Payoff of Beer Tab Convinced Summerall

Sometimes little things play big roles in shaping one’s life.

For Pat Summerall, it was a running tab in a bar at Fayetteville, Ark., that helped him decide to play pro football, a decision that resulted in a 10-year NFL career that in turn led to a broadcasting career that is now in its 25th year.

Summerall, who played at the University of Arkansas, was picked in the second round of the 1952 NFL draft by the then-Chicago Cardinals, who offered him an annual salary of $5,250.

“In those days, pro football wasn’t what it is today--you didn’t just automatically play,” said Summerall, who, with John Madden, will announce Sunday’s New York Giants-Washington Redskins game for CBS.

“I called my father in Lake City, (Fla.,) for advice. My father was a janitor at a bank with an eighth-grade education, but I respected his opinion. He said, ‘Son, if they’re going to pay you for playing a game, you’d better take it.’ ”

But Summerall wasn’t sold. “The clincher was that the Cardinals agreed to pay my $250 beer tab if I signed,” he said.

Two of the lesser-known facts about Summerall is that he has a master’s degree in Russian history and that he was once a watermelon farmer.

Of his interest in Russian history, he said: “I had a history professor at Arkansas who was fantastic. I was one athlete who enjoyed going to class. He was the main reason I went back to Arkansas during the off-season to get my master’s. The other reason was because I planned to be a teacher and a coach.”

Growing watermelons in Florida was another off-season activity. “A friend talked me into it,” Summerall said. “The first year we had 110 acres and each made $10,000.

“We figured we’d really make it big the next year. We had 440 acres all over the state. Let me tell you, that is a lot of watermelons. Well, that year nothing went right, and we grossed about $300 apiece after investing I don’t know how much money and time.

“After spending the off-season loading watermelons, I couldn’t wait to get back to football. It was a vacation.”

Summerall, who became a football commentator for CBS in 1962, switched to play-by-play announcing in 1975 and, at his request, was paired with Tom Brookshier. They stayed together until 1981, when Summerall worked briefly with Hank Stram before hooking up with Madden.

Before he became a broadcaster, Summerall played with both the Cardinals, who later moved to St. Louis, and the New York Giants. He played offense and defense, mostly at end, but was best known as a kicker.

Summerall was an all-around athlete. He was a Florida state junior tennis champion, went to Arkansas on a basketball scholarship and spent two years in professional baseball with the St. Louis Cardinal organization.

He and his wife, Kathy, live in Sawgrass, Fla. They were married 31 years ago, two weeks after they met.

Going prime-time: The Rams will be on ABC Sunday night at 6 when they play the Dallas Cowboys at Anaheim Stadium, and the Raiders will be on ABC Monday night at 6 when they play at Seattle.

The Ram game has been sold out for weeks, so it will be televised locally.

The Rams will make another appearance on ABC when they play at San Francisco Friday night, Dec. 19.

Add Rams: Their home game against Miami Sunday, Dec. 14, is very close to being sold out, so it, too, will probably be televised locally. That game will be shown by NBC.

Charring Charlie: NBC announcer Charlie Jones has been taking some heat in Chicago for his strong on-air comments about Bear linebacker Otis Wilson after Wilson’s forearm blow knocked out Pittsburgh wide receiver Louis Lipps last Sunday.

Jones said Wilson should have been thrown out of the game immediately and suspended for two games. Wilson has since threatened to sue Jones, as well as commentator Jimmy Cefalo.

“I don’t think I’d want to fly into O’Hare anytime soon,” Jones said from his home in La Jolla this week.

“A friend of mine who lives in Chicago called me today and said he was defending me during a conversation over lunch at a restaurant. He said the waitress overheard part of the conversation and asked, ‘Are you of friend of Charlie Jones?’ She then refused to serve me.’ ”

Jones, Cefalo and Bear Coach Mike Ditka are all scheduled to appear via remote hookups on NBC’s “NFL ‘86” Sunday at 9:30 a.m.

Local news: Channel 11, for no apparent reason, is dropping weekend sports anchor Elaine Perkins. Her last night will be Sunday.

Also, the station has recruited Stu Nahan to fill in for Rick Monday, who began a two-week-plus vacation Thursday night. Nahan is handling the sports on the 8 o’clock news, and Joe Buttitta, former Channel 5 sportscaster, is doing the sports on the midnight news.

Nahan emphasized that the job is temporary. “I’m doing it as a favor to my old pals, Marcia Brandwynne and Rick Monday,” Nahan said.

Brandwynne is both an anchor and the managing editor of the station’s news department.

TV-Radio Notes Sunday should be a good day for football viewing. The Giant-Redskin game, one of the biggest of the season, begins at 10 a.m. on CBS, followed at 1 p.m. by the New York Jets-San Francisco 49ers on NBC. Then at 6, it’s the Ram-Cowboy game on ABC. . . . The Heisman Trophy winner, presumably Miami’s Vinny Testaverde, will be announced Saturday on CBS at the conclusion of a half-hour special, which is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. The bad news here is that award-winning producer Bud Greenspan is not involved with the special this year. He has done one the last five years, and they’ve all been excellent. But when CBS, New York’s Downtown Athletic Club and Kodak, a new sponsor, made a deal last August, CBS decided to produce its own show. Said Greenspan: “When I heard they were planning only a half-hour show, I really wasn’t interested. Take out time for commercials and time for the announcement and you’re not left with much.” . . . KMPC has signed Jim Healy to a new multiyear contract. Healy will begin his third year at KMPC next month. . . . Recommended viewing: The story of Shirley Muldowney, one of the most fascinating in all of sports, will be told in a one-hour special, “Shirley--the First Lady of Auto Racing,” Sunday at 10 a.m. on the Nashville Network. The show will be repeated at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.