When Art Kimball entered DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. in1951, he envisioned becoming the next Bill Dickey. For those whosebaseball history in limited to the last 10 years, Dickey was the NewYork Yankees' great catcher.
But, Kimball lost to Spanish in the DePauw classrooms; becameacademically ineligible; and a radio and television broadcastingcareer was launched at the campus station.
Kimball, who could not sneak up on anyone because even hiswhispers resemble a sonic boom, is marking his 50th year inbroadcasting, if you give him credit for two years in the service.
'My problem has always been that I like sports better than radio,'said Kimball, who was WJBC's sports voice from 1974-81 and is nowdoing part-time work for the radio station.
Kimball has been around the block a few times, but his gratis workwith the Illinois Wesleyan student station is significant because heis at an age when he could be drinking coffee and swapping falsehoodswith the other Social Security recipients at Denny's Doughnuts.
'The kids are great to work with,' lauded Kimball. 'Theirenthusiasm is so far removed from the real world. We have had justone glitch in the years I have worked with them and that was becausethe station student manager overslept and nobody knew how to get thegame on the air.
'But, he arrived at the last second and we got on the air. Insteadof having excuses, the young man apologized profusely and not manyprofessionals will even do that.'
Kimball will do several Illinois Wesleyan football and basketballgames for WJBC, but the majority will be for the campus station.
'Between the two stations, we will have all IWU basketball andfootball games on the air this school year,' added Kimball.
'Basically, I like to get paid for what I am doing and I hope thisgratis business does not last forever but right now this is a hobby.'
Kimball enjoys the student station being 88.1, extreme left on thedial and the fact that the collegians refer to themselves as 'FarLeft Radio.'
'I think that is funny for this conservative community,' explainedKimball.
Born in Peoria, Kimball moved often as a youngster because hisfather was a store chain manager.
He did spend most of his life in Indiana and I can recall Kimballand then assistant Illinois State basketball coach Gene Smithsondebating the merits of Indiana and Illinois high school basketball.
This was in a San Diego restaurant where head coach Will Robinsonignored the heated dialogue as he attempted to obtain the phonenumber of Wilt Chamberlain's girlfriend. Robinson was the only clearwinner.
Following his graduation from DePauw in 1955, Kimball worked forstations in Carmi; Ottawa; Frankfort, Ind.; and LaSalle-Peru beforecoming to WJBC. His Korean tour did not include radio work.
He left WJBC for a Peoria television station in 1981 and thenreturned to town because of a 5 percent ownership in then WMLA.Kimball then decided to get into ownership full time, a move he stillregrets.
Kimball spent five years as owner, operator, and bookkeeper of aMendota radio station. He sold that station to puchase one inShelbyville, Ind. and admits that was not a good investment. Hisownership lasted one year.
'I knew I was in trouble when the two female college graduates onthe staff talked about the Marine Corpse on the air. I called thestation and asked them what Marine died,' recalled Kimball.
'My wife, Mary Lou, thought we should return to Bloomington-Normal and we did so with nothing in mind. So, it was a good thingMary Lou could sell real estate.'
If Kimball were a breakfast cereal, you could call him the varietypack. He did a three times per week sports report for the IllinoisHigh School Association for six years; four years on a weekly reportfor the Gateway Conference; and 10 years broadcasting the high schoolbasketball finals for the IHSA on television.
'You have to have a sense of humor to be in this business,' hesaid. 'The greatest challenge is the phone company and making sureyour line is in.'
Kimball laughingly recalled the young man who sent him a tapewhich went something like this: 'No. 18 passes off to No. 9 and heshoots from the corner and makes it.'
When the youngster phoned Kimball to see if he received the tape,Art asked, 'Do all of your listeners have programs?'
If you cannot listen to Kimball on the air, look up former Town ofNormal councilman Jeff Fritzen, who does a wonderful imitation ofArt, complete with the booming voice.
It is a little better than the one Fritzen does of the retired TomSeaver, hurting his back while on the pitching mound.
Jim Barnhart's column appears each Monday. He can be reached viaemail at brnhrtj@aol.com
