Thanks, Chuck

"I can't believe the news today
Oh, I can't close my eyes
And make it go away"

-- U2, "Sunday, Bloody Sunday"

Who did you emulate growing up? 

Did you want to dunk on Jordan? Go deep off of Smoltz? Catch the winning pass from Montana? 

I grew up watching Chuck Moore on 11Alive's morning show while I was getting ready to catch the bus to go to elementary school. Ten years later I found myself sitting next to him on the anchor desk.

It still makes me nervous...

I was a year out of college doing sports for a tiny CBS station in Toccoa, Georgia. Chuck had recently "retired" as the long-time morning show co-anchor at WXIA in Atlanta. I put the quotes around the word "retired" because he only retired in the sense that he and his wife wanted to spend more time at their lake house near Hartwell and less time dealing with the hustle and bustle of Atlanta. But he clearly still loved what he was doing and, because one of his long-time friends from WXIA had also recently "retired" to run our little dog-and-pony show in Toccoa, Chuck agreed to work part-time (at first) as our new co-anchor. 

Our news team at WNEG was a collection of kids with varying degrees of experience. In retrospect, it was an amazing cast: Jennifer Cathey, Paul Rea, Scott Hartman, Kim Schumacher, Michael Carvell, Jason Maderer and so many more.  

But when we learned Chuck was joining our team there was a collective thought of "Holy smokes, we're like a real TV station now!"

And we were.

He brought experience and professionalism that we couldn't have gotten anywhere else. Most of us assumed he was just going to show up, read the news and go home. 

Au contraire. 

While Atlanta had "news crews", we didn't have "photographers".  We barely had "cameras".

I'll never forget him taking one of those cameras out behind the station and working with it to learn how to shoot a story. I've encountered millenials that walked off of a college campus five minutes prior recoiling at the thought of picking up a camera.  Here was a guy with 30 years owning a major market now remaking himself in a new environment. 

It's an example I'll never forget.

I'll also never forget his way of mentoring me without me actually realizing I was being mentored. During one of our first shows together, I introduced a "package"...which is fancy TV-talk for a reporter's previously-recorded story. As soon as the story rolled, Chuck looked at me and said something to the effect of "Are you in a hurry?"

"No," I replied.

"Seemed like you were in a hurry to dismiss the viewer" he said.

  

He was referring to the fact that, as soon as I introduced the story, I looked off-camera to watch it as if the audience didn't matter.  

To this day, when I throw to a reporter's story on tape, I hear a silent one-count in my head before I look to the monitor.  

Thanks, Chuck. And I mean that sincerely.

He was also an avid golfer.  That was one of the main reasons he and his wife decided to retire in Northeast Georgia. 

It's also what brought him to our tiny little station. He told me one of his life's dreams was to play Augusta National. 

Two months after picking up my life and moving to Augusta I learned I would be playing Chuck's dream course for the first time.

As I put my tee in that hallowed ground I chose to make one phone call.

I called Chuck.  

Tonight I'm so glad I did.