A Front-Row Seat with the Sportswriters Who Sat There
Sit down with host Todd Jones and other sportswriters who knew the greatest athletes and coaches, and experienced first-hand some of the biggest sports moments in the past 50 years. They’ll share stories behind the stories -- some they’ve only told to each other.
Patrick Reusse part 2: “When the Beer Runs Out, the Bullshit Stops.”
This is the second and final part of my conversation with the great storyteller Patrick Reusse, who looks back with humor and irreverence at his 60 years covering Minnesota sports. He takes us on journeys to small towns throughout his home state, recalls the world champion Twins managed by Tom Kelly, and puts us there when Roger Staubach’s Hail Mary Pass caused a whiskey bottle to fly. The longtime sports columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and a member of the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame also recounts the heat and humor in an epic rant by Vikings coach Jerry Burns. And Pat talks about contrition and lessons learned in his coming around to appreciate women’s athletics.
Reusse, 77, is senior columnist for the Star Tribune and is also the host of two popular podcasts: "Reusse Unchained" and "Monday Night Sports Talk with Patrick Reusse and Joe Soucheray." Patrick’s newspaper career started in 1963 as a copy boy for the Minneapolis Morning Tribune. Two years later, he began writing for the Duluth News-Tribune and Herald, then quickly moved to the St. Cloud Times. In 1968, Reusse joined the St. Paul Pioneer Press, where he went on to cover the Twins from 1974-78 before serving as that paper’s sports columnist for nine years, beginning in 1979. He moved to the Star Tribune in 1988 as sports columnist. The native of Fulda, Minnesota also became a fixture in Twin Cities talk radio and television. He was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2019.
Patrick has done radio and podcast work with KSTP-1500 since 1980, when he partnered with Soucheray on “Sunday Night Sports Talk.” They shared the airwaves together or independently on “Sports Talk” in various forms nearly every year since. Patrick also hosted “Reusse & Company” for that station (2009-10) and co-hosted “Reusse & Mackey” with Phil Mackey from 2010-14. His show “The Ride with Reusse” appeared weekdays from 2014 until September 2018. Reusse began his radio career at KFAM-AM in St. Cloud in the mid-1960s,
Reusse was also a 20-year panelist on “The Sports Show,” which aired on WUCW-TV, Fox Sports North, and Victory Sports One. Other panelists included Hartman, Mike Max, and George Chappel, better known by his nickname Dark Star.
Books:
· “Tales from the Minnesota Sports Beat: A Lifetime on Deadline.” - Co-authored with Chip Scoggins. Dan Barreiro (foreword).
· “Tony Oliva: The Life and Times of a Minnesota Twins Legend” – by Thom Henninger. Reusse (foreword).
· “Minnesota Vikings: The Complete Illustrated History” – by Reusse. Amy Klobuchar (afterword)
· “Sid! The Sports Legends, the Inside Scoops, and the Close Personal Friends” – co-authored with Sid Hartman
· “Minnesota Twins: The Complete Illustrated History” – co-authored with Dennis Brackin and Harmon Killebrew
· “Minnesota Sports Almanac” – by Joel A. Rippel. Reusse (foreword).
· “Michael Jordan Super Sports Stars Series (Stars of the Court series)” – by Reusse
Follow him on Twitter: @Patrick_Reusse
Where to Listen
Find us in your favorite podcast app.
Edited part 2 – Patrick Reusse transcript
Todd:
Reusse, the Twins enjoyed their glory days when you were no longer their beat writer, but instead, a columnist.
They won the World Series in 1987, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals.
And then in 1991, the Twins beat a young Atlanta Braves club in an all-time classic Series.
I think you once said Game 7 was the greatest event in the history of Minnesota sports.
Pat Reusse (44:03):
Maybe six, six and seven. Six-
Todd Jones (44:05):
Alright, well, six. You got Puckett making the catch and hitting the home run.
Pat Reusse (44:09):
Hitting the home run. And then seven, you got the one. And yeah, I mean, those last two games were fantastic.
Pat Reusse (44:17):
The '91 series was much better, but '87 is remembered almost more here because it was the first one and they had a parade that was unbelievable. And for that one went down Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis and then went over to St. Paul in the best state capital. And it was phenomenal.
Pat Reusse (44:43):
87, as I said, the first one. But Tom Kelly, it took him forever to ... Andy MacPhail wanted to hire him as a manager after he was the interim for 23 games in September of '76 or December of '86.
Pat Reusse (45:00):
And Carl Poland was the owner and was afraid of having two guys that young running the team. So, we finally let him hire Tom Kelly. And that was almost Thanksgiving by the time they made that announcement that he was coming back.
Pat Reusse (45:17):
And then the great quote on that is Bob Gebhard who later became the Rockies general manager, still going great. Not working anymore, but still with us.
Pat Reusse (45:28):
And after they win the seventh game, two o'clock in the morning, there's a little drinking place reception thing that they have going across the street from the ballpark and Gebhard's quote was, "We were just trying to get organized and we won the bleeping World series. I mean, that was the surprise team. The '91 team was really good. That was a really hellaciously good team.
Todd Jones (45:52):
Yeah. Puckett, Herbeck, all those great players.
Pat Reusse (45:56):
Some Gene Mauch, some of those guys that came up and were terrific players. That was really good team. Greg Gagne, the shortstop always underrated, terrific shortstop. They were better team in '91. But 80-
Todd Jones (46:11):
Okay. Game six and game seven, the ears are still ringing for anybody who covered those games. The tension in the dome, the noise, the Homer Hankies are flying. What do you remember about particularly game seven? Jack Morris going 10 innings and then you're writing that night. Tell me about just being in the moment as a columnist?
Pat Reusse (46:37):
They were holding the papers. I got to tell you about game six, though, the Star Tribune didn't hold that night, hold the papers. So, we were over 600,000 back then back in the glory days. And I think we only made 200,000 papers the next morning. I'm still mad about that.
Pat Reusse (46:56):
But what I remember about game six is afterwards, they run the heroes through the pressure room down there, and we was still trying to write, and Jack Morris, they bring in the starting pitchers, Smoltz first, and then Jack Morris.
Pat Reusse (47:20):
And they said, Jack ... routine question. "What do you think about this chance to pitch game seven?" And he said, in the words of the late great Marvin Gaye, "Let's get it on." And I hear that upstairs. And ah, I got to get that in someplace.
Todd Jones (47:42):
That's gold. Yeah.
Pat Reusse (47:43):
And then the next day he goes 10 innings, pitches a no hitter, I mean, pitches, shut out and-
Todd Jones (47:50):
Yeah. Complete game against Smoltz.
Pat Reusse (47:52):
Greatest performance ever. And also, if Lonnie Smith doesn't stop at second, or if they don't turn that home to the back of the pitcher, to first base double play, they end up getting beat. But I always-
Todd Jones (48:09):
You once said that that column was one of your favorites because Tom Kelly after the game was unlike Tom Kelly, who was usually pretty guarded.
Pat Reusse (48:20):
Well, this was my Tuesday column after the follow. But I got to say that I used to tell Morris, by the way, you're the best winner I ever met. You really accept victory well, you're a great winner, but you're the biggest jackass I ever met. After you get beat, he says, "That's why I don't get beat that often."
Todd Jones (48:41):
He had a point.
Pat Reusse (48:42):
But I got along really well with Kelly. And so, now we're an hour and a half after winning game seven, and I went into his office, I was in there, and I just kind of sat in a chair and all the players, Chili Davis comes in, gives him a big hug, and they talk for a minute.
Pat Reusse (49:01):
And then, anyway, I'm in there an hour and the players are all coming in. And I thought writing that scene an hour and a half after the game's over, and his co-coach of his fantasy football team was a equipment guy named Lunch McKenzie.
Pat Reusse (49:20):
And I mean, you got all these characters and just to have that access there sitting behind the door. And as players are coming in and talking candidly with him. I didn't say 10 words when I was in there. It was just listening to the thing.
Pat Reusse (49:39):
And everybody that came in. And then, the highlight was Lunch. They still don't know how his fantasy football team came out. The TKs, they were still-
Todd Jones (49:50):
The TKs.
Pat Reusse (49:51):
They had other things to worry about. Lunch Mackenzie gets his wife on the phone because she was supposed to keep score, because you couldn't go on ESPN and see how your team did back then. You had to keep track. And Mackenzie's wife is telling him, "Oh, it was great, Tom." And Kelly says, "That was last night. How did the TKs come out? That was yesterday."
Todd Jones (50:18):
That's the bigger question.
Pat Reusse (50:19):
Yeah. The World Series was one. How did the TKs come out? That was a big question. He's been having some health problems. Smartest baseball man I've ever been around, his instincts were just immaculate. He could be grumpy, but his instincts were fantastic.
Todd Jones (50:39):
Yeah. Quite a manager.
Pat Reusse (50:40):
He could tell a player in about five minutes, tell if a guy had it or not.
Todd Jones (50:44):
You mentioned characters around Kelly in that scene an hour and a half later, and really characters, finding characters is something that's been such a part of your career. You were always willing to go outside of the Twin Cities all around your state and find good stories and you just became known for that.
Todd Jones (51:08):
I mean, well first of all, you're a character yourself. You were born in a tiny little town. Your father ran a funeral home. Your family lived upstairs, so you knew what it was like in Minnesota, small towns, right?
Pat Reusse (51:24):
Yeah. We were southwest corner of Minnesota, town of 1100, Fowler, and then all these little towns around there. And my dad was the undertaker. He was a goofball of all time. Because I always said, if a small town undertaker has a good year, 40 funerals, 40.
Pat Reusse (51:45):
We were looking for the magic 40. We weren't wishing our neighbors any ill health, but you needed 40 funerals to make it. So, if you had 40-
Todd Jones (51:56):
We're only at 28. We need a good train wreck.
Pat Reusse (52:01):
We won't be having as good at Christmas if we don't get a couple more in here pretty soon.
Todd Jones (52:07):
But you understood those small towns.
Pat Reusse (52:09):
Yes.
Todd Jones (52:09):
And you were able to understand why Minneapolis and St. Paul appreciated stories from those small towns.
Pat Reusse (52:17):
Yes. Because most people who live in the Twin Cities, not most, but a very good share of the people who live in the Twin Cities came from those small towns, came from that area. What they say in outstate Minnesota still today is we're going to the cities. We're going to the cities. It was always the cities.
Pat Reusse (52:39):
And that meant you're going to Minneapolis, St. Paul. And we'd come up four or five times a year and it was about a four-hour journey back then. And it was just we're in the cities, there's stuff going on.
Pat Reusse (52:51):
So yes, I did appreciate the fact that, if you'd find somebody in one of these towns or write about one of these teams or something, you realize what a big deal was.
Pat Reusse (53:06):
Now, and this might have been some of the places you worked back in the day too. Before 1970, actually before the pros came in at '60, one of the biggest events in the state of Minnesota every year was the state basketball tournament. Because it was one class, it was Hoosiers.
Pat Reusse (53:25):
Well, very close to my hometown, 1960 Edgerton is our Hoosiers. They wanted to one class this little Dutch town. And they had fewer people than Milan, Indiana had, which is the source of the story of Hoosiers.
Pat Reusse (53:46):
And I remembered those days and the state basketball tournament, one reason I knew what every town where it was in Minnesota, because I used to look at the high school basketball scores when they were playing their district tournaments to see who would go to state tournament.
Pat Reusse (54:04):
And there's a story in every town, I said about the pandemic, Todd, that we want to hear there with nothing going on. There's nothing to write about. And I said, "You know what? You find out there's 10,000 stories out there, you just have to have somebody tell you about them and then you go get them. And that was really a great period for just going and finding stuff, not going to the ballgame.
Todd Jones (54:32):
Well, I always appreciated the fact that you were a big city columnist. You would travel throughout the nation overseas for international events, but you were also willing to take the time to go meet with John Gagliardi, right?
Pat Reusse (54:45):
Oh yeah.
Todd Jones (54:46):
The St. John football coach. You were willing to go see a guy like that who then became rightfully well known throughout Minnesota, not just because he won four national titles and 489 times a record amount of wins, by the way. But the fact that he was a quirky character.
Pat Reusse (55:05):
Yes. He was a-
Todd Jones (55:05):
And you brought that to life.
Pat Reusse (55:07):
Yeah. I mean I always said, Todd, that when in doubt in the spring and there's nothing to write about, go up and see how Gag's doing because he'll give you something that you don't expect.
Pat Reusse (55:23):
But there's just guys like that all over. And couple of weeks ago, somebody tells me, "Hey, there's this gas station out on Minnetonka Boulevard, which is out Highway 69, and a guy still pumps gas for you. He still comes out and washes the window and pumps gas."
Todd Jones (55:46):
It's like the Japanese soldiers on the island didn't know World War II and-
Pat Reusse (55:50):
Yeah, he's got a race car out in front. His daughter races at one of the local speedways. So, I said, I'll go scout him out. David Goodman, I went and scouted him. I said, "I'll drive out there and say hello to him and see if there's a column there."
Pat Reusse (56:12):
I was there about 10 minutes and I said, "Okay, this guy's crazy." I'll be back tomorrow. Get your daughter here, will you, there's a free column here. I always say, free column. That's what you're always looking for. The free column. Somebody-
Todd Jones (56:26):
I love it. Set one on a tee batting tape on, just put it up there and we got a free day.
Pat Reusse (56:32):
And Todd, as you know, the clubhouses are getting so much tougher, everything's so much tougher than it used to be. If there are characters in that clubhouse, you're going to have a hard time finding them. And you're not going to be able to sit down with them for under 45 minutes at two o'clock in the afternoon, because the clubhouse opens at four and as closes at 4:30.
Todd Jones (56:54):
Well think about it like, think about the time then you're at Bear Bryant's last game. Alabama beats Illinois and 82 Liberty Bull. You're there. And you interviewed Bear and his buddies about hunting turkeys.
Pat Reusse (57:08):
Yeah. Now that was a couple years earlier. I was trying to get Bear, to talk to Bear and I think it was '81, so it might have been his second or last year. Well, I call up the SID and he says, "Well come on down the week before Auburn, because they're off."
Pat Reusse (57:25):
And I sat in his office for two hours and Jimmy Hunter came in and they talked about Turkey hunting for an hour and talked about you just sat there and listened to him. I mean, calling an SID and saying, "Hey, can I come down and see the most famous coach in America, from the St. Paul Paper?"
Pat Reusse (57:46):
And they saying, "Yes, not today. That ain't happening now, that's not happening anymore." Now they only talk on Tuesdays, at a mass press conference-
Todd Jones (58:01):
So, what do you recall about that two-hour conversation with Bear Bryant?
Pat Reusse (58:06):
I just was amazed, I guess at the gruffness you expected in that situation. He was enjoying his buddies and enjoying life and wasn't worried about Auburn yet, wasn't doing anything.
Pat Reusse (58:31):
But you could also see him and imagine what he was like when he was young and full of piss and vinegar as the Texas A&M Boys found out. But he was just a real guy. And one thing about his last game when I went to his last game against Illinois and the Liberty Bowl. Wasn't it? The Illinois and the Liberty?
Todd Jones (58:54):
Right, right.
Pat Reusse (58:55):
Yeah. And Eddie Robinson was there getting an award.
Todd Jones (59:02):
The Great Grambling coach.
Pat Reusse (59:03):
The Grambling coach. And I went up and sat in Eddie's hotel room for an hour and a half and ended up doing an Eddie piece later. His wife was up there, great girl, and talked to Eddie.
Pat Reusse (59:16):
But it worked out really well because a few years later, I was at the Doug Williams Superbowl, Todd, and in San Diego, and they basically pushed us into a garage after it was over. And you had 600 reporters try to get in to talk to people at these podiums in this dump of a garage.
Pat Reusse (59:41):
And even being a well overweight guy, I got pushed coming in and I got pushed. And standing next to the wall was Eddie Robinson, Doug Williams coach from Grambling. And a guy I knew from before and I talked to Eddie for 20 minutes about Doug and said, "See you guys later. I'm going up upstairs. I got what I need." So, I'd rather be lucky than good anytime when you're out covering something.
Todd Jones (01:00:13):
Right. Sometimes you just need to happen to be in the right spot at the right moment.
Pat Reusse (01:00:17):
That's right. That is right.
Todd Jones (01:00:19):
Speaking of football, you were there in '75 at the Met, the old Metropolitan Stadium when Roger Staubach threw the Hail Mary pitch.
Pat Reusse (01:00:29):
Oh yeah.
Todd Jones (01:00:30):
The Cowboys beat the Vikings 1714, you're in the locker room after the game. I mean, that's one of the most famous plays.
Pat Reusse (01:00:38):
I was doing the Dallas locker room and I knew everybody was mad because they'd thrown the whiskey bottle and hit Armen Terzian was the referee, was the official-
Todd Jones (01:00:54):
Oh yeah. Hit him in the head with a whiskey bottle.
Pat Reusse (01:00:56):
Corby's bottle. I believe it was Corby's. There's been a discussion, but I think it's been misreported.
Todd Jones (01:01:01):
What type-
Pat Reusse (01:01:02):
It's been misreported as to what the bottle was. It was a pint of Corby’s, I believe, came out of the Right Field Bleachers. You know what happened that day, in addition to this, an unbelievable thing, Sid charged, this is when the referee's room used to be open.
Pat Reusse (01:01:18):
You just knocked on the door and the reporters went in, and Sid stormed in there. Armen looks like a revolutionary war soldier, he's got his head all wrapped up, blood coming out, and Sid starts m-fing him for screwing the Vikings out of going to the Superbowl.
Pat Reusse (01:01:37):
And the next year we had pool reporters the next year. Sid created the pool reporter rule by screaming at Armen Terzien. But it was something, I was in there talking to Drew Pearson. There was six, seven people in there.
Pat Reusse (01:01:52):
And all of a sudden, here comes the people from the other club locker room. And the locker room at the visiting locker room at Met Stadium was built for about 20. And all of a sudden you had 200 in there.
Pat Reusse (01:02:07):
And the Cowboys were shocked, the Vikings felt that, I mean, you could see at the end, the Vikings were screaming and talking. It was screaming, but the Cowboys were in there just kind of celebrating having a good time. And then everybody comes in, the Vikings … is screwed up out of a van. He deserved it. It was a raucous place.
Todd Jones (01:02:31):
What was the temperature in the press box at Met Stadium? Metropolitan Stadium in a late season Vikings game?
Pat Reusse (01:02:38):
Well, they'd get the heat going pretty good, but if you had to go outside to the boys room, it was, he could get a little cool out there sometime. Jim Murray wrote a great column about I don't know if it was that game. It was one of the playoff games. He came to, because the Rams kept coming up there and getting beat in the glory days.
Pat Reusse (01:02:59):
And Jim Murray got temporarily locked in the men's room after he finished writing in two hours after the game. And he had a pound on the door, and somebody finally heard him, but he wrote a column about what would've been like to spend the winter in the men's room at that stadium. It would've been cold.
Pat Reusse (01:03:22):
That was one of my favorite moments, by the way. I was at the first Pittsburgh Superbowl, which was their third one in New Orleans. And I was a drinking man then. And I'd been out that night and was really hungover.
Pat Reusse (01:03:39):
We're going out there the next day. And I come in, that Superbowl was supposed to be played in the Superdome, but they never got it built in time.
Todd Jones (01:03:47):
It was that two-lane stadium. Yeah.
Pat Reusse (01:03:50):
Terrible two lane Stadium. I walk in and sitting in the second — what am I in 1974, I'm a 30-year-old, nobody. And I walk in and it's Red Smith on my left, me and then Jim Murray on my right. And I get in there and I'm hung over. And I said, here we are boys. Three of the greatest sports writers that ever lived, Red Smith-
Todd Jones (01:04:18):
They're looking at you like, who are you?
Pat Reusse (01:04:19):
Red Smith laughed. And Jim Murray gave me the dirtiest luck you've ever seen in your life.
Pat Reusse (01:04:25):
But I later on got to sit next to Red for the ‘81 World Series in the auxiliary press box at the Yankee Stadium for all three, all four, all three games were played at Yankee Stadium, because the Dodgers came back and won the last four. So, I got to sit next to Red and he was a great, great guy.
Todd Jones (01:04:48):
You mentioned your drinking days, and this has a football theme to it, but when the Vikings were coached by Jerry Burns, didn't you guys once have a road trip? I think it was in Tampa Bay, where he just invited the riders up to his hotel room?
Pat Reusse (01:05:04):
No, I was not drinking anymore, but Burnsie ... yeah, Mike Lynn got fired up because they started the year one and six or something, then they won five in a row and Lynn thought they were going to do something.
Pat Reusse (01:05:15):
So, he decided to work out down in Florida, in Orlando before they played Tampa. And so, we were all down there, we used that scam to go down there, and Meryl Swanson was the PR guy. And Meryl had a room upstairs and he had a bathtub full of beer. And Burnsie-
Todd Jones (01:05:43):
Love it. Love it.
Pat Reusse (01:05:45):
So, we're up there, we're doing our post. Instead of doing our post practice interview with Burnsie, he said, "Well, come on up the hotel room, Burnsiewill come up there." Well, Burnsie starts telling stories about Iowa and … Lombardi and everything. And it goes on for like three hours. There's about four of us reporters up there.
Pat Reusse (01:06:07):
Three guys are drinking some beers and Burnsie's drinking beer and Meryl's drinking beer. And finally, after about three hours, Burnsie goes in the bathroom to relieve himself and there's no beer. So, he comes out and says, "See you later."
Pat Reusse (01:06:21):
And he starts leaving and we say, "Burnsie, what happened at practice today?" And he is going down the hall and he says, "Boys, when the beer runs out, the bullshit stops" and he keeps going down.
Pat Reusse (01:06:38):
So, we all got these great stories, but we don't know if somebody broke his leg at practice or not. We don't. He was the greatest character of all time.
Todd Jones (01:06:49):
You were there when he dropped 18 F-Bombs, in a postgame press conference after he won.
Pat Reusse (01:06:57):
Yeah. After the — thing, see that was an unheralded ... everybody talks about the rants, when you got the Lee Elia rant and you got the Jim Mora rant. But Burnsie’s was kind of this hidden gem until a few years ago.
Pat Reusse (01:07:14):
Some guy from Dead Spin, when Dead Spin was Dead Spin called me on the 29th anniversary and said, I just ran across this thing. And he said, this was made for Dead Spin.
Pat Reusse (01:07:28):
And so, he interviewed me about it, and my highlight was that I got him started again. See, he went about three minutes of F-bombs. But then I said, how about that where the crowd booed when they showed on the scoreboard and then he just went into F-Bomb after F-bomb.
Todd Jones (01:07:56):
Yeah, you opened the Bombay doors again.
Pat Reusse (01:07:59):
The best part of that though was as he's leaving now, under his breath, he says, “Fuckers.” That was his last word for the fans. Oh God. He was the greatest. He was unbelievable. God. Because-
Todd Jones (01:08:20):
Well, the characters are what made it so much fun.
Pat Reusse (01:08:24):
The only thing is his team was hard to get along with and he'd scream at us all the time and give us hell, but you'd always end up laughing because the next day he'd be great. He had won just as good, but nobody has a tape of it. After the year they made their playoff run, so 87. I mean they made the run, they backed, but they lost their last two. That was the year of the scab ball players too. And replacements, we call them, union guys call them scab balls.
Pat Reusse (01:08:59):
But anyway, scab ballers. But anyway, see, that team lost all three of those games. So, they were actually a eight and four team at one time. But then they lost their last two and they lost the last one on Saturday.
Pat Reusse (01:09:14):
So, it looked like they weren't going to make the playoffs. Then I think St. Louis lost to a bad Dallas team, and then they backed into the playoffs and made their run. But we went out there Sunday morning to see Burnsie and it basically, the little interview room then was about big as two closets with a bathroom next to it. And there's about six of us here-
Todd Jones (01:09:39):
Was there a beer in that bathroom too?
Pat Reusse (01:09:41):
No, we didn't have it. But six, this was 10 in the morning, 11 in the morning. And Bob Sansevere from the St. Paul paper asked, says your team doesn't have a killer instinct. Or he said, doesn't seem like your team has a killer instinct. And he went on screaming, “Killer instinct, killer instinct. You jackasses, you don't have any.”
Pat Reusse (01:10:06):
And then in this little, tiny room, he's just yelling killer instinct. But we weren't taping that we were writing, so we're all going, nobody has a tape of the killer instinct one. It was fantastic, went on for fun.
Todd Jones (01:10:21):
Right. See, do you have a favorite sports rant by an athlete or coach when you were covering something?
Pat Reusse (01:10:27):
Well, probably Burnsie’s. But aimed at me?
Todd Jones (01:10:32):
Yeah. Aimed at you.
Pat Reusse (01:10:34):
I was the sporty news correspondent for four or five years because at the end of my baseball tenure I did. And then I kept it for about four or five more years. And so, we had a guy who I got to be friendly with him when he was a Red Sox hitting coach.
Pat Reusse (01:10:56):
But Ron Jackson was in the crew trade, he was part of the crew trade in '78. And he had a nickname Papa Jack. Everybody called him Papa Jack. And I was writing the sporting news that winter and I writing about his lack of RBIs. And I said, “They might start calling Papa Jack, Papa Up,” in the sporting news.
Pat Reusse (01:11:22):
But I never thought anything of it. This was like in December or sometime. I show up in Fort Myers and Orlando and he comes at me in the dugout and he's got a bat. And he's a big strong guy. I never felt like he was going to hit me with the bat. He wouldn't have required it.
Pat Reusse (01:11:40):
But man, he was hot. That was about as hot as anybody's ever been with me. And I said, Papa, Papa, because I didn't even remember what was going on. And all of sudden starts screaming "Papa, Papa Up, you ...
Todd Jones (01:11:58):
Well, sometimes the outrage is — I mean, think about it, when you write something, and the community becomes outraged. Then you're really in the fish barrel. And that happened to you-
Pat Reusse (01:12:15):
Oh yeah.
Todd Jones (01:12:16):
In March of '91. Now you have said that this particular column, you said, that episode changed me. In all seriousness, tell us about that column and how it changed-
Pat Reusse (01:12:27):
March 2nd, 1992. Not that I remember it, but I was on a road trip up to the Iron Range because it gets some stories. And then there was going to be a boxing match in Duluth on Friday night. And that was going to be my column for Saturday, because I think Michael Moorer, remember him. Moorer, good fighter was fighting up there. And I was going to do that.
Pat Reusse (01:12:52):
Well, it fell through, the fight fell through. So, I'm writing, I said, '"What am I going to do? I'm going to make some witty remarks here." So, my first remark was this during the Iraq War, and we had Clem Haskins, who I got along with great. I love Clem.
Pat Reusse (01:13:08):
But he could talk himself out of a bad loss, better than anybody. He really was an excuse maker. And so, this column was so serious that my lead was that, “If Tariq Aziz loses his job as Saddam's excuse maker, Clem could get it, Clem could take over for him.”
Pat Reusse (01:13:38):
It was like, I was comparing Clem to Tariq Aziz. He was a spokesman who was on TV all the time leading up to the Iraq War. I don't think-
Todd Jones (01:13:49):
So, that was the start of the-
Pat Reusse (01:13:50):
Yeah. That was ...
Todd Jones (01:13:51):
Okay. And then from there.
Pat Reusse (01:13:52):
I'd seen a couple of one, I went to a junior college game that week to see Minneapolis community colleges men's team and the girls. The women's game was beforehand. And it was just awful.
Pat Reusse (01:14:06):
And I was in another game and saw the women's game and it was terrible. And I wrote some of, “How come women's basketball hasn't improved more?” I said, “It still remains tiptoed ball throwing.”
Todd Jones (01:14:25):
That's the line.
Pat Reusse (01:14:26):
That was the line.
Todd Jones (01:14:26):
That struck a nerve in the community.
Pat Reusse (01:14:32):
This is in Minneapolis paper now. I was in the Star Tribune, so bigger, bigger audience. Don Shelby, a local newsman who had two daughters, a popular anchor in town, had two daughters playing, wrote a 35-inch editorial that they ran in the paper.
Pat Reusse (01:14:51):
And my stepson was going to school over here and his best buddy's sister was on the basketball team. And they started a petition to get rid of me. And it was all over. If it was the internet age, social media age, I don't think I would've survived.
Pat Reusse (01:15:12):
So, and my first attempt to ... because I went to spring training the next morning, didn't think anything of it. On Wednesday, I get a call not from the editor, from the publisher and say-
Todd Jones (01:15:24):
That's not good.
Pat Reusse (01:15:25):
All hell-
Pat Reusse (01:15:25):
When the publisher's calling you, it's not good.
Pat Reusse (01:15:26):
All hell's breaking loose. And I said, "Well, okay, we'll talk about it when I get back. See how things are going." I had 400 letters maybe because you still had to write a letter. We weren't even emails yet.
Pat Reusse (01:15:38):
And then, so my first — they said, “Yeah, you better do an apology.” So, my first attempted apology was I was going to write kind of a soft criticism letter run, and then have a kind of a defiant response.
Pat Reusse (01:16:00):
And then if you read down, it was all the first letters were bold and it was, "Okay, you win," down at the bottom it was me cowering for forgiveness. And the guy threw it back at me and said, "That ain't going to work." So, then I wrote-
Todd Jones (01:16:20):
So, they spiked that one.
Pat Reusse (01:16:20):
Then I wrote an apology that ... but I really did — it got me thinking that we didn't let girls play sports until the mid-70s.
Pat Reusse (01:16:42):
We go to a basketball game and try to compare it to watching a men's basketball game. And I became a big proponent. I have said in fact that I think probably the biggest event of my lifetime as a sports writer is Title IX. Because you look back, how did manhood get away with it for 50 years? How did you get away with it?
Pat Reusse (01:17:07):
So, and of course it also helps to have a granddaughter who's playing hockey and stuff, and you go watch some games.
Pat Reusse (01:17:16):
But yeah, I even made peace with the controversial Chris Voelz, who was the women's athletic director. She could start a riot in a nunnery man. She was hard-nosed, never satisfied.
Pat Reusse (01:17:34):
But this year, I called her up to do the 50-year Title IX thing. And I did it. And I said, "I need to talk to you." And she texted me back and said, "I don't talk to a flaming or raging sexist unless they're reformed." And she said, "Oh, that's right. You're reformed." So, then we had a long, long talk, and it was great. But yeah, that was a-
Todd Jones (01:18:08):
Well, it showed that you actually, in the moment you thought about it, you thought, “You know what, I'm wrong.”
Pat Reusse (01:18:13):
Yep.
Todd Jones (01:18:13):
You learned from it. Like you said it, the episode changed you.
Pat Reusse (01:18:17):
Yeah. It did. Those columns are out. Hey, women's athletics has given us twice as many places to go for columns. There's columns out there, you add a whole gender, you get a lot more options. That's the whole life. The whole life now is finding one more. Finding one more column.
Todd Jones (01:18:44):
Right. Well, I just think it's impressive that you were able to, at an advanced part in your career say, “You know what? Alright, I screwed up. I'm going to think about this and I'm going to learn.” And then like you said, you became a big advocate of women's athletics.
Pat Reusse (01:19:00):
And although I did get in trouble again, because the Stanford ... we had the Final Four here in '95, the first time Yukon won one, what? '95 or 6. And Stanford came in as the favorite. And was terrible. Yukon just ate their lunch, and they couldn't move. And they got eaten up.
Pat Reusse (01:19:20):
And I had a joke comparing the Stanford Women's team to their mascot, the tree that didn't go over well with some of the hostesses of the team. But I said, "Hey, if it was a men's team that played like that, I would've written the same thing."
Todd Jones (01:19:38):
Well, irreverent to the end. Right?
Pat Reusse (01:19:41):
Yes. That's true.
Todd Jones (01:19:42):
I mean, when you think about it, all the different people you've met over the years, the characters, the places, international, national, in the Twin Cities, throughout the state of Minnesota, you've always been able to find those stories, the characters, the things behind the surface, below the surface. And I think you brought those all to life in a way that's been so entertaining over the years. And it's just been quite a career.
Pat Reusse (01:20:13):
Yeah. It's been a while. I don't know, my contract's up after this year we'll see, so-
Pat Reusse (01:20:21):
Yeah. But I still enjoy it. That's the thing. "Why are you still doing it?" They say, "You want to be the next Sid?" No, I like sitting down and writing something. I don't do much radio, when I was doing more radio, it was a little tougher. But now this is what I got. So, I really enjoy writing three columns a week.
Todd Jones (01:20:43):
Well, the people of Minnesota have enjoyed reading and listening to you over the years, and they've been outraged at times and laughed at times and learned many things over the years from you.
Todd Jones (01:20:54):
And I know they appreciate everything you've given the sports journalism there. And I know I appreciate personally that you took the time to share these stories with us on this podcast. Pat Reusse (01:21:08):
Alright, Todd. Thank you, sir. And I got to run downtown now and write a column about a 16-year-old auto racer who's from Minnesota of all places. And he's driving for Joe Gibbs, which is pretty good, he's a young prospect. Wouldn't it be something if we were back covering Daytona again because of a Minnesota kid?
Hide TranscriptRecent Episodes
View AllPaul Hoynes part 2: “Those Teams Probably Saved Baseball in Cleveland.”
Press Box AccessPaul Hoynes part 1: “I'm Sweating Bullets, Shaking, Trying to Calm Myself Down.”
Press Box AccessWriters Bear Witness to Memorable Moments from March Madness
Press Box AccessJerry Tipton: “You could just walk into the Kentucky coach’s office.”
Press Box AccessHear More From Us!
Subscribe Today and get the newest Evergreen content delivered straight to your inbox!