CLEVELAND, Ohio – The show’s name said a lot about the man.
More sports and Les Levine. This was Les, the lover of sports and puns. This was Les, who never stopped being thankful for having his own sports talk show.
Les. He was always just “Les” to his friends and the thousands who followed his various shows, including the MS&LL show that he performed in recent years on cleveland.com. He died on Wednesday of Parkinson’s complications and diabetes at age 74.
But in this story, he is Les.
He is one of those special people who welcomed me into the Cleveland sports media circle, apparently a million years ago. It was in the early 1980s, when I was a young baseball writer for The Plain Dealer.
That was when Hal Lebovitz was the voice of the sport as a columnist for The Plain Dealer. That was when Pete Franklin (another wonderful friend) was the loud voice on the old WWWE AM-1100 radio, “heard in 38 states and half of Canada!”
And that was when Les was the “Voice of Truth and Reason”.
BEFORE YOUR TIME
It was 25 years ago when Les aired his sports talk show on cable television. I asked myself, “Would anyone like to watch someone talking about sports? Listen, of course. But to see?”
Aside from the Chicago sports writers on TV (1985-2000), I don’t remember anyone else doing this until Les. He moved in 1996 from WHK radio. Certainly, he was the first to do a show like that in this market.
Les was not only the presenter, he also sold his own advertising and wrote the commercials, which he read with passion and panache. Les would have liked that word – panache. It means with a special extravagance, not the same old story.
I did your show once in 2009 with former Browns coach Eric Mangini. After that, Mangini said, “I never heard anyone read ads like that!”
It was a compliment. I think Sokolowski’s University Inn and Gallucci’s Italian Market are two of his favorites. He had McDonald’s for years. But when he missed it, he added Nature Stone, one of the main supporters of his show.
“Les has always owned you,” said former Cavs announcer Joe Tait. “He didn’t try to be Pete Franklin or anyone else, I loved his show for that. Their puns were usually funny. The Les you saw in the air was Les Levine. He was genuine. “
Then Tait told the story of the meeting with Les in the spring of 1970 in Indiana. Tait was covering an American Legion baseball game for a Terre Haute radio station. He met Les at the same game in which he started his broadcasting career at a radio station in Jasper, Indiana.
“And a few years later, the two of us, small town radio guys, ended up in Cleveland,” said Tait.
RESPECTED CALLERS
I posted a note about Les’s death on my Facebook page. Within hours, there were about 100 comments.
Robert Rodman wrote:
“Wow… another Cleveland media legend is gone. He seemed like a nice guy, in addition to being very knowledgeable, and I never heard him being abrupt or condescending to visitors. “
Having done hundreds of shows with Les, I was often amazed by his patience with the visitors. Some like “The Provoker” went to Les to piss him off. But Les and “The Provoker” knew the game and had fun with it, however outrageous the comment was.
Cliff Kessler wrote:
“I will really miss him. A decent man who covered sports with a talk show the right way. I’m sure it’s a generational thing, he didn’t have enough drama for most young people. “
But he also had a younger audience. Michael Shaffer wrote:
“Great show!”
“Tonight?”
“I watched every night. I will miss Les a lot. “
That’s because Les always asked “Tonight?” after someone praised your live show.
So there was this about Michael Hoover:
“I just heard about the passing away of one of my favorite sports presenters of all time, Les Levine. I drove more than 320 kilometers round trip on several occasions to the eastern suburbs to watch the show live at the accommodation sites.
MORE THAN JUST TALKING
Les was a wonderful writer. Those “Truth and Reason” comments he used to open the show were not only well written, but quick – in 20 minutes. Many times I saw him do it right before going on the air. He edited two books by Lebovitz, his close friend and star of his show for many years during the sports journalist’s weekly appearance. Les also wrote a regular column for the Cleveland Jewish News.
He met fans in many places, from walking his dog to performing for charities. He would talk about sports with anyone, anytime.
I have written this column with some tears in my eyes. Les was a man with a big heart who cared about others. That’s what I remember most about him.
Finally, David Lasky wrote:
“How is it that with Les no more, we feel less? Goodbye, Mr. Levine. Thank you for all the laughter, may your memory be a blessing to everyone who loved you. “
The only thing “Mr. Levine “would say:” Thank you very much … and you can call me Les “.
RECENT TERRY PLUTO COLUMNS
Who would have thought of that? Cavs defend and are assistable!
What Nolan Arenado’s trade tells us about Frankie Lindor’s business
My challenge, discover the tribe’s schedule with new additions
A painful and revealing memory of my time with Hank Aaron
Mayfield vs. Watson? Can we have a logical discussion?
Here’s what I’m hearing as spring training approaches – Terry’s Talkin ‘Tribe
What was the front office plan for 2020? What’s next? – Terry’s Talkin ‘Browns
Faith & You: The Browns at the sweet spot between sports and life