THE HAT SQUAD TVXOHOF - REMEMBERING KEITH JACKSON

From the Los Angeles Times:
For decades during college football season, his homespun phrases moved across the airwaves.

Linemen were not guards and tackles, they were “the big uglies.” Running backs didn’t drop the ball, there was a “fuumm-bull!” Of an undersized player, he might say, “He’s a little-bitty thing, a bantam rooster. But he’s young. If he keeps eatin’ his cornbread, he’ll be man-sized someday.”

And, of course, there was “Whoa, Nellie!,” which became known as his signature phrase.

Keith Jackson, the folksy voice of college football who for decades weaved backwoods wit through ABC broadcasts, died Friday night. He was 89.

The longtime Sherman Oaks resident worked 15 Rose Bowls, more than any other announcer. No cause of death or other details were given in a statement from ESPN, which, along with ABC, Jackson’s longtime employer, is owned by the Walt Disney Co.
- Mike Kupper and Mike DiGiovanna

Even as the voice of college football and covering so many sports events would not have been enough to bring Keith Jackson into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  Such appearances, along with visits to talk shows, participation in game shows, can "flavor" an inductee's resume, but they still need to have those basic requirements - appearances in at least three different TV shows, movies, or commercials.

And Mr. Jackson scored a touchdown on that deal.

Here are the appearances as himself which proved he should be inducted into the Hall.

The Streets of San Francisco
- The Hard Breed (1974)

At the Cow Palace, Jackson covered a rodeo with Lex Connelly, the manager of the Cow Palace and a member of the Rodeo Hall of Fame.  During the televised event, one of the cowboys was murdered.

AT THE MORGAN HOME

LATER AT THE BAR

When She Was Bad... (1979 TV Movie)

Probably Cheryl Ladd's first showcase roles, this TV movie about child abuse featured a University of Texas Longhorns game on the TVs at home and at the bar which was called by Jackson.

Coach
- If Keith Jackson Calls, I'll Be at My Therapist's (1989)

Coach undergoes hypnotism in order to overcome a nervous facial twitch, but with adverse affects.  (This marks the first appearance the team makes on 'ABC Sports'. Minnesota State loses to Penn State (a real-life football team), 31 to 7.)

Three appearances are all that was needed and so Keith Jackson qualified.  But he goes beyond that with an appearance in an alternate TV dimension known as Toobworld's Toobworld.  The Toobworld's Toobworld dimension is where the dramatizations of the behind the scenes productions of real TV shows take place.  

The Bronx Is Burning
- Mr. October (2007)

In this episode of the mini-series, footage from the 1977 World Series game with Howard Cosell and Keith Jackson as the commentators.  The cameras had turned away from the game to cover a burning building just a few blocks away.

It became a symbol of that turbulent summer.

(The reason I included the mini-series in Toobworld's Toobworld because in a way, this look behind the scenes of the Yankees' run for the Series title during the Summer of the Son of Sam was the same kind of situation as those TV movies about the productions of shows like 'Three's Company', 'Dynasty', 'Steptoe and Son' etc.)

So we tip the Toobworld hat to the memory of Keith Gordon with this induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

Good night and may God bless....