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Many Chicagoans who tuned in the car radio for their afternoon drive home on February 8th were shocked to hear that Bob Collins had died. "Uncle Bobby" as he was known to millions of listeners was the morning drive radio announcer on WGN radio. He has been on the air in Chicago since 1974. In 1986, he became the morning man for the WGN.
I grew up listening to Bob Collins. I would come home from school and my mother would have Bob on the radio. My mother would drag us to WGN promotional events just so she could get a glimpse of Bob. As I grew older, I relied on Bob to relay important information to me such as traffic and weather.
There are plenty of people who actually knew Bob that will give him great praise, I, who only knew Bob through the radio, can only say I really missed his voice and laugh on the way to work.
I sometimes wonder how much more public mourning Chicago can take. The big shoulders of the city have been droopy lately. In three years, we have mourned eight Big Chicagoans. These people were for the most part good people who were bigger than life.
First, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. Chicago has a large Catholic population. Cardinal Bernardin was very active and very available to the people. He died after a fight with cancer. He faced death with such calm and peace.
Then there was Mike Royko, a Chicago columnist. Everyone had an opinion about Royko. Many people loved him, and many people disliked him. No matter how one felt about it, he was definitely a part of the Chicago landscape. His columns were genuine and true and he came right out and told it like it was.
The Chicago Cubs are a big part of Chicago and its history. Its only been two years since the city has mourned the lost of two of the most famous baseball announcers ever, Harry Caray and Jack Brickhouse. Both men are famous for their love of baseball and Chicago.
We also mourned Gene Siskel, one half of the well know movie critic team of Siskel and Ebert. Gene not only graced our local news programs, but also wrote for the newspaper. He was a Chicagoan with national recognition. He was also a man who loved his Chicago Bulls, and often was present at the games.
Just as we were recovering from the lose of Gene Siskel, the world's greatest running back died, Walter Payton. Walter was part of the great Super Bowl championship team. He brought joy to football fans when the Bears were awful. We were proud to say "we had seen the greatest play."
Cardinal Bernardin fought a very public fight with cancer, we were somewhat prepared for his death. Mike Royko, Harry Caray, and Jack Brickhouse lived long and full lives. We mourned the lose of their liveliness. The last three deaths really hurt. Siskel, Payton, and Collins were relatively young men who were in the prime of their lives. We acknowledge that all three of these men lived life to its fullest and probably left us without regretting their lives, but we expected these people to be around a bit longer. We were expecting them to grow old with us.
In Carl Sandburg's poem, Chicago, he writes that Chicago is "bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people, Laughing!" These recently departed men had the heart of the people. Yes, Chicago has been hit hard, but Chicago, even in its mourning, is the "city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning."
February 9, 2000 |
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