Harmon Wages - former professional football player, former television sportscaster, recent inmate - was sitting alone, with only a soft drink for company at the bar at Creekside Cafe one day last week.
He looked well for a man who had just completed a 90-day jail term after a conviction for possession of cocaine. He was tan. He was dressed sharply.
He was in Creekside to meet Bob Neal, sportscaster for Ted Turner's WTBS, for lunch. He and Neal are friends. Wages wanted to talk to Neal about what on earth he's going to do now to make a living.
Harmon Wages, handsome, blond Charmin' Harmon, was a football star at the University of Florida. He played a number of years with the Atlanta Falcons.
Then, he became a local sportscaster, and it really didn't matter what he said on his broadcasts, he would get an audience anyway. The ladies loved his looks. The men admired a former jock who got to be on the tube every night.
His world fell apart
Harmon's world caved in, however. He had quit his Atlanta job and had gone to Chicago to seek work there and to move in with his girlfriend, a Chicago newswoman.
But the man came down on him.
They tried to put Wages away for an even longer stretch than he got. They tried to prove he was a cocaine dealer. They failed. Harmon got off lightly with 90 days, for possession.
Got off lightly, I said. Forget I said that.
Harmon lost his girlfriend, and he has at least temporarily lost the opportunity to work in his chosen field.
"I also almost lost one of my best friends - my cat, " Harmon was saying. "Just before I had to go to jail, my cat got sick. I've had that cat for years. I thought, 'What else can happen to me? I'm about to go to jail and my cat is dying.' "
The only good news is Harmon's cat pulled through.
Harmon Wages wants to go back to work.
"I love television, " he said.
What about a job?
But what if nobody is interested in hiring you? After all, how would it lo ok for a convicted cocaine user to be on the telly at night so all the little kids can see him and figure there's nothing wrong with using cocaine?
"I want to go back to work, " Harmon said.
I'm not a close friend of Harmon Wages. I've taken plenty of shots at him in this column. But I like the man, and I like what he has done.
What he has done is apologize to the people for his past actions. What he has done is take his punishment. What he wants is another chance.
"A lot of people realize I am sorry for what I did, " he said. "My mail tells me that. I just can't believe people have been so nice to me as they have. They tell me they want to see me back on TV, but I haven't heard from anybody about a job."
A little lady, probably in her 70s, walked past the table where Wages was sitting. She recognized him, then stuck out her hand and said, "Welcome back to the human race."
We all make mistakes. Some of us suffer for them, and then learn from them. Harmon Wages is an example of that.
I think the public would applaud any television station with the guts to put a reformed Harmon Wages back on the air.
Anybody out there tuned in?
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