2016 has been an especially bad year for taking away people who are important to me. My favorite singer, Merle Haggard passed away just a few days before I lost my Mother and of course just last week Coach Pat Summitt died at age 64. Yesterday my son Davey called to inform me that Gary Haskew, aka Doctor B, had passed away after suffering a massive heart attack. I had known Gary since the late 1980s, when he began his radio career with J. David Miller. It was less than a year later that Gary joined his brother Jerre and began Chattanooga's longest running and most successful sports talk franchise; SportTalk.
They were brash....they were funny.....and sometimes they were downright rude.
But one thing was for sure......they drew listeners and Gary or Doctor B as he would be known was the straw that stirred the drink. He would make outrageous bets on the air and once when he lost a particular bet, he ate dog food on the air. I I always kidded him that he actually liked that dog food more than he let on.
It was that kind of self confident, yet cocky behavior that led to the legendary status that Doctor B achieved in Chattanooga radio. What a lot of people didn't know about him was he was also a very loving and caring person; the kind of guy who would not only give you the shirt off his back, but would give you money to buy a second shirt.
He was involved in many community projects and was always there to support his many friends. He became very good friends with singer-songwriter Roger Alan Wade, and played a big part in his recent success. If the BAHF group was performing anywhere, Gary and his wife Rita would be there. That's the way he was. He believed to really support someone, you needed to be there with them when they performed. He was also that way with my son Davey when his band would perform. He cared about Davey a lot and Davey also loved Doctor B.
The Doc always knew just how far he could go before he would cross the line on the air. That's what made it so enjoyable to listen to him. One of his favorite words to use in describing someone who made him mad was, "idiot" and he used it a lot. I'll miss his arguments and banter with Alabama fans more than anything. He always used the term, "tater-diggers" to describe them. And for those of you who were not his friend on Facebook, you missed some very funny posts and exchanges with the "tater-diggers" almost daily.
It's a real shame that Gary was called home before the 2016 college football season began. He was so sure that Coach Butch Jones fourth Tennessee team was going to have a banner year and snap those long losing streaks to Florida and Alabama. Believe me, he will be able to follow the Vols......we just won't be able to hear his gloating when those victories become reality.
So sometime this week, let's all lift a glass and toast Doctor B. Let's remember the good things about him and why we all loved him so much. The last thing he would want is for any of us to feel sorry for him. He was 74 and while some may say that's too young to die, he would very likely disagree, He lived a good, long life and did a lot of wonderful things. We'll really miss him, but not as much as his wonderful family. Pray for strength and comfort for Rita and his brother Jerre, as well as all his family. Till we meet again Doc......Rest in Peace.
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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. He is currently teaching Broadcasting at Coahulla Creek High School near Dalton, Ga.
His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for thirty years.
He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga Television for more than a quarter-century.
In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, (Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith.) They have four grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, DellaMae and CoraLee.