Blue White Illustrated

Then I saw the big TV mounted at the front of the booth between Jones and Ham. There was another TV on the wall to the right. We didn't have any TVs 45 years ago. As a listener, I've found that Ham is very perceptive in his analysis of a play as it is occurring. Once the game started, I realized why he could be so de- tailed when he reviewed a play a second or third time. It was the TV replay. That not only helped confirm what he origi- nally saw but also enabled him to pick up something he had missed the first time. I also noticed the glass window on the wall separating the broadcast booth from the booth to the right. I remembered it as the Penn State team booth where a cou- ple of assistant coaches worked during the game. But now the glass was covered up with white paper. I didn't think much of the covered glass at the time. The biggest difference since my spot- ting years in the late 1960s is that Steve does not have a spotter sitting between him and Jack. He doesn't need one. I al- ready knew from my experience with Steve that he has a photographic memo- ry. That's rare for a play-by-play man. He doesn't need anybody pointing to a chart with names and numbers on it. And he also is able to use the TV to see things he had missed as he and Jack dis- cuss the play. However, they do have a spotter of sorts. Ron Moehler, one of Ham's best friends from their days growing up to- gether in Johnstown, sits to Jack's right. He doesn't do the type of detailed spot- ting that me and my peers did decades ago, but throughout the game, Moehler points out things on the field or on TV to both Jones and Ham. You may recall the major controversy early in the Ohio State game last season when the officials mistakenly ruled that the Buckeyes had intercepted a Penn State pass early in the game. Ham had seen the replay on TV, and then every- one in the stadium saw it on the Jum- botrons at the top of both end zones. "That's a terrible call," Ham said on the air. When the TV replay officials ruled in favor of Ohio State, Moehler was ready to pound on the glass window next to him, and that's when I found out that the Big Ten replay officials were next door, not the Penn State coaches. It turned out to be a crucial call, as Ohio State went on to score a touchdown in what would become a 31-24 double- overtime victory. Ron also has become a friend since we met at a hotel bar in Dallas prior to the TicketCity Bowl in 2011, and Ron's com- pany in Pittsburgh was involved in the publication of Radakovich's book. He is part of this tight and loyal broadcasting booth family that also includes Roger Corey and Jeff Tarman. Roger has been the "third man" in the booth throughout the Jones-Ham era, but he started working there in 1993 as a producer-director and engineer. That position has been eliminated by new technology, with Corey and Tarman handling everything in a different way. Corey has been connected with the ra- dio network since 1988 when the weekly coach's call-in show began. He was the engineer for the program and now is on the air helping Jones feed questions to the coach. Corey also does the same thing for the 90-minute pregame show, which is outside Beaver Stadium on game day. Tarman is the boss. He's the son of Jim Tarman, the former athletics director and sports information director, and he's been around Penn State football all his life. Tarman has been the executive producer of the network product since 1991 when Penn State sold the rights to the American Network Group and has continued in that role through four dif- ferent network rights-holders, including Learfield since 2006. It's one big happy family inside that booth for four hours or so on game day. Steve and Jack talk to each other almost like two friends sitting around a bar watching the game on TV. Everything they say comes naturally. As a fan who listens to them from my seats high in the south end zone of Beaver Stadium, I thoroughly enjoy their broadcast. I sure would love to be their spotter or at least get a direct phone line to Ron Moehler. ■ The Remarkable Journey of the 2012 Nittany Lions A diary by Lou Prato, author of the Penn State Football Encyclopedia and four other Nittany Lion books Personalized autographed copy available through Lou Prato and Associates Call 814-692-7577 or email louprato@comcast.net Price: $19.95 plus tax and shipping

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