Simpson inducted into Hall

BY RONNIE GALLAGHER
SALISBURY POST

So obviously, the first question to ask the former play-by play man, who was being inducted into the NSSA Hall of Fame, was, Do you miss sitting behind the microphone?

If I can give myself a compliment,” Simpson said, “it’s that I left broadcasting without whining, and without getting upset. I’m very happy with what I’ve done. I’m very happy with where I am.”

Simpson refers to the classic movie, On the Waterfront, when an aging fighter is whining that he’s past his prime. A young guy says, “Harry, at least, you had a prime.”

“I had a prime,” Simpson said. “I enjoyed my prime. I’m proud of my prime.”

Boy, did he ever have a prime.

He may have been best known for his work on the AFL and AFC games on NBC. He and Curt Gowdy were arguably the two most familiar faces on sports TV from the 60’s through the 70’s.

“Curt and I worked at NBC for 15 years and we only saw each other in meetings,” chuckled Simpson. “He did one game and I did another. I remember myself going to Buffalo for a game and Curt going to San Diego. The next week, I went to San Diego and Curt went to Buffalo. We were like, ‘Just keep us in the same place.’”

This is not Simpson’s first time in Salisbury. He was a state winner from Maryland back in 1959 through 1961. There was no Hall of Fame then. But North Carolina did have basketball and he called the very first Atlantic Coast Conference basketball game.

NBC had a college football game of the week but would leave four or five days vacant so regional events could be broadcast. C.D. Chesley started doing ACC and then ACC commissioner Jim Weaver made a deal for hoops.

“Those were the great days, let’s face it,” Simpson said. “Frank McGuire, Press Maravich, Everett Case, Bud Milligan — we had a great time. It only took a half-season to make an impact in this area.”

A greatest game? After all of the Super Bowls, Olympics, all-star games and grand slam golf, Simpson said, “I can’t pick just one. I just can’t say because there were so many good ones. I’ve had so many thrills.”

Simpson is a veteran of NBC, ABC, TNT and joined ESPN when it first started. It was a long way from when he practiced as a youngster with a tin can on a stick.

“Back then, I’d read the newspaper and practice,” he said. “Or I’d listen and watch the radio. If you didn’t watch the radio and listen, you wouldn’t know what’s going on.”

Today, , he lives in St. Croix, Virgin Islands and spends most of his time bragging on 14 grandchildren. But when he thinks about his career, he always has fond memories of his first trip to Salisbury.

“I had never heard of Salisbury, North Carolina,” Simpson said, who was working in Salisbury, Md. “I got into Charlotte and rode up with Ray Scott, the voice of the Green Bay Packers. He was a big deal. I thought, ‘Man, I’m in the big time.’

“This had an impact on us. Chris Schenkel, Red Smith, Lindsay Nelson — you name ‘em, we were here. So from the beginning, I always thought Salisbury was THE spot.”

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Changes in sports from 40 years ago?

“I look around at different ballparks and I haven’t been in some of them,” he smiled. “Used to be, no matter where they were, I had been there.”

Now, his image will be in Salisbury forever. He stood there looking at his plaque.

“I wasn’t expecting this,” he said. “I just wanted to be a broadcaster, regardless of where it took me. Whether it was Hagerstown or Salisbury Maryland, I’d have been happy. I was just very lucky.”