It’s funny
how seeing one small thing triggers a flood of memories.
Here’s what
happened. After a late December 2017 fire (the epicenter of which was our upstairs
master bedroom) riddled through our home in Frenchtown, Montana, I was digging
through the charred remains that fell through the side of the house onto the
snowy ground below. Then I saw it. A small, burned swatch of gold and black
fabric. I immediately identified it. It was all that remained from my favorite
suit coat – a coat that had quite a tale to tell.
I spent the
first ten years of my broadcasting career in Topeka, Kansas. When I arrived at
Newsource 49 fresh out of college, I made very little ($12,500 annual salary)
but we somehow skimped by as a family. In those early days, ABC affiliate
KTKA-TV did not offer clothing allowances to its on-air personnel as larger,
more successful stations did. Fortunately, that changed as we started to gain
ground on the front runners in the ratings race due to a quality staff that broadcast
a quality product, worked hard and had fun doing so.
One day I
walked into a men’s clothing store called the Gentlemen’s Rack to check out
their suits and suit coats. And there it was gleamingly showing off on a hanger
in front of a rack of other coats – a shiny golden sports jacket with a black
plaid pattern. I looped through the store and then asked about the jacket. “Oh,
Mitch Holthus was just in the other day eyeing that same sports coat. He loves
it,” I was told. I’d worked with Mitch a number of years. At the time, he had
recently left a job as play-by-play radio voice at Kansas State University to
become the radio voice of the Kansas City Chiefs. Together, we collaborated to
create a video series titled A Minute
with Mitch, a weekly insider report about all things Chiefs football. We
recorded the segment together on a Monday morning and then I edited in additional
video or graphics and mailed tapes to television stations across Kansas, Missouri
and into Nebraska and Iowa.
When I heard
Mitch was eyeing that sports coat, I knew I had to buy it, which I did. (And
yeah, I rubbed it in the next time I saw him.) That golden coat was the most
hip outfit I owned. Even though I wore it for more than a decade, it still
stood out. I proudly wore it to work on Sunday, February 7, 2010, when the New
Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts to win Super Bowl XLIV. Coupled with
a gold and black tie, and topped off with a New Orleans hat, it was the perfect
ensemble to celebrate the Saints victory on the air.
Of course,
the golden coat also made appearances for scores of not so memory-provoking
occasions including newscasts and other events.
One of the
last times I wore it before it met its fiery end was to a formal dinner with
Lori six months before the house fire while on an Alaskan cruise in 2017. I
honestly don’t remember the last time I attended such a dressy meal and we did
so twice while on board. I guess you could say it served me well.
Yeah, funny
how a small piece of cloth sends your mind down memory lane.
