WAYNE WALKER, the late, grear KPIX and former 49ers color broadcaster, was fond of the nightlife, especially SF nightlife. Walker loved to mix it up, enjoying the finer things in life and that included hoisting a few adult beverages. And sometimes more than a few. Walker was often seen with some of the most beautiful women in the city. And sometimes the night when he was an hour shy of reading his nightly sports report on PIX's newscast. It wasn't all that unusual to spot Walker, say, at HUNAN (across the street on Battery from PIX studios) and usually, Wayne was, shall we say, having a grand old time.
Cut to 30 minutes later and Wayne having to do his sports anchoring --maybe the most herculean task for everyone else, was just another routine night for Wayne Walker: he read his prompter and did so without any issues and boy, would there be nights when he, was, uh, sort of ...
Use your imagination.
Again, I want to be perfectly clear. Wayne was the consumate professional. He was a legend. Great guy. Great personality. A wonderful person who was as gracious a person you'd ever know or meet. I had the good fortune of meeting and knowing (a little) Mr. Walker. Yeah, a sort-of subdued character, but a character nonetheless. I swear his ability to multi-task in the most difficult of circumstances was complete mastery. Old-school PIX vets who worked along side him know exactly what I'm saying and now, so do you.
Any relation Wilson Walker on KPIX5 these days ?
ReplyDeleteWayne would have fit right in, on the Raider teams from that era!
ReplyDeleteMidday cocktails were a regular part of the work day in many places during the '70s. In those days people would get a couple of drinks with lunch and continue working in the afternoon. People functioned with drinks. No different in the media.
ReplyDeleteWayne loved the sistahs in the 70s. The bigger the better!
ReplyDeleteWalker coined the phrase, "cooler than the other side of the pillow", when talking about Joe Montana. Stuart Scott of ESPN stole that phrase and never did credit Wayne Walker.
ReplyDeleteNever knew that.
DeleteIt's funny, maybe it was because he was an ex-NFL player he never felt he had to "prove" anything, he was just an enjoyable personality who didn't take what he did too seriously. For as many years as weather people seem to stick around the market, there was some serious churn on TV sports desks in the 70s and 80s.
ReplyDelete