By Rick Kaempfer
IN MEMORIAM
T
he Chicago media community lost sev-
eral greats this year. Among them, WLS
Channel 7’s long-time reporter Russ
Ewing, WLS disc jockey Jim Dunbar, and
WGN-TV’s Marshall Brodine. All of them
were giants in this town that left lasting lega-
cies, but two others passed away in 2019 that
were personal friends of mine, and I wanted to
pay special tribute to them.
In April, Chicago sportscasting legend
Chet Coppock passed away after being
severely injured in an automobile accident. I
worked with him for several years at the Loop
(WLUP AM 1000) in the late '80s and early
'90s. That was at the height of Chet’s popular-
ity when he was hosting Coppock on Sports,
which would later spawn an entire radio for-
mat (Sports Talk). At the time, I was Steve
cop, a school principal, or a ticked-off parent
screaming that either of my little ones was a
danger to society. I can never thank Ty and
Lyndsey enough. They taught me there was
life beyond the red zone and the bullpen. Oh
ya, I made good on my pledge, I haven’t had a
drink in 34 years. No kidding.”
Chet passed away just a few weeks after
his daughter Lyndsey got married. He would
have been blown away by the outpouring of
love Chicago gave him after his death. I just
wish he could have seen it.
In January, Pat Colander passed away. Pat
was a gifted journalist for The Chicago Tribune,
The Chicago Reader, and other publications for
many years, but she was also a mentor as an
editor during her time at Lake Magazine, Shore
Magazine, and the Northwest Indiana Times.
Chet Coppock
Dahl & Garry Meier's producer, and his show
was on after ours every day. We literally talked
every day for four years, and I was convinced
he didn’t know my name. I got a lot of “Hey
Chief” or “Hey Sport” or “Hey Champ” in the
Loop hallways.
But in the last few years of his life, Chet
reached out to me to help him publish his
books (I own a publishing company —
Eckhartz Press). He wasn’t the same Chet any-
more. He was introspective and vulnerable.
And he was finally allowing people to know
the real Chet. When we published the book
Your Dime, My Dance Floor: Chet Coppock in
Pursuit of Chet Coppock, I couldn’t have been
prouder of him. I interviewed Chet about the
book, and here’s a short excerpt I think shows
the real Chet.
“My relationship with my dad was very
complex and sadly, never resolved. The old
man was wired to numerous local and nation-
al sports figures. He gave me a big-time intro-
duction to sports. Sadly, however, about 95
percent of our relationship was indifference. I
never really felt my dad cared about me as a
person. I yearned for attention and would find
it defining and redefining the persona of Chet
Coppock. I mean, I was lost, yet there was one
move I made that smacked of common sense.
I loved sipping Red Label scotch in juke joints.
I was never an alcoholic, but by my early 30’s
I was just slopping up the sauce far too much.
So when my daughter Lyndsey arrived, I
made a pledge: I swore my children would
never see me as tanked as I saw my parents
virtually every night. I didn’t read any books
on parenting. I just tried to be responsive and
comforting. I am blessed. Lynds and my son
Tyler are great kids with big hearts. Have I
been a good father, a new age Ozzie Nelson?
Ask the official scorer. I do know that I feel
blue ribbon pride that I never got a call from a
16 illinoisentertainer.com december 2019
Among the many writers she nurtured along
the way: Your humble media writer at Illinois
Entertainer.
I met Pat almost twenty years ago when I
was working with John Landecker. She was
the editor of Lake Magazine at the time, and
they were doing a story about John. In our first
conversation, I mentioned that I was a writer
too, and she asked me to write an article for
her magazine. She liked it, and I wrote many
more.
When Landecker's show ended, she
encouraged me to write full-time. And I did.
My first two books The Radio Producer's
Handbook and $everance were both champi-
oned by Pat in the pages of her magazine.
When she moved over to Shore Magazine to be
the editor there, I went with her. I wrote even
more for her there, including the weekly col-
umn that came to be my pride and joy -
"Father Knows Nothing." When it came out in
book form, Pat gave me an enthusiastic
endorsement on the back cover. Pat was
always encouraging, always supportive. She
was a great cheerleader for me and all the
writers she employed.
And she never stopped writing herself.
When I started up Eckhartz Press, Pat came to
us with an idea. She wanted to print some of
her best work (from The Reader, The Tribune,
etc.) into book form. Those articles turned into
Hugh Hefner's First Funeral and Other Tales of
Love & Death in Chicago. We weren't surprised
at all when it won the CWA Book of the Year
award in 2016. It's that good.
You only encounter so many truly excep-
tional people in your life, and Pat was one of
them for me. I'm grateful to have seen the
tremendous example she set for how to treat
people, how to be generous in spirit, and how
to be giving to others. Her passing was a sig-
nificant loss, and I still miss her.