TUPATALK: From NFL to Little League, a rewarding journey, Part 4

Note: This is the fourth installation of a series about some of the well-known sports figures or unique athletic personalities I’ve encountered during my career journey.

You can find Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 by clicking on these links.

After having labored in a town of 5,000 people (Ely, Nev.) and California’s largest growing city (100,000-plus) in Moreno Valley — and already having had inordinate exposure to some remarkable sports celebrities — I headed up to Northern California to a town about 60 miles north of Sacramento.

Oroville had some significant sports connections — Gary Nolan, a starting Cincinnati pitcher for the Big Red Machine of the 1970s had been a local product, and Pat Gillick, the general manager of Toronto Blue Jays, had grown up a few miles away.

But, Oroville offered some unique opportunities, being located just about a two-to-three hour drive to San Francisco and Oakland and less than 90 minutes to Sacramento.

I wangled a sideline photo pass for the San Francisco 49ers-Houston Oilers Christmas Day game in 1993. I recall taking photos of Steve Young warming up on the sideline and of much of the action on the field. Houston featured Warren Moon at quarterback; he created an impressive sight.

The experience of being on an NFL sideline as part of the army of photographers, videographers and reporters was eye-opening. San Francisco had already clinched the playoffs and, as a result, some of the 49er starters sat out the second half and Houston went on to win, 10-7.

I also secured photo passes for multiple Oakland A’s games and one San Francisco Giants game. I much preferred driving to Oakland and on the Bay Bridge than fighting the traffic in San Francisco.

The A’s backstop was set up as a tunnel walkway that connected the two dugouts, as I remember. There was a window in the backstop structure that offered a vantage point for a photographer. I recall standing just a few feet behind Mark McGwire, who was dressed in street clothes and out of action that day, standing near the dugout and holding a son. I also had a brief, friendly exchange with Rickey Henderson.

I felt very disappointed on the Saturday I covered the Giants’ game because Barry Bonds had the day off.

The Sacramento Kings also provided me press passes for three or four NBA games. These proved to be uncomfortable privileges. In order to take photos, we had to sit on the floor just outside the end line and in front of people on the first-row seats behind the basket. We also had to keep our legs crossed In the lotus position during live action. That could become pretty unbearable.

Players off slid into us or had to jump over us. And, the photo angle wasn’t often great. But, hey, it was still a rewarding experience.

Most of the fun took place in the tunnel after the game. I recall interviewing Spud Webb briefly and thinking about how he looked like a junior in high school. I saw Charles Barkley chatting with friends and hugging an elderly lady, obviously a close friend or relative. I got to see Danny Ainge hurry out of the locker room and the hall area and avoid media coverage, I interview Isaac Austin, the NBA Comeback Player of the Year, or something like that. In fact, Isaac had grown up in the town in which I worked, which was my main reason for covering that game.

I briefly interviewed Jerry Sloan who, all things considered, was gracious standing there in front of the locker room door.

Some other moments that stand out include observing Chris Berman walking out of a press box and quickly down a hallway, interviewing players in the locker room and covering a University of California basketball game while Jason Kidd was still a player there.

My favorite big league sports facility to visit was Arco Arena in Sacramento. I appreciated, as I remember it, that the facility was in the middle and the parking extended on a radius like a starfish so that there were never really any huge distances to walk from the car to the doors.

And, as I’ve mentioned, I interviewed Joe Kapp during this time.

All the opportunities to see pro and big-time college events and interview important sports personalities provided me with a lot of pleasure.

One of them included Don Nottingham, the very last man (Round 17, No. 441) picked in the 1971 draft, who became known as the “Human Bowling Ball,” when he starred for Baltimore and Miami. I conducted that interview on the phone.

But, the memories that stand out most during this period in Northern California, revolve around a special collection of sports heroes — a former pro wrestler, a warrior out of the Japanese-American detention camps in World War II, a wonderful young man that dealt with sudden paralysis, the top junior college football team in the nation, an elderly basketball coach that made a tremendous difference in his players’ lives and still worked into his 80’s with players, a pro boxer who survived a shot to the head and dealt bravely with the damage, and so on.

More about those experiences later...

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: TUPATALK: From NFL to Little League, a rewarding journey