My Time with the Torch

Ten years ago this week, I, like millions of others around the world, watched the pageantry, excitement and competition of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

But I had a personal attachment to the games that I still proudly display in my basement.  I was an Olympic torchbearer.  At the time, I was a sportscaster for CBS affiliate KREM-TV in Spokane, Washington.  Our television station received a call only days prior to the torch coming to town asking if I we had a representative who wanted to take part.  Somehow, that honor fell to me.

The 1980 "Miracle on Ice" men's hockey team lights the cauldron

 Torch Relay information:

• 11,500 torchbearers
• 65 days (December 4, 2001-February 8, 2002)
• 46 states
• 13,500 miles from source of the Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece
• 50th anniversary of the first Winter Olympic torch relay in the 1952 games in Oslo, Norway

The torch had its on specific design.  The top glass section stood for purity, winter, ice and nature.  The geometric copper feature inside the glass helped hold the flame.  The copper represented fire and warmth.  The center portion of the torch represented the silver mining heritage of the west.  The bottom shiny section represented future and modern technology.

I didn't find out until years later, when the glass portion suffer an unfortunate shattering accident, but I also had a personal connection to the torch itself.  In order to have the glass portion repaired, I sent it to the company that manufactured the torch--Coleman in Wichita, Kansas.  I worked for Coleman two different times in my teens and early twenties.  When I called to seek information for repairs, I talked to someone I actually worked with decades earlier.  Ironic, huh?     

Mark Holyoak:  My Time with the Torch
(originally published 02/1/2002 on KREM.com)

Wow!

Carrying the Olympic torch!

I couldn't believe it when I got the call, and I couldn't believe it as I ran with it.

I arrived at Camp Chevrolet in downtown Spokane, the gathering point for my portion of the course, just before five o'clock Thursday evening.
After a quick live shot for the five o'clock news, I joined the other torchbearers to be briefed on the night ahead.
There were plenty of smiles, hugs and greetings as torchbearers, their friends, and family gathered; all eager to learn all they could about the piece of history they were about to carry.

I arrived at my assigned station, the intersection of Alberta and Upton streets, just before six o'clock.
There were already children, parents, grandparents, banners, posters and American flags on hand.
After getting work responsibilities, two more live shots, "out of the way," we all awaited the arrival of the torch.
Because the Olympic flame arrived some 30 minutes late on a flight from Alaska, it was late by the time it got to us.
But that didn't matter.

Wearing my Olympic torch relay running suit, I can't remember being the focal point of so much attention.

There were pictures, autographs, handshakes, and high-fives from young and old who both did and did not know me.
My wife and four children were there to share the moment, and that meant the world to me.
After being teased by two previous slow-moving vehicles with lights and sirens that passed by, the torch finally approached--some 25 minutes behind schedule.
 But that didn't matter either.

Yes, it was cold.  It was drizzly, but inside I was warm and nervous.

In fact, I couldn't remember the last time I was so nervous.

When the caravan arrived, adrenalin and excitement took over.

I was given the torch with my number, 93, on it.  An Olympic relay official opened a valve so the fuel freely flowed.
I held my torch up to another.
It was finally lit.

I turned and held it with two hands and walked some fifteen yards or so, savoring the moment before beginning to jog.

The two-tenths of a mile or four block run was easy--almost as if I was gliding down the street.

(You get that feeling when you're running downhill, as south-bound Alberta does.)

People cheered, they waved, flash bulbs went off.

I even hard some people call my name.  Thank you friends and KREM 2 viewers!

My support runner was also named Mark.  As he ran next to me, he said something to the effect of "Isn't this something?"

I couldn't disagree.
My legs never tired over the short jaunt, although the three and a half pound torch got a little heavy.

So I changed it from the right to the left hand over the last 100 yards.

All too soon, I reached the next exchange station.  My flame jumped over to the torch belonging to the next relay runner and my time with the flame was done.

The same Olympic official turned off the switch and the fire went out, but that's when the unexpected fun took place.

Because of my television responsibilities, I didn't join the rest of the torchbearers in the bus as the caravan made its way to Veterans Memorial Arena.

Instead, I was surrounded by many on-lookers who said things like, "Look, he's still got a torch!"

I called over everyone I could see, and all within the sound of my voice, so they could put a hand on the torch and take pictures.
What a special experience!

And it was made even more special as I could share it with so many others.
 
It was an honor, a privilege, and something I'll never forget.

As a bonus, I get to keep the shirt, hat, gloves and running suit.

On top of that, all torchbearers had the opportunity to purchase the torch they carried.  And you bet I did that.
Thursday, January 24, 2002--a day, a moment of Olympic history, and an event I will always remember.  (CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW TO SEE A VIDEO OF MY TIME WITH THE TORCH.)

That's a Wrap; So Long KPAX



First to sign & date what is now the KPAX "Wall of Fame"

It is over!  My final day at KPAX was May 23, 2012.  That ended a run of nine years and five months at the CBS affiliate in Missoula, Montana.  It was also the final day of a television career than spanned 23 years and nine months.To be honest, it was a day that turned out to be a little different than I anticipated.  To accept my new position as public relations director at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, I had to submit a 60 day notice at KPAX.  Those two months seemed to pass ever so slowly.  While I loved my time at KPAX, I also welcomed my new endeavour with a sense of excited anticipation.  You know, kind of like when you go to bed on Christmas Eve or when you know you're getting up early the next morning to go hunting.  So I entered the day with a "Let's get this done and move on" attitude.  It didn't quite turn out that way.

"Missoula Valley" by Monte Dolack

The TV station had a "going away" pizza party in the afternoon.  My wife and I wrote permission slips for our kids to leave Sentinel High School early so they could be there with us.  Almost everyone who worked at KPAX stopped in to enjoy some pizza and cake.  Bob Hermes, the general manager, took a moment to say some nice things to thank me for my time at the station.  My former co-anchor, Jill Valley, then presented my wife with a beautiful painting by Monte Dolack of the Missoula Valley.  They said I could either hang it in my new office or find a spot at home.  (When I got home that night, Lori already had it hung it up.)  Then I was asked to say a few words and I felt a lump in my throat as the realization finally started to sink in that I truly was leaving this fine group of people.

 

Jill & I.  Kicking butt & dominating the Missoula TV ratings for 9+ years.

As the day continued, I received phone calls and emails from friends wishing me good luck and congratulations on my final day on the job.  Numerous KPAX employees also stopped by my desk and said nice things as they wished me well.  When I arrived earlier in the day, Jill had left a bag of Doritos for me on my desk.  There were also several cards from KPAX folks that were quite touching.  The newsroom also presented me with a framed photo of the news team and Jill gave me a framed photo of the two of us taken during a University of Montana Homecoming parade. 

As I prepared myself, read over my scripts and went on set for my final 5:30 newscast, I was actually kind of nervous--something that rarely happens.  Before every break in the newscast, the control room showed a different member of the news staff in a recorded tribute.  They were both funny and touching.  Then, at the end of the newscast, they showed video of my farewell party from earlier in the afternoon.  Jill and Erin said a few words before I did the same.  I could see their eyes start to moisten a bit and I felt that lump in my throat return.

I played a softball game with my long-time teammates over my dinner break.  They each brought me a pound of bacon to celebrate the day so I'm set with about ten pounds of bacon for my breakfast future.  (Thanks fellas!)

Mmmm...bacon!

Back at the station, I finished up what had been about a week-long process of converting all of my old 3/4 inch, Beta, and DVC tapes of my television career into 23 DVDs.  The rest of the evening was devoted to cleaning out my desk, my paper files, deleting personal information off my computer, and forwarding contacts and some other digital files to my new email address.  As I would look at the clock, I'd think "Wow, only 90 more minutes to go and that's really it!"

 The late newscast rolled around and my wife and kids returned to the studio.  As Jill and I presented the news, it seemed like any other day until we again came across another set of "farewell Mark" tributes from my co-workers.  That's where the nervous excitement returned. 



Jeans & tennis shoes.  A comfortable anchor is an effective anchor.

Floor Director Wayne, always in control & always entertaining



Final preparations..



...someone is sad.

At the end of the newscast, I had the chance to present some of my favorite stories that I edited together earlier that evening which included the dancing bears, the fox that stole golf balls, my ride with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, the hockey shot of a puck that flew over the glass and landed in a fan's beer, and the famous trampoline bear.  Then my family joined me on set and I said thank you and goodbye to my KPAX family and our loyal viewers.  Again, Jill's and Erin's eyes moistened and I wasn't sure I would make it through the final thirty seconds.  But as happens in all newscasts, we got the "wrap" sign and that was it.  My television career was officially over.

 



My family joined me in the anchor chairs on set for some photos and then they went home. 



Back in the newsroom, I hugged my co-workers goodbye.  One by one they left and I remained alone to do some final video dubs.  It wasn't until about 11:30 p.m. that I finished.  Dubbing--finished!  Desk drawers--cleaned out!  Pictures--removed!  I walked out to my truck with four bags of stuff and drove away with KPAX in my rear view mirror.  That's a wrap folks.  My television career to faded to black.


An altered photo of the KPAX team sent in by a viewer. It still makes me chuckle.

The Beautiful O/Z

There's a little more to starting a new career at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation than most people know.  Sure, I'll no longer work a 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift for the first time since working an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. construction job in my early 20s, but I actually give up two current jobs.  Everyone knows about my broadcast journalism career at KPAX-TV.  However, I also spent the major part of the last eight summers working as a ranch hand at the Lolo Trail Ranch, or as it most people call it the O/Z.

The O/Z is an absolutely beautiful place.  The approximately 4,000 acre, four-mile long cattle ranch sits beneath snow-capped Lolo Peak and includes a long stretch of Lolo Creek, my favorite stretch to fly fish.   (Below is a video I shot on the O/Z during the fall of 2008 as brilliant autumn colors exploded to life.)

I have seen so many different forms of wildlife during my time on the O/Z.  I was once just 15 yards from a cow moose eating green gunk on the bottom of a pond.  I just sat there in my six-wheeler thinking "Hmmm, what would I do if it charged me?"  I was thinking I could out maneuver it for at least a little bit.  Fortunately, it was too busy eating to bother with me, although it did take a gander my way every time it came up with a new mouthful of goodies.

I was also up in the hills above the grazing pasture below one day when an entire herd of elk passed right in front of me a mere ten yards away.  I didn't dare flinch as several of them stopped right in front of me with kind of a perplexed "What in the heck are you?" look on their faces.  I also saw whitetail deer, mule deer, wolf, fox, wild turkey, black bear, golden eagles, bald eagles, all sorts of ground and tree squirrels, and song birds of every kind.  One day, I was driving to the brush burn pile when I saw something large along the dirt road.  I pulled up right next to an osprey.  I rolled down my window and started talking to it.  (Unfortunately, it didn't respond.)  It didn't move at all.  I was actually tempted to lean out my window and try to touch it.  One look at its talons changed that.  After about 45 seconds, it took off and flew away.

Why did I work there you may wonder?  Well, a friend of mine who worked there asked me years ago if I knew any teenager who could help her out.  I asked around without success.  Then she said "Would you want to work here?"  "Sure!"  So that led to a schedule of working at the O/Z two mornings a week from April right up to opening day of hunting season in late October. 

My main responsibility was lawn maintenance.  Translation:  a whole lot of mowing and a whole lot of weed eating.  A typical day of pushing mowing lasted from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.  (Yeah, a great way to stay in shape and get a great tan too.)  And then it took the folks on the riding mowers two full days to do the rest.  But my responsibilities covered much more than that.  I also dug ditches, stained all of the houses and outbuildings, fed the fish in the ponds, hauled furniture, replaced storm windows, worked in the raised garden bed, pruned shrubbery, cut up and hauled tree limbs, used the chain saw to cut wood, and even helped herd the cows now and then.  (By the way, you can eat O/Z beef, when available, at Lolo Creek Steakhouse.)

Oh beautiful O/Z, how I'll miss you.  Good thing I can still fish there anytime I'd like. 

Got Elk?

After almost 24 years in television news, I am leaving the broadcast business to enter the "real world" as public relations director for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.  To most people this is "old news," but many others asked me how this upcoming career/life change came about?


Let me begin with some background.  It was never my intent to spend my entire adult working life in broadcast journalism.  I wanted to enjoy my time in TV, meet new people, gain experience, build up my skill set and find a nice community to raise a family.  Then, at the right time and with the right opportunity, I planned to make a lateral jump in the communications field to utilize my talents and abilities in a new endeavor.  I have had many opportunities over the years to make such a transition.  Among the organizations that interviewed me include the State of Kansas, Brigham Young University, and Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks.  For different reasons, those opportunities either didn't work out for me or the employer.

Fast forward to February of this year.  I was flipping through the newspaper when a small help wanted ad seemed to jump out at me.  It included the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation logo that you see on my name tag above, and advertised for a new public relations director position.  Professionally, having worked in Missoula the past nine and a half years, I reported on a variety of stories involving RMEF (four of which are included).  I interviewed several of the organization's higher ranking officials.  I was always impressed with their degree of professionalism and passion.  I also watched years ago as RMEF moved from an older, cramped warehouse to its new, spacious home bordering on Grant Creek. 

Personally, I love the great outdoors and try to spend as much time in it as I can.  I love to fish, hike, hunt, pick huckleberries, play in the rivers and streams and camp.  I always try to keep an eye out for wildlife of all shapes and sizes.  RMEF is an organization that values the outdoors and works "to ensure the future of elk, other wildlife, and their habitat."  To me, those are worthy goals to try to attain in this day and age of increasing human expansion. 

After applying, time continued to pass and I didn't hear anything.  I finally received an email that offered me a chance to interview.  I was excited and grateful for the opportunity.  I sat around the table with three high ranking members of the organization, and CEO David Allen was on speaker phone. 

They each took turns asking me various questions about my background, my perceptions, my skills and responsibilities, what changes I would make, and my thoughts on the term "conservation hunter."  I gave each of them a copy of my resume and copies of two recent blogs, "Why I Hunt" and "Access Denied," hoping that would offer them a more personal look into why I believe some of the things I do.  It was a good 90 minute or so process. An hour later, I met up with two of the same interviewers for lunch.  Again, we had a good chat about the same kinds of things.  We also shared hunting and fishing stories.   I thanked them for their time and they told me it would be another week and a half before they made a decision.

A day and a half later, my phone rang at work.  It was Steve Decker, the man who will become my new boss.  He said "Mark, I want you to know this is a good call."  We talked and he eventually made an offer.  I went home that night after the late newscast and discussed it with my wife and children.  We all enthusiastically agreed.  Done deal!  I called Steve the next morning and we agreed on the terms of a contract.     

I had a good feeling about the opportunity, the organization, and its people through my entire interview process.  I made two brief visits to RMEF headquarters since my hire and felt the same positive feeling both times.  That is important to me. 

Contractually, I bought myself out of my KPAX deal in order to move forward.  Now, I am in the waning days of my 60-day TV notice.  While I look back on my television career with fond memories, I look ahead with much excitement to a new challenge.  I know I have a lot to learn, but I can't wait to get after it and begin.  My family and I are thrilled because this new opportunity does not require us to pull up stakes and move.  We get to stay here in Montana, the place we love!  This "life change" also allows me to work an 8 to 5 shift for the first time in my adult life.  I will finally see my now high school aged kids much more than just on weekends.  And hey, as a staffer at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, maybe I can learn how to better fill the freezer during hunting season.  Got elk?

The Final Countdown

It is almost surreal.  I have fewer days remaining on the air as a television broadcaster than years that I worked in the broadcast journalism business (23 years, 9 months). 

Me, Craig Borgman & Stephen Spiegel

It began way back in 1988.  Just a few weeks after graduating from Brigham Young University, I accepted a position as weekend sports anchor at ABC affiliate KTKA-TV in Topeka, Kansas.  It was a small, struggling station that was waging an uphill battle for survival against CBS and NBC affiliates that had a much stronger tradition and viewership than we did.  I eventually accepted an offer to become sports director.  As a station, we went through waves of news directors, general managers, and on air talent.  It took awhile but we finally got the right people in the right places.  We later moved to a new broadcast facility where our general manager, Kent Cornish, actually allowed us to determine where our desks, edit bays, and even where the outlets in our office would be located.  I assisted in the hiring of co-workers Craig Borgman, Stephen Spiegel, Chad Luce, and others who gave us the most creative, most accomplished, and most recognized sports staff in the market. 

Marty Matthews, me, Lori Hutchinson & Ed Levy

I spent ten years in Topeka.  Working there did not make me rich financially, but it left me rich with memories, friendships, and a feeling of satisfaction.  As a sports department, we worked hard and played hard.  We did not hesitate to try new things and create new ways to appeal to our viewers.  Among them, we created The 49 Locker Room Show, an extended Friday night sportscast with in-depth coverage of high school sports.  We also developed the Pepsi Sports Challenge, a weekly feature involving viewers who wrote us to challenge us to all kinds of sporting events--from sand volleyball and roller hockey to running the obstacle course at an Army base to water ski jumping.  I look back on Channel 49 as my television "glory days."


But there comes a time when you just feel a need to move on and face new challenges.  I felt it, so I left my friends and colleagues in Topeka to become sports director at CBS affiliate KREM-TV in Spokane, Washington.  Unlike KTKA, KREM was in a two-way dog fight for ratings supremacy.  I inherited a sports department that was short-handed in terms of full-time sports personnel and sought to stabilize its image and organization.  A plan was put in place and I worked to accomplish it.  We now had a larger news staff, more high tech toys, and managerial support to carry out the required duties.  The on-air product improved and we became the outright number-one station in the market.  We successfully pulled off live broadcasts outside our scheduled newscasts covering events like Bloomsday, Hoopfest, and NCAA Tournament selection shows at Gonzaga. 

Me, Charles Rowe, Nadine Woodward, Randy Shaw, Tom Sherry

But things changed behind the scenes.  We had a shift in newsroom management and a change in sports coverage philosophy.  The news director that hired me, and set ambitious goals with me to improve the overall sports product, stepped down.  We also made a personnel change on the air that nixed plans to add a third full-time sports reporter.  The writing was on the wall.  After just four years in Spokane, it was time to move on.


As a pondered where my future would take me, I also pondered a career shift, of sorts.  Hmmm, what would it be like to be a news anchor?  I took a fact-finding trip to Boise to check out a morning news anchor position.  While it was a good visit, I was not offered the job.  Looking back, I'm so glad.  Who wants to get up every day at 2 a.m. anyway?  Not me! 



Me & co-anchor Jill Valley

One day I saw an advertisement for a news anchor opening at CBS affiliate KPAX-TV in Missoula, Montana.  We drove through Missoula many times on our way to and from Spokane, but rarely stopped.  I sent an email to the news director.  "Would you be interested in a guy who did sports for 14 years but wants to go into news?"  His response was short but telling, "You're a finalist!"  He sent me a tape of the news product in the mail.  To be honest, I was not overly impressed.  However, my wife and I agreed to pay Missoula a visit.  Once there, I saw what I missed in Spokane.  KPAX had a "family" type of atmosphere in the newsroom.  I could feel it.  There was a talented staff with young, hard-working reporters and an experienced co-anchor.  After the visit, the decision was clear.  It was time to move to Missoula.

Me & country singer Chance McKinney

KPAX staff sees Whitney's ultrasound photos

Handing out candy at UM Homecoming parade

KPAX is a wonderful place to work.  I have worked alongside many people who I consider among my best friends.  Among them is my co-anchor, Jill Valley, who immediately accepted me and made it easy for a "sports guy" to become a respected news journalist.  Others are too numerous to name, but they know who they are.  


One of the things I really enjoy about KPAX is its involvement in the community--from the University of Montana homecoming parade to the participating in the annual Bike for Shelter fundraiser for the Watson Children's Shelter.  There is also an annual KPAX bowling night for co-workers and their families, plus an outing to a Missoula Osprey game.


Over my almost ten years here, I also fell in love with Montana.  The funny thing is, we almost moved to Montana when I was a teenager, but that was not meant to be.  However, it is meant to be that I moved here several decades later.  I love it here and so does my family.  I have adopted the "Montana way of life" as my own.  What's not to love about fly fishing and floating the river in the summer and hunting in the winter?

KPAX gang at frigid Homecoming (wind chill -15)

I have been overwhelmed with so many thoughtful comments from friends, co-workers, viewers, Facebook followers, and others since word got out that I'm leaving KPAX.  Even Huey Lewis dropped me a nice email:  "Well, good luck with the new gig...and congrats.  Will keep the Lolo Creek trip in mind, and if I get some time, will give you a shout."  (I still owe him a fishing outing.)  One radio station, Zoo FM, even posted a flattering article about my big change. 


Looking back, I took a career path most TV people do not take.  I started in Topeka (market 136) and then jumped 63 markets to Spokane (market 73), but I finished by backtracking to tiny Missoula (market 165).  That's okay.  I was never in television to be the "biggest dog" in the largest market.  I enjoyed everything I learned along the way. 

Jill & I at a much warmer Homecoming parade

My son Jace & I riding 6-foot unicycles at Bike for shelter

And now I face a new career with a monumental life change.  You see, not only do I shortly begin new duties as public relations director for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, but I will work an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule for the first time in my adult life.  I have worked 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. (3 p.m. to midnight in Spokane) since the late1980s.  I look forward to seeing my wife and kids more.  I look forward to participating in evening activities I've only partially witnessed over the years (concerts, church activities, plays, ball games, etc.).  I look forward to having every holiday off all year long.  I look forward to being able to take vacation time whenever I would like to schedule it.  (In television news, you cannot take time off during ratings periods each February, May, July and November.)   I also look forward to applying the talents and abilities I honed over the years in a new light for RMEF, an organization whose mission I believe in and support.

Derek Buerkle, me, Jill & Erin Yost

So it is indeed the final countdown.  Am I nostalgic?  Yes.  Am I apprehensive?  No.  Am I excited?   You bet.  Bring it!