Just saw where the Powerball lotto is up around 150 million dollars. Not a bad little tax problem to have I must say for a dollar “investment”. I rarely play but for some reason it will occasionally grab my attention and dollars. I don’t even pretend it goes to public education any more. I just figure I’m buying a “dream” and paying a “stupid tax”.

Let’s say today though that you did hit the lotto and suddenly had the kind of millions to bestow on Texas Tech that many Red Raiders wish they had. I hear a lot saying that if Tech had a T. Boone Pickens the school would get a lot more out of it than Oklahoma State has so far. . .

So, what would you do with your cash? What would you fund at Texas Tech? Would it be sports-related? Would you do something for the school or college you got your major in? I’m interested to see how creative y’all can get with this today.

Don’t forget that if you live outside the Hubbaplex you can catch our show every day live via www.1340thefan.com where you can also download the smart phone app for SportsRadio 1340 The Fan. I also encourage all of you to give our podcast a FREE TRIAL right now. That’s the best way to never miss a segment, an interview or any discussions about your Red Raiders, Lubbock and West Texas news. Click on any podcast on the front page of our site and begin the journey.

Have a great Sunday and we’ll talk to you on the radio come Monday.

Ryan Hyatt

I had no idea growing up what Rodney Allison or Rick Bullock sounded like. I didn’t know that Jim Carlen had a southern drawl or that Gerald Myers voice could get high-pitched when he got fired up. I didn’t need to. I had Texas Tech play-by-play voice Jack Dale providing all the description I needed, giving life and color and personality to all those Tech greats and more. Jack was Texas Tech sports to me growing up, more than any player or coach ever could be. For over 50 years, Jack Dale was the common thread that ran through all Texas Tech fans, more than any player or single moment ever could. Jack was Texas Tech.

Jack passed away Friday night at age 79.  I still have a hard time typing it, let alone believing it.

Like nearly any Texas Tech fan over the past half-century I grew-up listening to Jack call Red Raider sports. I was already at Texas Tech as a student working at the campus station, KTXT, calling games and doing sports casts before I even realized that there was another way to do play-by-play on the radio. It is a good thing I heard some others around the country like Brad Sham or Frank Fallon because I had quickly realized that there was no way one could match Jack Dale in the play-by-play department. After calling a few games I was convinced I would have to get out of the business because I had no chance of doing it the way Jack did it, which was and is the gold standard.

Luckily folks around here were forgiving of the rest of us and realized there could only be one Jack.

For me, my earliest memories listening to Jack take me back to my bedroom as a kid growing up in Amarillo and Canyon. Somewhere along the way I found a little plastic basketball goal with a little ball. I taped the goal on the wall above my desk and I’d listen to Jack call Texas Tech games and I’d play along. When the Red Raiders would shoot, I’d shoot. I’d get frustrated when my shots didn’t go “up and in!” as often as the Red Raiders did.

It was there in my room, so many nights and afternoons that I heard Jack craft the perfect word-picture of Texas Tech sports. Whether it was Gerald Myers teams on the court or the Red Raiders on the turf of Jones Stadium, the real thing could hardly compare to what Jack brought to us over the airwaves. Somewhere along the way, I must have picked up enough of Jack’s love for Tech that I would not only go there, but also get into broadcasting myself.

I first met Jack when I was working as a student at KTXT. One of the perks of the job was that you could go cover the regular Monday morning presser at the Letterman’s Lounge at Jones Stadium featuring coaches and players. To the veteran reports of print, radio and TV, this was a dreaded “have to” assignment. For us kids it meant FREE Whataburger and the chance to rub elbows with folks that might actually give us a JOB someday.

I remember in the late 80′s sitting in awe each week that I got to do this. Each week you could count on Jack to be there as well. Jack was perfect during some of those rough times when either Gerald Myers would have a struggling squad ( all too often those days ) or Spike Dykes would be peeved about something Norval Pollard or Don Williams had written in the A-J. ( all too often in those days )

When things would get a little tense or down you could count on the elder statesmen in Jack to come through with a good question or a line that would help the coaches relax or give them something positive to say. It was a trait in Jack that I would just be beginning to see. Not just the great broadcaster, the man that so many looked up to for what he did on the air, but rather the human, compassionate, considerate and gentlemanly side of Jack that I’d come to appreciate so much more as the years would go by.

I could bore you with story after story of working with Jack, of launching SportsRadio 1340 The Fan as Lubbock’s first all-sports station in 1996 or simply of just being around the man, but we’d be here for a long time if I did that so I’ll try and focus on a few that illustrate the man.

Jack was kind enough in 1990 to give me a huge shot calling play-by-play on KFYO. At the time I’d been calling Lady Raider games on KTXT and KJAK-FM (thanks Woody!) but I was still pretty raw even if I was passionate about it. My toughest job was to try and not rip off Jack’s signature calls too much.

At the time the SWC still played double-headers with the women playing at 5 and the men at 7p.m. KFYO had the rights to the Lady Raider road games back then so Jack would announce the women’s game first then call the men’s game. Imagine that! That spring at the SWC Tournament the Lady Raiders would have a conflict in start times for their semi-final game against Texas while the men were in a “play-in” game with Texas A&M. Kermit Davis anyone?

So, that Monday before the tournament, Jack asked me after the Monday presser if I’d be interested in going to Dallas and calling the Lady Raider game on KFYO. Everything after that sorta became a blur. For a college kid, it was like getting called up to the Majors. I remember standing in the parking lot North of Jones Stadium and Jack saying that I’d need a little money to cover expenses and whatnot. At that point it hadn’t even dawned on me that I’d get paid! As I’m standing there, Jack proceeds to pull out his wallet and peel off about four 100 dollar bills.

I just stood there staring at them. I hadn’t seen a lot of 100 dollar bills growing up. I just kinda looked at him and stood there, not reaching to take them as they were offered. Finally, Jack cleared his throat a bit and nicely asked, “will that be enough?”.  I finally snapped out of my trance and said, “thank you, of course!”, and began to figure out whether my car could make it to Dallas or not. . .

Later that week I would call the Lady Raider’s first ever victory over the Texas Lady Longhorns.

The confidence that Jack Dale gave me that week would stay with me for a long time. The friendship he’d give me in the coming years will stay with me for a lifetime however.

Luckily, I got to know Jack the person as opposed to just Jack the broadcaster. As great as he was on the mic, you’d never know it from his eg0-less nature and his humble ways. I think he was uncomfortable as the years went on as he became icon-status. To Jack, I think it just meant that he’d been doing the games a long time, not that he meant so much to so many Texas Tech fans.

Above all else, Jack would be disappointed if I didn’t say that his greatest legacy was his Christian faith. Pure. Simple. Jack didn’t need to make a show of it, because he lived it. To his last days it is what will define him for me. Not the great calls, the landmark moments he captured for generations of Tech fans, not any of that. It will simply be that he didn’t allow any of that to affect him and his devotion to his Lord, his wife and his family.

As we worked together over the past two decades there a re numerous times I will remember when Jack would offer me great advice. Not about broadcasting but about life.

When he heard I was going to be a father he came to me with some great Scripture and gave me some words about being a Dad and a Husband that were perfect. When my grandmother was dying and he saw how it was affecting me, we prayed together one afternoon in our studio. When I saw him for the last time Friday morning he was more interested in my son’s karate classes than he was in talking about him. He was without ego, he was at ease with his departure from this life because he knew he was going to his just reward, his Eternal Peace.

My wish is for Texas Tech fans and others to know that all of us in this business were just like you all. We were in awe of Jack’s talents and we loved his passion for not just the Red Raiders, but for doing a high-quality job because the game, the players and the coaches deserved that effort.  We all appreciated the fact that Jack’s consideration from others made him the rare announcer that wasn’t combative or opinionated. He hated that aspect of the call-in show and the “modern media” I think. He had too much respect for people to be that way. Our business could use a lot more of that these days. I know I could still stand to learn from Jack on that aspect of “doing our job”.

We’ll lay Jack to rest Tuesday, but make no mistake; he’ll live on in all of the lives he touched, from his closest family members and friends, his co-workers and fellow broadcasters and even those fans that only heard his voice come crackling in over the airwaves for nearly 60 years. He’ll live on because he is Forever’s Voice of The Red Raiders.

As for me, thanks to Jack Dale, I can always be that little kid sitting in his room at his desk playing basketball right along with his heroes.  Thanks not just for the memories Jack, thank you for giving them meaning.

Ryan Hyatt

I wish I could put into words tonight everything I’m feeling with the passing of Texas Tech broadcasting legend Jack Dale. I wish I could, but I can’t right now. He meant so much to me as an inspiration to get into the business, as a mentor once I was crazy enough to try broadcasting, and then later as a great friend and co-worker.

Instead, I’ll leave you to the link and the story Don Williams crafted tonight for the Avalanche-Journal. I know they’ll be many more tributes to come for Jack, and I’ll have my own writings later this weekend when the pen inside my brain gets ready to write again, but for now I just want you all to know that there was no finer gentleman, no honestly kinder soul in this cut-throat business than Jack Dale.

Thank you, Jack. I don’t have the words. . .

Ryan Hyatt

5 THINGS WE KNOW ON A FRIDAY

1.  I don’t care what his ranking is or where he is on the leader board at the U.S. Open right now. The person I’d least like to play for cash would be Phil Mickelson. He’d end up driving my convertible away from the bar I’m afraid.

2.  While I’d still have no problem if Nolan Ryan replaced Ron Washington at any time, the biggest cog still missing from last year to this year for the Rangers is Clint Hurdle. I think he brought something to that clubhouse much more than just letting guys know there was something called the “opposite field”.

3.  It is great to have Texas Tech Basketball legend Bubba Jennings back in the fold after all these years, uh I mean months. . . er, days? No. Seriously, I think it is great that new coach Billy Gillispie didn’t feel like he had to reinvent the wheel at Tech the way so many coaches do when they come to a losing program. Sometimes you have to look around and realize you have some great people that may not be being utilized the best way or even in the right job spot. Business folks could take a less from that as well.

4. The Windy Man sculpture is back in Lubbock. Surely this means we’ll get no rain and be punished even harder right? Of course if it rains this weekend. . .

5.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. is gonna win at Michigan again. It just isn’t going to be this week. If he can get some Sunoco Fuel into that #16 Greg Biffle is going to Victory Lane this Sunday. If not, watch for Matt Kenseth to show up and blandly make everyone look like they have their learner’s permit.

Hyatt

1. Not sure I’ve ever publicly endorsed a coach for a particular job at Texas Tech in the 17 years we’ve done the show but . . .Billy Gillispie is the right man at the right time for the Texas Tech basketball program. If he wants the job, it will be his by the end of this week.

2.  Pat Knight deserves a lot of respect for the way he exited stage left this year. Frustrated, yes. Angry? Maybe so. Big enough of a man to accept and understand that it’s just business? You bet. He’ll be a fine head coach somewhere down the line, Tech and Lubbock were just the wrong place at the wrong time.

3. The Mike Leach attempt to get the Texas State Legislature to take up his cause will die a quick and quiet death. That is if Rep. John Frullo really wants to: A-Be elected again, B-Work with Texas Tech officials and C-See his Lubbock business survive. Harsh, but true.

4.  The first four days of the NCAA Basketball Tournament are some of the greatest days in sports. Everything after that . . .

5.  10 years later, it is odd to say, but Texas Tech did much more for Bob Knight than Knight did for Texas Tech. If you look at the total scope of the decade, Tech allowed Knight to resurrect a career, get a win record, launch a broadcasting career and get his son a built-in job. After 10-years, the program is pretty much where the Knight’s inherited it. I’m not sure whether I’m more surprised that the Knights were here in the first place, or that it didn’t translate into more success. Either way, every time Bob Knight cashes a check he should write Gerald Myers and Dr. David Schmidly a thank-you note.

Hyatt

Here are a couple of quick reads from the A-J, ESPN and Raiderpower.com’s Travis Cram .

The move obviously doesn’t come as a surprise to fans and even Knight himself given Tech’s frustration on the court not just this year but for the past several as well as declining attendance and a recruiting outlook that isn’t too rosy. What is interesting is the timing of the move, coming before the Big 12 Tournament gets underway in Kansas City later this week.

This tells me that new A.D. Kirby Hocutt, Pres. Guy Bailey and Texas Tech already have their man identified and ready to go. Either that or they feel they’re so close they want to get a jump on talking to him and not wanting to wait til other schools make their hiring-firing decisions here in March.

The timing is reminiscent of the firing of James Dickey 10 years ago in Kansas City at the Big 12 Tournament by Gerald Myers and Pres. David Schmidly. Of course they’d already set their sights on Bob Knight at the time and felt, as perhaps Tech officials do now, that they couldn’t wait til the season wrapped-up to move.

So, who is the target?

Smart money says it may be Billy Gillispie time here in the Hubbaplex. The much chronicled former A&M and Kentucky boss has been the hottest name rumored to replace ____________coach around the country for the last year by many fans. It is ironic that today Mike Jones had a column in the Star-Telegram talking about just this–Tech going after Gillispie. It is an interesting read.

As for Pat Knight, he’s a good guy that fate may have conspired against in his first head coaching job. I think he’ll make a fine coach on down the road, but Texas Tech wasn’t the right spot at the right time for him. I’ll always question whether he and Bob really ever believed and bought into the idea that you can recruit to Texas Tech and Lubbock and that you can win big here. I also still wonder if the Big 12 was just to foreign to them from their years in Big 10 country where college basketball has a different feel and a different importance with the fans.

I hope that Pat gets a chance again soon, somewhere that he’s comfortable and somewhere he can be his own man. Following a legend like Bob Knight, let alone it being your father, is tough stuff to do at the same school you were an assistant at. I think Pat’s best days are ahead of him and I wish him well.

For now, we’ll turn our attention to the next head coach at Texas Tech. We’ll have much more coming up at 3p.m. today on The Fan, so be sure and listen online and feel free to call in with your thoughts today on The Domino’s Fan Line at 1-866-984-5326. You can also leave your comments here and we’ll read the best ones on The Show today!

Hyatt

It is hard for me to believe that it has been a decade since we all suffered along with the Oklahoma State family in their loss of ten members of their men’s basketball program in a plane crash on the snowy plains outside of Boulder, Colorado. So much has changed in that time, but one thing remains constant for me and that is the moment in time I realized how very much connected all of us involved in college athletics are on some very basic, human levels.

The day the OSU plane went down the Texas Tech Lady Raiders were traveling to Norman for a Sunday date the next day with the Sooners. It was a bitter cold day in Lubbock with lots of ice and wet stuff falling from the sky. We wondered at the airport if we’d be going by plane or by bus. After a long day of waiting, spending over an hour on the plane waiting for clearance to leave on that cramped, cold plane, being deiced not once but twice, we finally got word that we were clear to go to Norman. At the time it seemed like we’d really been put out. We’d find out later how selfish we were in our complaints of delays, missed shoot-around time and late supper. . .

After finally getting to Norman we headed straight to Outback for a late meal before getting the team down for a noon tip the next day. I don’t know why, but over the years I made it a habit to be the last one off the bus whether it was practice, team meals or whatever. So, as got ready to get off the bus that night I realized Tech Head Coach Marsha Sharp will still in her customary front seat, on the phone, talking in hushed tones with another of our coaches near by.

For some reason I held back just a bit, not wanting to intrude when she wrapped up the conversation with a blank look on her face.

“They lost a plane today,” she said.

“Oklahoma State’s men’s team is missing a plane coming back from Colorado,” She added.

Before I could even begin to process and ask what lost meant she told someone else that they didn’t think or weren’t sure at that point if there were any survivors.

From that moment on that night it would be an evening starting out with the slightest of hope only to learn that the worst would be confirmed. All ten on the plane killed. All ten lost doing the very thing all of us had just done and would do tomorrow at about 4 p.m. Get on a plane and go home. . .

That night was an emotional one for anyone involved. Whether it was the OSU family or all of us extended members of the college basketball family. From coaches to players, from trainers to doctors, radio and TV and media relations directors; we could all share in the connectedness.

We all sat there not really eating watching the first TV reports out of Oklahoma City confirming what we’d been privy to just a few minutes early. No one really even had to say it. We all knew and all understood that night that it could have been any of us, at any time. To say that as a program that night everyone understood exactly where basketball ranked in life would be a sad understatement.

Not that it mattered but for some of us in the business we could relate even more perhaps. At OSU, as in most places that used multiple small planes to ferry the travel party of up to 25 or 30 on a given trip the groupings usually were the same. The plane that went down for OSU was the slower traveling plane with a few players, but mainly support group personnel like their young media relations employee, some reserve players, their director of basketball operations and their radio play-by-play man. It was not an uncommon grouping of folks and it wasn’t a deliberate caste system that put them on that plane, it’s just the way travel was and is still done a lot of times.

Obviously for me it hit home that night because I’d been on “that plane” any number of times. It didn’t matter, but it did. No matter who was involved it still was a horrific moment, but for some of us we related maybe a little closer to that group of people and said our prayers that night knowing that at any time in the past or any time in the future it might have been or could be our families getting that awful call.

The memories of those men still are rightfully celebrated and more importantly honored by the safeguards put in by many universities when it comes to travel these days. For that, everyone involved in the business of college athletics owes them a debt of gratitude every time they head to the airport for an away game.

Beyond that though for me, that night galvanized a feeling that one day I wouldn’t want to get on a plane again and one day that would probably contribute to me not doing sports play-by-play, at least the way I did it for two decades.

I had always had a fear of flying. It was part of the job though and even though we all accept it I never could accept it as an “acceptable risk”. I hated it.

Ten years ago when we were all struck by the OSU tragedy I was single. I had just met the woman I’d marry and have a wonderful son with. Ten years ago on this night though I knew even then that my days of calling games and flying for six months of the year through snow storms, ice storms and everything else would probably come to an end in part because I hated flying so much.

I think that to this day that night had a profound affect on so many not just involved in the program at OSU, but around the league and basketball in general. To this day I think it played a large role in Eddie Sutton’s battle with alcohol and painkillers. I know he made some bad choices afterwards, and that’s on him, but I’ve always tried to cut some slack to a guy I know had to make ten of the hardest phone calls a man will ever make in one night. I feel the same way for Sean Sutton and issues he’s dealt with. I even know how personally affected men like then Texas Tech coach James Dickey was affected, having been a part of Sutton’s staff at one time and still a great friend.

As I write this tonight I don’t want you to think it is from the self-serving perch of woe-is-us who have or had to travel. Lots of people do. Mainly I want to write it from the standpoint of letting folks know what what happened that day in Colorado wasn’t a singular incident that just affected the Oklahoma State program or family. It changed all of us in the business that day.

I would call Texas Tech games for another eight years after that season. I never got on another plane when I didn’t think about those ten men, those ten men that died doing something they loved but left so much more life out there ahead of them.

I have so many good friends still on staff at Texas Tech, around the Big 12 and beyond. As the seasons go on now I think about them each time I get a release that says they’re going a road trip. I think about them each time I see on facebook they’re heading to the airport for a quick-trip to fill-in-the-blank. I think about them and I say a prayer that every last one of them makes it back every single time, because ten years ago tonight I learned that life doesn’t always work that way.

For me now, I fly when I want to and not when I “have” to. Since I stepped down calling the Tech games after the 2009 season I’ve been on exactly two planes.

And yes, both times I thought about sitting on that bus outside a Norman, Oklahoma steakhouse hearing the words that would forever change the way I looked at my involvement in college sports. No, we won’t forget you:

Kendall Durfey- Broadcast engineer

Bjorn Fahlstrom- Pilot

Nate Fleming- Player

Will Hancock- Sports info. director

Daniel Lawson- Player

Brian Luinstra- Trainer

Denver Mills- Pilot

Pat Noyes- Administrator

Bill Teegins- TV director

Jared Weiberg- Manager

All of us in or out of the business will always know that we’re just one of you guys. . .and we’re glad y’all were “one of us”.

Ryan Hyatt

1. Expect significant news and movement on the Texas Tech Athletic Director search over the next 7-10 days. The shortest month of the year looks like it will yield the biggest news of the year for Texas Tech fans.

2. The first major hire by the new A.D. will be a mens basketball coach in March.

3.  The success that Tommy Tuberville is enjoying on the recruiting trail is directly related to him not putting false limits on himself, his staff or the program. Some fans could take a lesson from that. . .

4.  The news that Mike Leach got thumped by the Texas Appeals Court in Amarillo today is merely a speed-bump on the way to the Texas Supreme Court. Whether they decide to even hear the case is doubtful but you can bet that’s where it is headed. With no chance at a legitimate job this year Leach might as well go scorched earth and play it to the bone now. He’s all-in and has nothing to lose at this point.

5. The creation of the ESPN/Longhorn Network this week actually just made it easier for Texas Tech ( and the Horns for that matter ) to make the move to the Pac-Whatever. With this in place Larry Scott can tell his schools that it is a pre-existing condition, it is where college sports is headed and that if they really want to improve they embrace the idea and make the move now. Nothing stopping USC-UCLA from doing a joint network. Same goes for the northern schools. Look for the early-late spring to get very busy on the conference realignment front. Get ready, it’s gonna be fun.

Hyatt