by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
Glen Fisher came to town in 1968 to be a sportscaster. He — and this isn’t hyperbole — did it all. No other person has been an on-air personality at stations here with the major network affiliations.
Today, CBS (Ch. 4,) NBC (Ch. 12) and ABC (then Ch. 17) are way in his past. “I did that for 25 years,” he says. “It was time to do something different.”
Fisher was once one of the city’s most recognizable faces. Today, you won’t see much of him as he works in an office deep in Alltel Stadium as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ main salesmen for the 90 suites and over 10,000 club seats.
“This is a great place,” he said, sitting behind his cluttered desk. “After being in sports all my life, this was a natural move. I loved television, but it was tough. If I’m late to a meeting here by a minute, no one fusses. If I was a minute late for my TV time, it was the end of the world.
“And, I haven’t worked past midnight since I came to the team. There were lots of those times in TV.”
Even in a business where people move frequently, only Fisher has been on-air at what once was the Big Three. The only other person believed to have worked for all three is Mike Lyons, who went from Ch. 17 sports to the news desk at Ch. 4 and last year completed the trifecta by joining the Ch. 12/25 news desk.
On his desks are drawings of the Alltel Stadium expansion. More suites, more club seats, including 750 seats that are somewhat between the two: they’ll be in a suite-like setting, but will be sold individually. They’ll be on line by 2005 as part of the city’s commitment to the Super Bowl.
“There will be a new press box above the North end zone,” said Fisher, “and the present press box will be converted to suite seating. All of that will have to be sold.”
Fisher came here out of broadcasting school as the third man on a three-man sports staff at Ch. 12. The late Walt Dunbar was the main man, Matt Cooney was the second banana.
In 1972, he got the chance to be No. 1: Ch. 17, then the ABC affiliate (it’s now with Ch. 25 and folded into what’s called “First Coast News,”) hired him to be its sports director. One problem: he was it. “One-man staff,” he said. He moonlighted by being the color man on Jacksonville Bulls football broadcasts and he also had the first radio sports talk show here.
He stayed at Ch. 17 for three years, then became sports director at a station in Tulsa. In 1977, the call came from Jacksonville — this time, it was Ch. 4, and he came back as the sports anchor: Bill Grove was the main man at 6, a young Tom Wills got air time as the 11 p.m. anchor. And, of course, George Winterling was the weatherman.
There was one more move, back to Ch. 17 in 1980 as the anchor, this time with a staff to help.
He stayed there until 1993 when ABC switched its affiliation to another channel and the station’s ownership decided to go it alone. They dumped their newscasts and the on-air talent wasn’t needed. When contracts came up for renewal, they weren’t renewed.
“It was time to get out,” said Fisher. “The last three years, I had been out of sports — I was the main news anchor — and it had lost its appeal.”
He was interested in opening a sports bar and decided to learn the restaurant business the hard way.
“I went to Campeche Bay and got a job there,“ he said. “I learned a lot, but I also learned that it wasn’t a business I wanted to be in.”
He got a phone call from a pal, Jim King, best known as a politician these days but better known then as operating one of the city’s biggest employment agencies.
“Call the Jags,” King told Fisher. “They need a guy like you.”
The job was selling suites and club seats.
“They told me it would be temporary full-time,” recalls Fisher, 58 and looking no older than he did at 38 . . . or maybe even younger. “They figured we’d sell out, and that everything would be on a seven-year contract, so the job would disappear.”
That didn’t happen. It has become a yearly battle to get club seats and suites renewed, and the additions to the stadium have to be sold, too.
He’s now added “Director of Special Projects” to his resume and the first project is the team’s new “12th Man” program, a fan outreach. It’s a new area for the Jags and Fisher will take one project at a time.
The first is a fan-friendly effort, with season ticket holders getting a membership card and area merchants given the chance to reach that highly-prized list of people. A merchant wanting to join the program pays a fee and must offer a reasonable discount.
“There will be one merchant per category, too, so there’s exclusivity,” said Fisher. “One car dealer, one restaurant, one dry cleaner and so on. But we have to offer value. We can’t allow a $10 off on a new car.”
Fisher was widowed in 1986 and has remarried. His children from his first marriage are successful: daughter Stacy juggled a career in state government with a family in Tallahassee, son Michael is a soundman with the Ringling Brothers circus. He lives in Atlantic Beach and says that life is a lot quieter these days.
“These are exciting times for the team,” he said, “but it’s nice to have a ‘real’ job. I haven’t seen midnight in quite a while.”