The '22' story

There are a few hilarious moments from the newsroom that I can recall. One, at the Longview News-Journal, stands out. One of my sportswriters, Olin Buchanan, who was an energetic and ambitious young man, was attempting to get in touch with a football player from Gladewater High School who had moved on to the University of Tulsa. Olin, you have to understand, was good at impersonations, too, and very funny himself. Anyway, Olin wasn’t having much luck getting in touch with Michael Gunter thorough the SID at Tulsa , so as a last resort, he called Michael Gunter’s mother in Gladewater. I was sitting at the desk near Olin and suddenly he hung up the phone and just started cackling. Laughing hysterically, I tell you.

I said, “What on earth is so funny?” In between catching his breath from laughing, he did his best impersonation as he explained. He had told Michael’s mother who he was and that he was trying to get in touch with her son to do a feature story. Did she know his number? She said, “Yeah, sir, I knows his number. It be 22!” The 22, of course, was his jersey number at Tulsa . Now I said Olin was am ambitious young man. I trained him well! That’s why he went on to work for the Bryan Eagle, the Austin American-Statesman and today works for Rivals.com. I bet he’s told that little story over and over, everywhere he’s been.