Chapter 6 When it comes to radio, "the show must go on"

One of the first rules of live radio that I learned early in my career was the show must go on.  That adage has been tested more than once in my career as the “radio voice” of UW-Whitewater football.

Topping my list occurred on a beautiful fall colored Saturday on Oct. 15, 1994.  Bob Bass talked me into a picturesque drive along the Rock River from Rockford, Illinois to Davenport, Iowa as the autumnal colors were spectacular that morning. Our destination was UW-Whitewater’s non-conference football game vs. St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa.

The beautiful scenery was energizing as we drove along US Highway 20 through Freeport, Illinois. I was driving the funky colored rolling billboard - the WFAW Suburban. A pickup a couple hundred feet in front of us signaled to turn left. We slow, the pickup begins to turn. All of a sudden the front passenger door of the pickup flies open and a kid falls out onto the pavement. I scream “oh my God” as the driver jumps out of his pickup and literally throws the kid back in the front seat and “lays rubber” taking off down a side street.

This was very early-on in cell phone coverage. I dialed 9-1-1 on the mobile phone in the truck. I got an operator located about 60 miles from our location. She needed to know my exact location. It took over 10 minutes for her to determine exactly where we were. She asked us to wait for authorities. She dispatched police. We waited about 10 more minutes before an Illinois State Trooper arrived at our location to have us explain what we witnessed.

He thanked us and sent us for the remainder of our trip to Davenport. I was shook, but Bob was shaking in the wake of the disturbing incident.  

60 minutes later we arrived at the stadium with both of us mentally and emotionally drained. The Warhawks won the non-conference game that afternoon but honestly I have no recollection of it.

It wasn’t until the following Monday that I got the official story from the Winnebago (Ill) Sheriff’s Department. The driver of the pickup had rushed his son to a nearby hospital. The boy was in stable condition after suffering a broken arm and leg with significant abrasions along the right side of his body. No charges were filed in the case.

In the Warhawks 1991 season opener we were in Joliet, Illinois taking on NAIA power St. Francis College. It was 93 degrees and extremely humid at kickoff.  The press box at Joliet Memorial Stadium could have been used as a “hot box” in a prison camp.  No air conditioner, no window to open and no air circulating. Five minutes after arriving I realized I was having trouble breathing.

Three minutes into our pregame show I faint.  Boom! I collapse onto the floor. Bob Bass, my broadcast partner thought I had a heart attack. He tells the studio we were having “a technical problem” and ends the broadcast as he has a St. Francis official summon paramedics.  By the time they arrived (approximately 3 minutes) I already had ‘come to.”   

As I remember the paramedics diagnosed me with heat stroke and wanted to have me transported to a hospital just across the street.  With the water I was given and the cold towels over my head and around my neck I was feeling much better. I was feeling strong and ready to get the game back on the air.  I must have been convincing because after about 15 minutes the paramedics agreed.  

Bob argued that we should “scrap” the broadcast and head home. Actually to a bar just across the street.  I remember telling him that the show must go on. That we have Warhawk fans expecting to hear the game.  Let’s do it!  

We got back on the air late in the first quarter and didn’t once mention the situation that had just occurred. As we got back on the air my first words were “Welcome back we have fixed our technical problem.” 

I was able to make it through the broadcast. Unfortunately the Warhawks lost 28-17. 

We spent three hours following the game at a sports bar just across the street owned by the father of Chicago Bears quarterback Jim Harbaugh. 

Bob Bass was an incredible broadcast partner. He was the hardest working “color analyst” in my radio career.  Bob enjoyed his beer and liked his peppermint schnapps. Just prior to our Warhawk broadcasts it was not unusual for Bob to enjoy a shot or two of schnapps to relax him.

Peppermint schnapps was the reason we were able to get UW-Whitewater’s 1998 game at Eau Claire on the air.

UW-Eau Claire decided to move its home games in 1998 from Carson Park to a new on-campus facility located behind the McPhee Physical Education Building.

The field was OK but there was a delay in building a press box.  A temporary open air “press box” was located on top of the new facility’s concession stand.  The only way the “press” was able to get to the roof of the concession stand was by way of being elevated by a “cherry picker lift.”

Bob had great fear over heights. When told a coupe hours prior to the game he would have to get into the “cherry picker” he was ready to quit his job on the spot.  I believed him. I said “Bob, its not that bad. Look at everybody already up there. I need you buddy. You can do it!”

I was busy getting ready for our broadcast thinking I would likely be going solo.  Bob had gone to his schnapps for liquid encouragement.  Sure enough, about 20 minutes prior to going on the air, Bob gained the courage to take the “cherry picker” ride up to our broadcast location.

The broadcast went on with one of the WFAW broadcast team that afternoon just a wee bit tipsy!  The Hawks lost the game 31-28 in overtime.

Voice's sports broadcasting "quirky moments" while at WRDN

                                                              

One of the chapter’s I would like in my forthcoming book will include some of the quirky stories that have occurred during my 42 year professional broadcast career.

What is the old saying - The show must go on?

During my early years broadcasting Durand and Mondovi High School football and basketball games I remember when I was first given the play-by-play duties.  It didn’t happen when I was first hired. Dave Comee was WRDN’s play-by-play announcer when I first arrived on the scene. He soon left to take a similar job at WHTL FM Radio in Whitehall, Wisconsin.

Management knew I wanted the play-by-play duties and I figured I was a “slam dunk” to get the gig,

I remember like it was yesterday the question I was asked in my interview. “Tom, when you are calling a Durand-Mondovi game can you stay neutral” I was surprised at the question and at the time I thought my integrity was being questioned. In reality it was THE question to ask to a Durand High School graduate.  I think back to the many Mondovi vs, Durand games I was behind the microphone while at my hometown radio station.  That question was always on my mind during each of those games.

When calling a basketball game in the Mondovi High School Gymnasium you had to broadcast with no table in the middle of the Mondovi student section halfway up the bleachers.  One of my broadcasts was at a Durand-Mondovi game. A group of 8 to 10 Mondovi students sitting around me started yelling some insults and profanity simply to have it heard on the radio. During timeouts, while on a commercial break, I would rather forcefully tell the students to “knock it off.” It didn’t take long for the “situation” to escalate as one of the hooligans unplugged my extension cord knocking me off the air. I had to scamper down below the bleachers to plug my cord back in.  As I got back on the air the language started up again.  I tried to keep my composure but I was losing the battle.  I lost my cool when a couple junior high boys knocked my scorebook, statistics and game notes through the bleachers and onto the floor. I lost my cool and whacked one of the culprits in the back with my clipboard. 

At the time I figured the cops would come and take me to jail.  Actually, the teacher who was in charge of crowd control that night had been watching the situation as it progressed. As I remember after the game he told me that he would have done the same thing!”  Had it happened in this era I would have been arrested, charged, and my trial would probably have been seen live on CNN.  How times have changed!

__________________________________________________________________

It was also in Mondovi that what could have been a tragic situation occurred. I can’t remember who the Buffaloes were playing but it was a football game on a night that lightning forced virtually all area games to be suspended. I found out the next day that we were the only game not to be suspended.  The sound of the thunder was scary and the lightning was constant during the first half.

We were nearing halftime when a bolt of lightning seemingly hit the press box. The sound inside our telephone setup was incredibly loud as we were knocked off the air. The light bulbs in the press box turned a weird orange color and my game analyst yelled “Tom, our (audio) mixer is smoking!”   My first though was our broadcast is done for the night. Dave and I were incredibly fortunate.  Since the incident I have had several engineers say that we should have been electrocuted.  I have personally seen two reports of a similar situation in later years that killed two radio announcers.  With the grace of God!

__________________________________________________________________

I’ve had some incredibly talented broadcast partners calling games over the years.  Dave Hoffman tops that list. The son of former Durand School District Superintendent Vaughn Hoffman was my “game analyst” on WRDN for the decade of the 1980s.  My favorite memories was broadcasting those incredible Durand girl’s basketball games in the mid-to-late 1980s. I’ve been fortunate in my broadcast career including several NCAA III National Championship games of the UW-Whitewater football and men’s basketball teams.

The undisputed favorite game broadcast for me was the 1986 WIAA  Class B State Girl’s Basketball game when Durand won it’s first team sports title since 1938.

That was the year that Durand fans started lining up at the DHS front doors at 4 a.m. to purchase tickets to the Panthers’ tournament games.

I was a bit too excited for the team’s tournament weekend in Madison.  I made sure I had my wife and kids in the car unfortunately we got to our hotel in Madison only to realize I had forgotten to put me and my wife’s luggage in the trunk!  Lucky our hotel was located just across East Washington Avenue from East Towne Mall!!

Durand won the state title that weekend on layup at the buzzer by Kim Frederickson to beat Waterford 56-54.

Waterford spent the games final minute holding the ball in advance of taking a final shot with the score tied at 54-all. Durand caught a break when the Wolverines took the "final" shot too soon.

Here is how I called perhaps the most exciting 10 seconds in Durand High School sports  history…

“Ten seconds left, Beth Greil drives, shoots, no good. Fredrickson with the rebound. To Chris Schlosser - (my voice turns to high anticipation) to Kim Frederickson - layup good!  Good!!! Panthers win the state championship!  Do you believe in miracles? Yes!  OH MY!!

Dave Hoffman and I absolutely lose it yelling into our microphones for over a minute in giddy elation while banging our clip boards on the railing in front of us in the first row of the balcony level at the UW Field House.

Sitting next to us watching a pair of "lunatics" celebrate was WKOW TV 27 (Madison) sports director Jay Wilson. I remember he was laughing, shaking his head, and telling us “that’s what it’s all about isn’t it guys?”

__________________________________________________________________

Dave Hoffman and I are calling the Durand at New Richmond girl’s basketball game on WRDN in early 1985. There was a small crowd in the gymnasium that night, More Durand fans than the home standing Tigers.  Durand was beating New Richmond badly and the ‘Tom and Dave” WRDN broadcast team had lost its intensity in the second half. With Durand up by 30 points we started to play “WIAA school nickname” trivia which was likely more of an audience grabber than a game with such a lopsided score.

Our broadcast location was just a couple feet from the court.  My mind was more on trivia than the game as there was an inbound play immediately in front of us. The inbound pass bounced directly off the forehead of New Richmond player just five feet in front of me.  I called the play ending with the phrase “good head” which some may have thought as being “off color.” A time out was immediately called and during the break my wing man, Dave Hoffman, started laughing as he told me what I had said. The officials wondered what was so funny and Hoffman gave them an explanation during the time out. We were all laughing hysterically. Our radio audience never was told the story until now.

__________________________________________________________________

One of my favorite memories of calling games at WRDN was our drive home following a road game. I’ll admit, I had a perhaps over inflated ego when working at my hometown radio station.  We were listening to WRDN one night driving home after calling a game in River Falls.  The guy on the air that night starting ridiculing me repeatedly on the air for the entire time it took us to drive from Ellsworth to the WRDN studios above Gil Weiss Insurance on Main Street, Durand.  The announcer that night had someone joining him on the radio.  One of the exchanges I remember went something lie this: “He thinks he is so good” If he’s so good why is he working here in Durand!” (said sarcastically as they both laughed).  They went on to rip my daily show on the air. “Tom thinks he is working on KDWB (most popular Top-40 station in the Twin Cities). “He calls himself Uncle Tom – what the heck is that? Actually I adapted the “air name” Uncle Tom as a tribute to my own Uncle Tom Pattison who had lost his life to cancer. 

The announcer in question left WRDN about a week later. I'm not sure if the door hit him in the butt as he walked out onto Main Street?!

As I look back at my “on air bashing episode” that night it reminds me of a Donald Trump campaign appearance.  I’m not sure where I was in the “polls” at that point of my professional career

 __________________________________________________________________

Coming up next will be some of my maniac moments calling 28 years of UW-Whitewater football and men's basketball games

Am I scared of my cancer? No. Am I concerned? You damn right I am!

I’ve learned a lot during the 278 days since being diagnosed with inoperable, stage IV colo-rectal cancer.  The cancer has metastasized to my liver and it is incurable.
 I had been aware of my situation for four months. The straight forward prognosis on Wednesday from my oncologist figuratively slapped me in the face hard.
 Am I scared? No.  Am I concerned? You damn right I am!

I tossed and turned in bed Wednesday night/early Thursday morning wondering what one needs to do when his life expectancy timetable is in doubt.

Following over four hours of assessing my future, I concluded that it is imperative that I stay positive, and take life a day at a time - nothing more, nothing less.

In bed Wednesday night, I remembered when my Uncle Tom was diagnosed with pancreatc cancer three decades ago. I remember my dad telling us kids were told not to talk about it. I remember wondering why?  I guess for those of that era contracting cancer was expected be kept “in family.” 

 I know that dealing with my cancer has been difficult for my kids - Aimee and Kim.  I’ll be honest, I wish I would get more phone calls from the kids. It’s hard to explain, but being able to talk on the phone with the girls makes me feel safe in a time when I’m feeling very vulnerable. It’s almost like the feeling I got growing up and talking to my parents when I was in need of comfort. Those are feelings that I’ll never forget.

I must try to find a new openess with loved ones. Share my thoughts and feelings with them. Cancer affects all relationships. Communication can help reduce the anxiety and fear that cancer can cause.

I have come to the conclusion that I must lay-down some ground rules for myself as I battle the “big-C."  Instead of moping around home, I need to get out and participate in enjoyable activities. Recent data suggest that people who maintain some physical exercise during treatment not only cope better but may also live longer.
 
Being active will improve my energy level. I must have a healthy diet and get adequate rest in order to help myself manage the stress and fatigue caused by my cancer and its treatment.

I’ve decided to keep a journal to help organize my thoughts. When faced with a difficult decision, Ibcan list the pros and cons for each choice as a means of making a proper decision.

I need to become more involved with Gida’s Club in Madison. I admit that being involved in its support groups could be beneficial for me.

I still feel the need to continue to make visits to the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison and visit with sick kids and their families.  I cannot fully convey how putting a smile on someone’s face motivates me.

I’ve definitely had good days and some very difficult days over the past 42+ weeks.  During this time period, my No. 1 goal has been to talk positive about my situation. I have done my best to chronicle my days battling cancer. Hopefully I have helped my CaringBridge Journal readers to be positive in regards to their own situation. 

 A day at a time!

Chapter 3: Durand - The Early Years

I grew up in the small west-central Wisconsin city of Durand. It was a farm oriented town with population of just under 2000. 

It doesn’t take long to understand that Durand centered around the farming industry when the No. 1 surname is Bauer. The name Bauer means “farmer” in German. I remember counting the number of Bauer families in the Durand phone book back when I was in high school in the late 1960’s.  164 “Bauers” were listed in the phone book in 1968! Add to that, many of the Bauer’s grew up and large families (5 kids or more) and went on to raise large families.

I went to school through my first six grades at Sacred Heart School located 5 miles east of Durand at a wide spot on County Highway V in the Town of Lima. The Catholic school at the time was grades 1 through 12 with almost two-thirds of students sporting the Bauer surname.  

If you were a “Bauer” or “Brunner” you were officially known by your first, middle, and last name going to school at Lima. I still see, for instance, Mike Brunner on the street.  My mind automatically registers him as Michael J. Brunner. Weird huh?

My sister Sue was eight years ahead of me in school. She graduated from Sacred Heart in 1960. Sue wanted to be a “cowgirl” in grade school but turned her attention to music and band when she entered high school.

Mom and Dad elected to send my sister to Lima instead of Durand because of its renowned music program.

Sacred Heart High School - Lima had an incredible band for a school of less than 100. Robert Bauer was the band director from 1953 to 1961. Susie played flute and piccolo and was greatly inspired by Mr. Bauer. Early in high school my sister decided she wanted to major in music in college. In her junior and senior years she drove to Minneapolis weekly to take advanced lessons.

Sue chose Indiana University to attend college due to its nationally recognized music program. She transferred to the University of Minnesota after her freshman year. 

It was in 1961 that my sister, and three other coeds became the first females to be allowed to be members of the Minnesota Golden Gopher Marching Band. Even though I was only in fourth grade, I remember how cool it was to be able to go to every Gopher home football game at Memorial Stadium that year.

I naturally started my elementary school at Lima as Susie was just a junior when I entered 1^st grade.

Lima’s student enrollment was dominated with kids growing up in farm families. My father was a highly respected asphalt salesman with his territory covering two-thirds of Wisconsin. He made a very good income.

As non-parish members of Holy Rosary Catholic Church – Lima, tuition was required for us Pattison kids to attend school at Lima. Dad not only wrote the tuition check but each year but would purchase new tires for the school’s busses, plus picked up maintenance costs for the busses throughout the year.

In 1960, he and my mom made the decision to build a new house that they exclusively designed. What was intended to be a 2,000 square foot ranch style dwelling ended up as a 5,500 square foot brick home across Highway 10 from the Woods Corner one room school two miles east of Durand.

In those early days we would have people walk into our house thinking they were at Club 10 which was another mile up the highway.

Their was also the rumor that we had a bowling alley in our basement and were taking business away from both Club 10 and the two bowling lanes at Sacred Heart High School

Coming up tomorrow my grade school years at Lima before being asked to leave do to 50+ student classes sizes that the nuns revolted against

Looking back, what I remember most from my six years of elementary school education at Lima was the huge class sizes. Like 50 to 60 students strong in Sister Charity’s 1st grade and Sister Lucentia’s 2nd grade classrooms.

This is really weird, but I remember doing a poor job as a “bluebird” in one afternoon’s reading group. The “bluebird” level meant I was “middle of the pack” in reading skill.

I got flustered after mispronouncing several words and expressed that frustration outwardly. Sister Charity was not amused. She made me sit under her big wooden desk for the remainder of the afternoon. That was after having to write on the blackboard 50 times I will not get mad!

Every school day at Lima began with all students attending mass. One morning in 2^nd grade I remember I got the sniffles - a runny nose.  I didn’t have a Kleenex or hanky and was probably wiping my nose on my shirt sleeve. Sister Lucentia tells me to go over to our classroom and get something to wipe my nose with.  The only thing I could find was an old, dirty rag that was used everyday to clean off the chalkboard.  I remember the elderly nun as I got back to my pew whispering, “Now Thomas, don’t you feel better now?”

Those big classes were not an easy situation for either us students or nuns. By the 6^th grade, the nuns and parents of of many of their own parish’s (Lima) students told Father Wolf that something had to change.

Shortly following my 6^th grade, tuition paying parents were informed to either join the parish or find another school to attend. Those students came primarily from the Durand, Rock Falls, Eau Galle, Arkansaw, Nelson and Pepin areas.

Me and my brother were immediately enrolled in our home parish school, Assumption Catholic School (St. Mary’s) in Durand.

Despite being asked to leave Lima my father continued to make a significant donation to the school each year

My dad raised 2000 roasting chickens each year. He would give 6 to 7 pound chickens as gifts to business associates around the state.

Each Christmas Eve day I would help him fill gunny sacks with frozen chickens. We would deliver them to the priests and nuns at both Lima and St. Mary’s. John Henry never made a “big thing” out of his benevolent deed. To this day those Christmas Eve days with dad remind me of what Christmas should represent.

Chapter 4: Reminiscing back to those memorable high school days

As I deal with my inoperable and incurable stage IV colorectal cancer with liver metastases, addressing the emotional stress at times can extremely debilitating. 

I’m in my 497^th day since being diagnosed, with the vast majority of those days have been a challenge for me both mentally and emotionally. 

It has been a constant challenge to get myself in a proper frame of mind to deal with the stress of battling soon to be terminal cancer. 

I’m coming off a “marathon day” that included 5 ½ hours of magnesium infusion followed by three hours of tests, X-Rays, and consultation with my ophthalmologist in regards to my recently diagnosed age-related Macular Degeneration. The affliction will likely cause me to lose my vision within three to five years.

I was really feeling stressed out and my mind flashed back to a time that contains incredible memories for me.  I caught myself smiling several times as I flashed back to those school days at Durand High School in the mid to late 1960s.

I wasn’t a “jock,” or one of the “beautiful people” when in high school. In my mind I was simply a shy, friendly guy.

 Many of my friends were the kids I went to grade school with at Lima (till the 7^th grade). The Lima kids were forced to transfer to Durand in my sophomore year as the result of Lima High School closing. 

Terry Bauer, Galen Koller, Duane Poeschel and Herb Nelson were my closest friends at DHS.  I always felt more comfortable with the “Lima” kids than those “big city” Durand kids.  When Lima forced non-parish kids out of Lima grade school and high school following the 1963 school year I was enrolled in 7^th grade at St. Mary’s in Durand.  I still remember being nicknamed and rudely kidded about being one of those farmer – Lima kids.  I still carry emotional scars from those years.

I remember there were several outstanding athletes from Lima that could have been “stars” at Durand High School but the city kids didn’t want to “give up the lime light.”  I thought that at the time – and still think that “sucked.”

One of my fondest memories was having Sunday afternoon softball games at John H. Pattison’s ball field. It was us Lima Kids vs. a team from the Eau Galle area.  I not only played second base for the Lima team but also was the “head of maintenance for the Pattison ball diamond.  I mowed the grass including twice on game days. I lined the field with the same lime that farmers spread on their fields.  I put posters up on the telephone poles and trees near our place.  Dad often scolded me for hammering nails in his majestic elm trees. I always fantasized that our press box was on the roof of our adjacent barn.

I don’t even remember who won or lost.  I just recollect fondly the memories of being part of something special with my friends and classmates.

I flashed back to memories I had of my senior year in high school.  I had to make a decision on where I was going to go to college. My ACT score was a surprisingly good 27.  While my parents hoped I would choose the University of Wisconsin where they both graduated from, I was intimidated by the sprawling campus in the big city.  I wanted to attend UW-Eau Claire. I expected to be admitted and was.     I wish I would have taken my college years more seriously.  One of my great regrets is how much I let my parents down.  I’ve always hoped that my parents understood how motivated I was entering Brown Institute of Broadcasting. I owe any success I had to them.

Some of the flashbacks that I have from my senior year (1968-69) at Durand High School?  The incredible football team that was unbeaten and ranked the No. 1 team in the “small school” rankings. The Panthers continued one of the longest win streaks in state football history.  It led to the Associated Press to actually rank Durand in the “large school” rankings where they finished the season ranked No. 5 in the AP Poll.  The boy’s basketball team qualified for the WIAA State Basketball Tournament for the first time since 1937. 

Our band and student body was housed at the Dane County fairgrounds adjacent to the (still standing) Dane County Coliseum.  One of my best memories was of a front page photo of me and Nancy Langlois in the Milwaukee Journal. We had sad looks on our faces during the Panthers 1^st day loss to Kimberly. The look on my face had little to do with my sadness over Durand’s loss. I was actually looking at someone in the Panther band in the East stands of the UW Fieldhouse!  Dad bought 20 copies of the paper to hand out to his Durand Café breakfast buddies.

I actually had some confidence in my senior year at DHS. I was just beginning to gain confidence in talking to girls.  One of my best friends in my senior year was actually a girl. Not boy friend,  girl friend. We were just friends. I still remember one morning in Dawn Gansluckner’s English class we were all goofing around as class started.  Mike Krisik yells over to me, “Hey Denver, who was that girl you were hanging around with after school last night?”  The whole class busted out laughing!  My faced turned red like a tomato and I never did answer!  While embarrassed I remember thinking to myself the 1969 version of “who’s the man, I’m the man!” Pretty pathetic huh?

My good friend Terry Bauer hosted an AFS student in our senior year. George Misa was from the Philippines. Nice guy but very quiet.  The spring of our senior year my mom and dad hosted an AFS party at our big brick home “out on Hwy 10.  We must have had 10 or 12 AFS students from schools in the Eau Claire area at the party that night. The party was downstairs where my dad’s bar was located.  I didn’t realize it at the time but several students, both girls and boys, thought the bar was  “self serve!”  I remember thinking these AFS students are sure having a good time.  The party abruptly ended when it was discovered that a boy and a girl had founf their way to a bedroom in the apartment in another section of th basement. Oops.

Even though it was in my basement, I can’t remember if I was disciplined for the incident.

Nowadays it might have sparked an international incident.  Perhaps the AFS party “incident” could be described by the Russian term Détente (French pronunciation: ​[detɑ̃t], meaning "relaxation" - the easing of strained relations.

As I was waiting for nearly 90 minutes to see my ophthalmologist, I started thinking back to my classmates at DHS. Most are now retired, a number have passed away, and I realized that I know little about what ever happened to the vast majority of my former classmates. I know many went on to successful careers. I wish there would be a way of obtaining that information.

I wonder if many of my former classmates are familiar with my accomplishments in life?

CHAPTER 1 Hello my name is Tom and I’m battling inoperable and incurable cancer

Hello everybody, my name is Tom Pattison, I’m 64 years old, and currently waging the battle of my life as I suffer from inoperable and incurable stage IV colorectal cancer with liver metastases.

I grew up in the small west-central Wisconsin farming community of Durand. During my high school years (1965 to 1969). I was a passionate sports participant and fan.

By my junior year at Durand High School I had fallen in love with radio.  Scott Victor Christenson (WEAQ-Eau Claire), Larry Lujack and John “Records” Landecker (WLS-Chicago), Charlie Boon and Roger Erickson (WCCO-Minneapolis) and “True” Don Bleu and Rob Sherwood (KDWB-St. Paul) were my heroes. I wanted desperately to be like them.

I wanted not only to be a “Top-40” disc jockey, but I wanted to broadcast football, basketball, or baseball games on the radio. I guess at the time I thought girls would think that me on the radio would be cool!”

Prior into falling into poor health in 2006, my career revolved around radio broadcasting, both as a disc jockey and sports announcer. I had several radio jobs around the country highlighted by 18 years at WFAW, KOOL 106.5 and a LITE 107.3 WSJY in Fort Atkinson/Whitewater, Wisconsin.  I was hired on June 11, 1988 at WFAW to be the “Radio Voice” of UW-Whitewater football and basketball along with other duties.

Most of you are probably thinking “what’s the big deal - its just small town radio.  Remember, I grew up in little Durand and to me, broadcasting UW-Whitewater football and basketball games WAS big time to me. I still think that way.

I also spent seven years covering the Green Bay Packers as writer, producer and "Voice" of the Goetz Radio Network's Titletown Report. 

On the morning of October 19, 2006 my life took an unexpected and abrupt change. 

I was sitting in UW-Whitewater football coach Bob Berezowitz’s office chatting with my good friend when I suffered a stroke.  It is now nine years later and I still suffer from debilitating effects from the stroke.

The extensive physical rehabilitation following my stroke was fueled by my many of hours watching the Warhawk football team up close on a daily basis.  I saw a team motivated on one common goal, to work hard every day in search of winning the game.  

That stroke was just the start of a series of major medical setbacks for me. I continue to draw inspiration from the work I’ve seen from UW-Whitewater football players battle through injury.

On July 2, 2012 I underwent colon cancer surgery. I had dropped over 70 pounds over six months leading up to the surgery. I suffered complications during the five hour surgery and was listed in critical condition for the 36 hours following my operation.  The surgery also included a colostomy.

The surgical procedure brought one end of the large intestine out through my abdominal wall. During this procedure, one end of the colon is diverted through an incision in the abdominal wall to create a stoma. A stoma is the opening in the skin where a pouch for collection of my body’s waste.

My 2012/2013 stage III colorectal cancer resulted in radiation and chemotherapy over a 13 month period.  

On September 14, 2013 I was told my cancer had fallen into remission.

To my utter shock, my cancer returned.

I was diagnosed on August 10, 2014 with stage IV colorectal cancer with liver metastases. The diagnosis occurred as the result of a routine blood test and follow-up CF-Scan just one year after having my previous cancer determined to have fallen into remission.

My current cancer is categorized as “inoperable and incurable.”  It is a term that has “haunted” me during the duration of this latest bout.

A life expectancy chart from the Cancer Treatment Centers of America illustrates the situation I’m in.  

Statistically I face an uphill battle. According to the chart, my life expectancy is 39% two years after being diagnosed. 21% three years after diagnosis. 11% after four years and just 7% at five years.

I’m not afraid of dying. I might be down but not out. I remain optimistic despite my uncertain future.  

I want to make a difference as I go through this latest medical dilemma. This book is intended to convey my thoughts and stories of my journey along my winding road.
It is very scary dealing with the cancer, especially for a second time.  I’m hoping that this book might allow others to better understand the ups and downs dealing with this despicable disease.

The following is an excerpt from my June 14, 2015 Caringbridge Journal post:

I’m the first to admit that too many of my CaringBridge Journal articles I talk about my daily struggles as I battle stage IV colorectal cancer with liver metastases . While wanting to portray a positive attitude I have talked way too often about worrying. Heck, I worry about worrying if that makes any sense!  I hit the “emotional wall” the other night and it scared me.   

After admonishing myself for being “Dudley Downer,” I entered yesterday with a renewed effort to approach each day with a positive attitude. 

I actually spent a couple hours on my hands and knees scrubbing my kitchen and bathroom floors and do some late spring cleaning.  I was surprised to come away with a sense of accomplishment.

One of my favorite sayings is ‘I just want to be able to make a difference.”  I must find something to be able to grasp onto. I need something to motivate me - to inspire me.
Hopefully by writing this book I can make a difference. 

A day at a time