The ultra-secret meeting at a Manhattan hotel room in 2000 unfolded like a scene from a cloak-and-dagger thriller.
Legendary broadcaster Dick Enberg was instructed to make a low-key stop at the front desk and ask for the room of Mr. Nafala. Sean McManus, the president of CBS Sports, was waiting.
McManus had landed the rights to NFL games two years earlier. Now he hoped to land Enberg, the most versatile voice in sports television who was cashing paychecks at rival NBC.
Meeting in a busy New York City restaurant would be too risky. This required discretion … and a touch of Tom Clancy.
“So I went to Mr. Nafala’s room,” Enberg said this week. “If you throw away the vowels, it’s Mr. NFL. That’s where we worked out the deal for me to go to CBS. I was surprised Sean told that story.”
McManus uncoiled the tale on Enberg’s new podcast, Sound of Success. Enberg, the ultimate old-school guy who still uses pen and paper to stitch together intros and questions, has dipped his talented toes into the new school.
The man who covered 28 Wimbledon tennis tournaments, 10 Super Bowls, eight NCAA basketball title games and an exhausting list of things in between has applied his familiar skills in an unfamiliar setting.
Enberg, a storyteller’s storyteller whose last full-time gig came in the television booth of the Padres, has settled into the unrushed, breathable interview format. In a world assaulted by blink-and-miss soundbites and online click bait, who ever thought a podcast could be a snug fit?
Not Enberg, for one.
“I had no idea,” said Enberg, 82. “What’s a podcast? I’m a total ignoramus when it comes to the internet. I’m lucky to check my email and make a phone call. But the guests get comfortable, because they have the time to tell a story. It makes the experience so much more human.”
The giants of the sports world are lining up at Enberg’s mic.
The first three interviews? Billie Jean King, Bill Walton and Vin Scully. He’s also swapped stories with Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari, Golden State Warriors boss Steve Kerr and baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench.
There are 19 in all, with some waiting to hit the web and a library in full bloom.
“With Dick, he reaches out to big-name people and a lot of them don’t just say yes, they say they’re excited and eager to do it,” said Steve Delamater, who produces the podcast. “The best comparison I can make, without being too mushy, is that it’s like sitting in a room with your grandfather. There’s a warmth and wisdom to the storytelling that’s so engaging.
“There’s no ego to him at all. None whatsoever. He’s very charming, very knowledgeable, very prepared and very professional.”
And above all, he’s connected and respected. That combination kicks open doors to A-listers who feel cozy enough to open up.
Kerr walked through the emotional wreckage of his father’s assassination while he played basketball at Arizona. Bench articulated reasons why he feels former Cincinnati teammate Pete Rose should remain banned from Cooperstown’s baseball shrine.
Fellow broadcaster Beth Mowins explained the complexities of calling football as so many stubbornly refuse to think of it as anything other than a “man’s game.” Another TV icon, Jim Nantz, told the story of how both former presidents named George Bush asked him to fill out a golf foursome — and Tom Brady showed up.
The podcast also features segments that include the Enberg Echo, a chance to tap into the well of his far-reaching experiences.
One being recorded this week explained how a Rancho Santa Fe man facing the final days of his cancer fight hoped to return to Notre Dame for a football game. He had played lacrosse at the university.
“I was working with Bill Walsh at the time and we invited Bruce to the start of our Friday meeting with Lou Holtz, who was the coach at the time,” Enberg recalled. “We wanted him to meet Coach Holtz, but figured he couldn’t stay because we would be talking about the game plan against USC.
“Holtz said, ‘Bruce, you stay.’ ”
Holtz made sure the man was in the locker room after the game, too — awarding Bruce the game ball. The coach took the prize back, promising to get it signed by the team.
“He hugged that football like Jerome Bettis, who played in that game,” Enberg said. “The next Saturday, he was in the hospital. The football arrives by mail. In his bed, during his final breaths, he dies with that football in his arms.”
Classic Enberg, still.
Same man. Same voice. New place.
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The Dick Enberg podcast, Sound of Success, can be found at PodcastOneSports.com or on iTunes.
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