The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, January 22, 1997           TAG: 9701220381
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   71 lines

ODU STUDENTS URGED TO GRAB OPPORTUNITIES MSNBC NEWSMAN ED GORDON SAYS ``GOD'S LITTLE GIFTS'' ARE THE KEYS TO HIS SUCCESS.

Television anchorman Ed Gordon told Old Dominion University students Tuesday night to seize every opportunity that comes their way.

``Realize certain opportunities come once in a lifetime and never come back again,'' said Gordon, anchor for the MSNBC cable network and reporter for NBC's ``Today'' and ``Dateline'' shows. ``So try to grab them. They're God's little gifts to use.''

Gordon was the speaker at ODU's observance of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. More than 250 people attended his speech at Webb Center.

King, Gordon said, was an example of a man who overcame his hesitance to seize the moment. At first, King was a ``reluctant young minister who wanted little to do with the movement. But the time was right and the Montgomery bus boycott gave Martin Luther King his opportunity.''

Gordon also cited Bill Cosby for making the most of an awful opportunity when his son died last week. ``Here was Bill Cosby, in the worst moment of his life, taking the time to say, `I appreciate all the sympathy Americans are sending, but don't forget we are not the only ones grieving.' ''

Sometimes, though, ``it's better that you miss some of the opportunities put before you,'' Gordon said.

Gordon got his big break when he was the first reporter to land an interview with O.J. Simpson after Simpson's acquittal in his estranged wife's killing. At the time, Gordon was an anchor with Black Entertainment Television.

Before the interview, Gordon had been courted by the networks. But he said no because he feared ``they would send me out to the middle of Nebraska.'' That's what happens to too many black TV correspondents: ``You'll see them for three months, and then you never see them. They go to that little black reporters' hole.''

After the Simpson interview, he was offered a better deal and left BET. ``God's little gifts came along, and a bigger one came, with, I must say, thank you, a bigger paycheck,'' Gordon said.

After his half-hour speech, a questioner asked whether he'd deserted the black community by leaving BET. Not at all, Gordon said. ``I'm not a journalist who happens to be black; I'm a black person who happens to be a journalist,'' he said to applause.

While some black network reporters try to steer clear of black issues, Gordon said, he has taken the opposite approach. ``I told them I'll be your black reporter. . . .I have made it clear to NBC that I want to do stories of importance to African-Americans because I don't think they're told on television.''

But Gordon said he's not always successful. He still hasn't persuaded ``Dateline'' to allow him to do a piece on the singer Babyface.

Also at the ceremony, the Rev. Melvin O. Marriner, senior pastor of Grove Baptist Church in Portsmouth, received ODU's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award. ``On a daily basis,'' ODU President James V. Koch said, ``he lives Dr. King's ideals through his ministry,'' which includes a tutoring program, a summer enrichment project for children and a support group to help recovering drug addicts.

Marriner told the audience: ``I challenge all of you to serve someone or serve some noble idea.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

GARY C. KNAPP

Old Dominion University student Keshia Smith, 19, was among those

who took part Tuesday in a candlelight march at the school's

observance of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

Photo

Ed Gordon was the first reporter to interview O.J. Simpson after

Simpson's acquittal in 1995.


by CNB