ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 8, 1997 TAG: 9701080009
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEN PARISH PERKINS FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
To some, Bryant Gumbel, who stepped down last week after 15 years as lead anchor of NBC's ``Today'' show, was an arrogant tyrant who couldn't take the mistakes of his co-workers. To them, his crude, humorless demeanor wasn't what they wanted to watch first thing in the a.m.
To others, he was an honest, brilliant journalist and interviewer who asked tough questions, stood his ground, lived for a cause and was comfortable enough to show his emotions over the airwaves. Perhaps it was a trait left over from his sportscaster days, but Gumbel certainly called it as he saw it.
In many ways, the dissection of Gumbel during his tenure, and wherever he's bound this day forth, tells far more about the society in which we live than the man who lived in it. Why is it that a man of his journalistic caliber and experience could have at one time been considered a ``long shot'' to succeed as host of a show that is, with all due respect, fluff-tainment. Why was the confidence that Gumbel exuded often described as a nasty ego?
Gumbel walked onto ``Today'' as the first black person to anchor a national morning news show wishing, as do many successful people of color, that the color thing wasn't such a big deal and pleading naivete when it became an issue to others.
The letters Gumbel received at ``Today'' during his first few years as co-host with Jane Pauley were often ugly, dark and unsettling. There were letter writers who questioned Gumbel's qualifications because he was a sports guy (Gumbel made his reputation as a broadcaster with NBC Sports) and others simply because he is black.
But he exited last week as host of ``Today'' having lasted longer than anyone else on the program. He left for much the reason that he came: the challenge. Gumbel has always been one who does what interests him and pushes him to the high standards he sets for himself and others.
When it's time to move on, he does so, without much looking back, without a whole lot of reflection. He's far more excited about tomorrow than yesterday.
To say Gumbel wasn't at times difficult to work with would be laughable. Pauley once talked of his ``Type-A'' personality and described a detail person who needs to double-check everything himself. He'd often fly off the handle because situations weren't necessarily the way he wanted them.
``People would say I have a temper,'' he told Oprah Winfrey recently. ``But I don't yell. Don't raise my voice.''
Still, the list of Gumbelisms is long: the infamous memo that nearly wrecked his friendship with weatherman Willard Scott (the only part of it that he's ever regretted was ``a poor choice of words''); the Pauley-Deborah Norville fiasco, which some said Gumbel helped orchestrate; the O.J. Simpson interview, which he didn't get, and then refused to come in to work on that day because his ``objectivity,'' as was the case with many black reporters, was questioned. All these were seen as examples of the dreaded Gumbel ``ego factor.''
But there is also the Gumbel getting choked up during a sign-off from Africa. Gumbel had lobbied long and hard to get the show there after trying to convince NBC of its news value. He finally did.
There was also the time Gumbel lost it during coverage of Arthur Ashe's death, where the anchor cried on air. He couldn't talk. He tried to show photos. He never made it through the segment. (Ashe had told Gumbel three years before it was announced that he had AIDS. Gumbel was not the least bit sorry not to report it.)
Gumbel's interviewing skills were sharp, and his comments and questions sometimes stung. He once called Pat Buchanan ``Mr. Puke-anan.'' He asked House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt: ``You called Gingrich and his ilk, your words, `trickle-down terrorists who base their agenda on division, exclusion and fear.' Do you think middle-class Americans are in need of protection from that group?''
Still, colleagues such as Pauley recall an April 1985 private Mass at the Vatican. It was, she told Winfrey, ``a special moment,'' and ``certainly a time to get weak in the knees.'' She recalled Gumbel moving in close to her, rubbing her back and whispering, ``It's all right.''
``He's like a brother to me,'' Pauley said. ``Even when I don't like him, I got to love him.''
LENGTH: Medium: 77 linesby CNB