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of A Colleague: Dick Schaap  |
Schaap collected people
--and they loved him dearly
By MAURY ALLEN
of TheColumnists.com
About the only important person who wasn’t there was Dick Schaap.
His spirit filled the huge
auditorium of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in the upper
west side of Manhattan at the Thursday, January 17, memorial
service, his television commentaries entertained the crowd, his
writings were quoted carefully and his pals were everywhere.
Billy Crystal was the master of ceremonies at the event which
filled the historic old church with about 2,000 people, the way
the loss of Arthur Ashe once did.
Jerry Kramer talked of the wonderful book, “Instant Replay,”
he did with Schaap. And David Halberstam, Jimmy Breslin, Martina
Navratilova, Gordon Parks, Willie Davis, Robin Roberts and Mitch
Albom recalled beautiful memories about the writer and broadcaster
who died December 21 at age 67.
Schaap had helped raise millions for area charities, especially
for the handicapped and the homeless, as he served as master
of ceremonies for dozens and dozens of charity golf and tennis
tournaments over the last 17 years.
These events, where the rich and not famous, can play tennis
or golf with the rich and famous, especially athletes, have become
national staples. For $500 or a thousand bucks, you can get in
a foursome with about any retired jock or break bread with them
after the day’s play.
Schaap spent a good part of his time in between his books, television
work and speaking engagements, serving as MC at these events
with laughter and stories.
“Often I am asked
what my favorite sport is,” Schaap wrote in his recent autobiography,
“and I always say ‘people.’ I collect people.”
Muhammad Ali was one of the people Schaap collected and on Ali’s
60th birthday Thursday, he sent along a note read by Crystal.
“He’s in L.A.,” explained Crystal about Ali’s
absence. “It’s a little difficult to fly across the
country now if your name is Muhammad.”
After the crowd laughed, Crystal said, “This is the first
time I ever got laughs in a church.”
Crystal, who did as good a job at the Schaap memorial as he often
does at the Academy Award evening, said, “It is only fitting
I start out by dropping a name. I’m a friend of Dick Schaap’s.”
Crystal explained Schaap’s ubiquitous career, which began
in Long Island at the age of 15. Crystal said Schaap seemed to
be everywhere in the sports scene over half a century.
“He told me he was there when five white guys were on the
floor for the Bulls and he was there when the Dallas Cowboys
passed a drug test and he was there at his favorite restaurant
every night anybody needed a seat,” Crystal said.
Kramer told a story of inviting Schaap to visit him at his Idaho
ranch and looking at the open land and the beautiful sky and
the magnificent scenery.
“Then I came to see him in Manhattan’’ said the
great star of the Green Bay Packers, “and we walked out
of his apartment onto that concrete, the dirty air and the tremendous
noise. Dick turned to me and said, ‘This is God’s country.’”
Halberstam told of competing against Schaap as a college newspaperman
at Harvard while Schaap wrote for his school paper at Cornell.
Breslin recalled the early 1980s when Schaap was his editor at
Newsday and suggested Breslin do a series of columns about people
afflicted with the then-little known disease called AIDS. The
series ended up winning a Pulitzer prize for Breslin, who admitted
he'd never called Schaap to thank him.
“Schaap had told me about these people with AIDS never being
written about except as statistics. I did it and they brought
me to Columbia to receive that prize, that Pulitzer,” Breslin
said. "It was typical of me not to thank him."
Gordon Parks read a poem he wrote when he heard of Schaap’s
death and television sportscaster Robin Roberts described how
Schaap helped her in her earliest days.
“We used to talk about what we would say on the show and
then later on I would just call him and ask him what he did all
week. His stories were fascinating,” she said.
Tennis great Martina Navratilova spoke of how Schaap gave equal
time and attention in his career to the performances of female
athletes.
“I thank you, Dick,’ she said, “for leaving this
world a better place.”
Singer Patti Lupone sang a wonderful version of “Take Me
Out to The Ball Game,” and left the crowd in tears as she
delivered a sweet rendition of “My Buddy.”
Schaap was absent and gone now and Crystal reminded the audience
of one of his favorite lines when he would end a phone conversation.
“Dick would always say, ‘Be good.’ I want to end
this by saying to all from us and the Schaap family, be good,”
Crystal said.
© 2002 by Maury Allen.
The Maury Allen caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel.
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