A Hall of Fame for local sportswriters and sportscasters is being proposed by Ch. 4 sports director Sam Kouvaris.
“There is a group which has contributed to sports here which doesn’t get recognized,” he said. “They need to be honored.”
He hopes to put plaques in the press box corridor at Alltel Stadium. “I know that isn’t a place for the public, but that’s OK,” he said. “We get enough recognition simply because of the business we’re in.”
The corridor runs along the back of the press box and extends from the edge of the stadium past midfield. Only a few pay phones are on it now.
Kouvaris mentioned the project to Mayor John Peyton and got a positive response. “He [the mayor] told me, ‘That’s the first easy thing I’ve been asked to do,’” said Kouvaris.
He’s not sure of the election system but says that won’t be difficult. He wants someone from the mayor’s office and representatives of the print and electronic media to decide the initial group. Other names would be added when people retire.
Kouvaris, who came here in the 1980s, admits his knowledge of sportswriter and broadcasting here doesn’t extend earlier than that.
But he ticked off a number of names of potential candidates: Dick Stratton, Ch. 4’s first sports director; Walt Dunbar, who held the same position at Ch. 12; Jay Solomon, the Jacksonville U. broadcaster who had a radio talk show; and newspaper sports editors Bill Kastelz, Rex Edmondson and Jack Hairston.
“When these people were active, they were really influential because they worked before the information age exploded,” he said. “If you wanted to know about sports, you didn’t have any other sources like we have today.”
“We’d have to get names from someone with more historical knowledge,” added Kouvaris, who is unfamiliar with former T-U sports editors such as Sam Butz and Arnold Finnefrock, as well as numerous announcers for Jacksonville minor league baseball teams who had an impact.
Kouvaris says he’s still working on a plan to present to Peyton.
“I doubt the funding will be difficult,” he said. “It won’t cost that much to make plaques.”
• Best wishes to Hallie Stiglitz of the Jags corporate sponsorship office. Sunday’s game was her last: she’s moving to New York City.
• The Jags offered some Southern hospitality to the Buffalo media. The press box buffet included Buffalo wings.
• A large group of Bills fans near the South end zone paid tribute to their Florida vacation by tossing about two dozen beach balls into the crowd following the Bills first touchdown.
• Lots of new things in Alltel Stadium, including a new paint job on the walls ringing the field. Last year’s jungle scene has been repainted with solid teal and black colors.
• How do visiting teams from cooler climates prepare for the Florida heat? According to Jags broadcaster Jeff Lageman, who spent a number of years with the New York Jets, players are told to start hydrating the Wednesday before the game. Lageman said when he was with the Jets and preparing to come south, the trainer gave him a case of Gatorade on Wednesday and told him to start drinking.
• Water taxi fares are the same as last year; $4, $3 for children and seniors.
— by Jeff Brooks, Bradley Parsons and Fred Seely