David Poole vs. Sports Illustrated

Since David Poole’s sudden death at age 50 from a heart attack on Tuesday, dozens of newspaper articles and radio, TV and Internet commentaries have been devoted to his terrific talent as a motorsports reporter.

   Practically all of these have been sentimental and touching in nature, and understandably so.  Although gruff and volatile at times, deep within, The Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com beat writer was a gentle, generous soul.

   This column is a bit of a departure.

   It’s what I think is a humorous tale about the highly opinionated David putting his foot, or typewriter, in his mouth in 1978 while a journalism student at The University of North Carolina.

   Here’s the story:

   In ’78 there were two stand-above-all-the-others stars in college basketball, Magic Johnson of Michigan State and Larry Bird of Indiana State.

   Sports Illustrated named Bird its player of the year.

   David was livid.

   He felt that honor should have gone to the leading player for his beloved UNC Tar Heels, Mike O’Koren.

   David fired off a letter to Sports Illustrated in protest.

   “Larry Bird couldn’t carry Mike O’Koren’s jock strap,” declared David in the letter, which SI printed!

   I learned of all this in 1992 while closing on a real estate deal to buy the condo near Lake Norman, N.C., where I have lived ever since.  The local attorney handling the closing was Cliff Homesley of Mooresville.

   “Do you know David Poole down at The Observer?” Cliff asked.

   “Sure,” I said.  “He’s a fine friend of mine and edits most of the racing copy I write for the paper.  He’s a great guy.”

   Laughing, Cliff nodded approval of my assessment.

“David and I were suite-mates in Lewis Dorm at Chapel Hill,” he said.  “And I sure enjoyed that time.

   “I was a freshman in ’78, David a sophomore.  When I arrived, there was no doubt who was in charge of that dorm.  It was David, even though he was in only his second year at UNC.”

   Homesley then related to me the incident about Poole taking on Sports Illustrated about the qualifications of Bird vs. O’Koren.

   “Me and fellow students really ragged David about his letter being printed in the magazine,” said a grinning Homesley.  “We did it just to see him puff up and get red in the face and go into one of his rants.”

   O’Koren indeed rates among UNC’s all-time greats.

   However, he was no Larry Bird.

   O’Koren spent 1980-88 years as a player for the New Jersey Nets and Washington Bullets in the NBA, then became an assistant coach.

   Bird played professionally from 1978-92 for the Boston Celtics.  He finished his career as the NBA’s fifth all-time leading scorer, although the latter years of his career were plagued by a bad back.  Bird now is president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers.

   Bird is rated by many authorities among the very top players ever.

   I couldn’t wait to leave Cliff’s law office and get home to phone David and gig him about that letter to Sports Illustrated.

   I got his answering machine at The Observer.

   “David,” I said tauntingly, “do you suppose Larry Bird’s bad back came from trying to carry Mike O’Koren’s jock strap all those years?”

   Within an hour my phone rang.  David was on the line and he was livid.

   “Who is the bastard that told you that story!” he demanded.

   “Sorry, I can’t say,” I replied teasingly.

   David began raging and demanding I give him a name.  I refused.

   To my delight, I could tell from David’s voice that he was boiling like a volcano about to erupt.

Finally, realizing I wasn’t going to reveal the source, he hung up.

   For the next several years, almost every time I talked to David, he prodded me to ‘fess up my source.

   I refused every time.

   On Jan. 31, 1997, I retired from The Observer after 34 years in the paper’s sports department.  David Poole was named to succeed me as the reporter covering NASCAR.  It’s among the best decisions The Observer ever made.  He proved to be tremendous at the job, winning prestigious awards and a national following.

   The Observer subsequently ran a story, along with photos, about a Mooresville law firm restoring a grand old mansion on South Main Street for use as offices.  It was the firm led by Cliff Homesley.

  At long last, it clicked for David: Mooresville, Higgins, Homesley.

   Again, David phoned me.

   “Cliff Homesley is the bastard!” he yelled.  “Cliff Homesley!”

   “I neither confirm nor deny,” I said.

   David ranted a bit, then laughed and hung up.

   I figured he would phone Homesley with some choice words.
   But he didn’t.

   “Even if David had chewed me out about revealing his Larry Bird gaffe, it wouldn’t have changed the way I feel about him,” Homesley said the afternoon of Poole’s funeral. 
“I loved the guy.”

   Almost all of us who knew him did.