Remembering Richie Havens, Pat Summerall, Al Neuharth, Frank Bank

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• published: 21 May 2013
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WOODSTOCK, NFL PLAY-BY PLAY, USA TODAY, AND LUMPY RUTHERFORD He Opened Woodstock Richie Havens was a folksinger in the intimate, early 1960's Greenwich Village tradition. However, in 1969, he was called upon to perform in another, larger venue and he proceeded to give one of the most stirring performances of the 20th Century -- he opened the Woodstock Festival. The Festival organizers were not exactly organized but Havens maintained his cool and sang for several hours putting the crowd in the mood and acting as a calming influence with his passionate renditions including the classic Freedom/Motherless Child. Pat Summerall was one of the top placekickers in the NFL in the 1950's who became better known as the CBS play-by-play man for many years. Al Neuharth, one of America's leading journalists, founded USA Today. Frank Bank played the memorable foil Lumpy Rutherford in the TV classic Leave It To Beaver. Richard Pierce "Richie" Havens[1] (January 21, 1941 -- April 22, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter guitarist.[2] His music encompassed elements of folk, soul, and rhythm and blues. He is best known for his intense and rhythmic guitar style (often in open tunings), soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.Following the success of his Woodstock performance, Havens started his own record label, Stormy Forest, and released Stonehenge in 1970. Later that year came Alarm Clock, which included the George Harrison-penned hit single, "Here Comes the Sun". This was Havens' first album to reach Billboard's Top 30 Chart.[2] Stormy Forest went on to release four more of his albums: The Great Blind Degree (1971), Live On Stage (1972), Portfolio (1973), and Mixed Bag II (1974).[2] Memorable television appearances included performances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. On the latter program, the audience reacted with such enthusiasm that when the applause continued even after the commercial break, Carson asked Havens to return the following night. Havens also began acting during the 1970s. He was featured in the original 1972 stage presentation of The Who's Tommy,[10] as Othello in the 1974 film Catch My Soul, in Greased Lightning alongside Richard Pryor and in Bob Dylan's Hearts of Fire. Neuharth and fellow USD alum Bill Porter founded SoDak Sports, a weekly newspaper devoted to covering the sports scene in South Dakota. Despite its initial popularity, the weekly SoDak Sports went bankrupt in a year's time, losing Neuharth the $50,000 he had borrowed. After his failure, Neuharth went to the Miami Herald, where he made his way up to assistant managing editor. In 1960, the Knight newspaper chain (later a part of Knight-Ridder), which owned the Herald, sent him to its Detroit Free Press, which was fighting an uphill battle with the Detroit News, which Neuharth would later buy while at Gannett. After Neuharth decided that he could go no further in the Knight organization due to the Knight family's control, in 1963 he accepted Gannett head Paul Miller's offer to move to Gannett's headquarters in Rochester, New York, first to run its paper there, the Democrat and Chronicle; he took charge of Gannett Florida in 1966. He started Today in Cocoa, Florida, which eventually became Florida Today.[2] The color schemes used in Florida Today became an inspiration for the initial format for USA Today. He then ran the boardroom under Miller, whom he eventually succeeded in 1973. He helped to build Gannett into the largest newspaper company in the United States. During his tenure, Gannett revenues expanded 1,450%. In 1979 Gannett owned 78 daily and 21 weekly newspapers, seven television and over a dozen radio stations, outdoor advertising plants, and the Louis Harris & Associates research firm. The reason Gannett purchased Harris was because the firm was doing extremely expensive research for Neuharth to determine the advisability of starting a new national newspaper. George Allen "Pat" Summerall (May 10, 1930 -- April 16, 2013) was an American football player and television sportscaster, having worked at CBS, Fox, and ESPN. In addition to football, he also announced major golf and tennis events. In total, he announced 16 Super Bowls on network television (more than any other announcer), 26 Masters Tournaments, and 21 US Opens.[1] He also contributed to 10 Super Bowl broadcasts on CBS Radio as a pregame host or analyst. Summerall played football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and in the National Football League (NFL) from 1952 through 1961. After retiring as a player, he joined CBS as a color commentator the next year. He worked with Tom Brookshier and then John Madden on NFL telecasts for CBS and Fox. Though he retired in 2002, Summerall continued to announce games on occasion, especially those near his Texas home.