered Dad’s sudden difficulty in correctly pronouncing the name of our longtime next-door neighbor. We had laughed off these awkward moments to put my father at ease. But these and other cognitive data points were hiding in plain sight.

In the weeks following Fort Worth, my dad’s condition improved. His speech returned and the partial paralysis of his left arm also disappeared. Still, something was amiss. We became more conscious of his inability to “connect the dots,” and our suspicions and fears mounted. Finally, we took my father to be evaluated by a prominent neurologist, Dr. Stanley Appel. He confirmed the clinical diagnosis that several other physicians had previously made. It was the single word we all had come to dread most: Alzheimer’s.

With foresight and sensitivity, Dr. Appel had arranged for a specially trained social worker to brief and console my mother in an adjoining room. Meantime, the renowned specialist, upon whom we had unfairly pinned so much hope, was not having an easy time convincing me that we were out of miracles. “There are a few medications that might slow this down in the short term,” he told me, in deliberate tones and measured words that were perfectly appropriate to this life-changing moment. “There’s nothing that can stop the inevitable.” Just then, we heard my mother’s anguished wailing; it penetrated through the walls and sent shivers up my spine. Dr. Appel reached over compassionately and took my hand in his. “Jim, she’s going to need you to be strong now and take charge as the leader of the family,” he said firmly. “The one thing I can tell you is that soon you’re going to have to make some important — and frankly, very painful — decisions.”

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