Larry King In Depth from a Personal Standpoint

 AROUND THREE DAYS AFTER MY MOM PASSED, in March of 2018, I got a call from Larry King--out of nowhere. I was always calling Larry; rarely he called me. (Insert joke)

He called to console me. A good friend of mine who was a good fried of Larry's called Larry to tell him of my mom's passing. In his vintage ways, Larry called me and told me to stay strong and not to worry --that my mother was in a better place --and that my mom would want me to carry on and not feel sad.

I'm not telling the proper story. You had to be there. One thing Larry King was not was a schmuck.  He really was a good man. And a total real person, not in any way fake. Nothing like some people here in SF that I know.

*In January of 1987, I invited Larry to dinner at Oakland Tribune columnist, Perry Phillip's home-- a palatial mansion in Danville. I arranged for a limo to take us all: myself and a date; Larry and his date, Sylvia Chase on ABC and KRON, to arrive in Danville. It was bigtime. Parry's daughter, Frosene Phillips and a cast of thousands. It was a Saturday night that went late. The day after Larry would take a red eye back to Washington and do his Monday show on Mutual --his 12 AM --5 AM radio show. It was that night and early Monday Morning that Larry was having chest pains. Extremely painful. So much pain in fact that King drove himself to George Washington Hospital after he signed off which is good since at the ICU a doctor told Larry, "Mr. King, you're having a heart attack." 

*In 1984, me, then a wide-eyed 22 year-old working for K-101 and dooing free-lance work for ABC Radio got coveted floor pass press credentials for the Democratic Convention at Moscone Center. While I walked the floor and got to interview Ted Kennedy and Fritz Hollings, Larry King invited me up to the CNN VIP box to watch him do his Mutual Radio show. This was a blast. Again, not only was I able to schmooze with Larry, but sit in real time and watch him do his broadcast for the network.

*January, 1988, I flew to Washington and was a guest on Larry's 10th (then) anniversary show for Mutual --a special broadcast from the Duke Ziebert's restaurant --a place Larry would talk about all the time on radio. Tonight, I was amongst celebrity/political royalty at Duke's: Chuck Norris, Ted Koppel, Pat Sajak, Sam Donaldson, Janet Jackson, virtually all of Washington's elite, I was there and a guest of Larry.  A night I'll never forget.

*October, 1988. Dateline: Oakland. The World Series.  I was at all the games --it was the Dodgers and the A's. During the home portion of the A's participation, I was able to interview baseball comish, Peter Ueberroth --direct from  Crogans in Downtown Oakland on Larry King's Mutual show. Talk about timing and talk about being in the right place at the right time. 

*As I said, Larry King was NOT a phony. He was real, genuine, a rel mensch. He really was all about being a good guy, a true friend. And about as sincere and genuine as it gets.

I'm proud and honored to have known him for so many years and something I'll always cherish.