Book in the works on NW Sports legend Al Davidson

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Book in the works on NW Sports legend Al Davidson

Postby tuned » Thu Apr 14, 2016 11:56 am

Long time NW contributor Lyndon Grove is helping write it along with a lawyer from New Westminster.

VANCOUVER — Retired sports columnist Jim Taylor has given up his fight to have the late Al Davidson inducted into the media category of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

“I tried to make it happen several times over the years,” Taylor says from his home in Shawnigan Lake. “The man was a broadcasting icon in Vancouver. In his day, he owned the town. But I guess it’s too late now. The majority of the people on the Hall of Fame selection committee don’t even know his name. Too much time has passed. It’s sad.”

Taylor will be pleased to know that not everyone has forgotten the fiery little man who was once described as “a broadcaster who covered sports the way a penitentiary guard covers prisoners, with a shotgun and a lot of suspicion.”

Over the past two years New Westminster lawyer Michael Sporer has been researching and writing a book about the life and times of Davidson that will be published in 2016 to coincide with what would have been his 90th birthday and 25 years since his passing in August 1991.

Revered broadcasting journalist Lyndon Grove has been working with Sporer as an editor and consultant. The Davidson story goes back to his war years in the RCAF 438 Wildcat Squadron and chronicles his radio career that included stops with CKPR in Port Arthur, Ont., CKCK in Regina and CKY in Winnipeg before arriving at CKNW in 1958.

During his tumultuous career at ’NW, he was acquitted of arson charges that were laid after fire damaged the station’s boat Seawatch and he later won a wrongful dismissal suit for threatening the life of sportscaster Neil Macrae, whom Davidson had hired.

Vancouver Sun columnist Denny Boyd once wrote: “I hated the infuriating way Davidson practised his trade. He was biased, bigoted, vindictive and inaccurate. Put him in front of a microphone and he became as unpredictably dangerous as an exploding stove. But, God help me, I would get out of bed early every morning to hear him commit all the foregoing sins.

“So what was to like about him? He was a standup pal. He would climb a mountain to help you. He wept easily. He loved his family. He knew what he was doing every minute of his most crazed broadcast. He was a runty little pest who was fun to be around.”

Sporer might want to distribute copies of his upcoming book to the BC Sports Hall of Fame selection committee. Taylor says he’d gladly pay for them.
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Re: Book in the works on NW Sports legend Al Davidson

Postby Jack Bennest » Fri Apr 15, 2016 1:37 am

I remember. :canduck:

Everything ever said about Big Al was true - even the lies.

A bit like Burns who said "don't care if they love me or hate me, as long as they listen"
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Re: Book in the works on NW Sports legend Al Davidson

Postby Jack Bennest » Fri Apr 15, 2016 1:53 am

More from a column by Denny Boyd:

"What will people remember about this complex little man?

Ron Bremner, the former 'NW manager who fired Davidson, precipitating the law suit, says, "Most people never realized the kinds of things Al did behind the scenes for charity, always coming into the management offices to help the little guy. And I remember when I was on the street as a salesman hearing a guy say, "I can't stand that Davidson, never listen to him. Did you hear what he said yesterday . . ."'

I remember a moment of wonderful kindness. Joe Kapp, the old quarterback, had come back to town to speak at a sports dinner. He stayed too long at the bar and his speech was a rambling horror. Five hundred people sat frozen to their chairs, watching a hero destroy himself. Al Davidson walked up to the head table, put his arm around Kapp, said, 'Let's call it a night, Jody', and walked him to a chair.

Bill Good Sr. recalls, "Al was a good judge of character. If he liked you, he'd call you a great family man. That was the greatest compliment he could pay anyone and he was a great family man himself." closed quotes
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