A Fistful of Memories

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.