Visser Sits and Waits, and Loves Doing Both

Lesley Visser, as she talked from her New York apartment, was excited about this weekend.

“I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to sitting up and watching Sunday’s game,” Visser said.

She was talking about an NFL exhibition between the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys at London’s Wembley Stadium. And even though it will be televised by CBS, and her “NFL Today” colleagues Greg Gumbel and Terry Bradshaw will be calling the game, that isn’t what has her excited.

It’s sitting up.

Visser has been on her back since she tripped and fell while jogging in Central Park more than six weeks ago.

She might as well have been involved in a head-on collision. Her left knee hit the pavement so hard her left hip joint popped out of its socket, shattering her pelvis. Also, she bruised her right cheek when her face skidded along the pavement.

The accident occurred about two-thirds of the way through her regular jogging route, which consists of one mile to the park, four miles through it and one mile back to her apartment.

A one-time AAU runner who played field hockey and basketball at South Hadley High in Massachusetts, she runs a pace of about 7 1/2 minutes per mile.

She was cruising along at 8 a.m. on June 23, deep in thought, and didn’t notice the pavement had been buckled by a tree’s bulging roots. She fell when her toe hit the protruding pavement.

“I knew I was really in trouble right away,” Visser said.

She could see that her body was contorted and out of alignment as she went into shock. “It looked perfectly awful,” she said.

A young lawyer, David Hoffberg, had just passed Visser and heard her cry out. He not only called nearby Lennox Hill Hospital and accompanied her there, he also located her husband, announcer Dick Stockton.

Stockton was in Seattle with the Oakland Athletics. Besides his work for CBS, he also does television play-by-play for the A’s. Hoffberg started calling hotels in Seattle until he found Stockton, who was on the next plane to New York.

Norman Scott, team physician for the New York Knicks, got word of the accident. He called the hospital and told doctors that surgery was needed immediately to restore the blood supply to Visser’s hip and prevent necrosis, the condition that forced Bo Jackson to have a hip replacement.

Steve Nicholas, whose father is the New York Jets’ orthopedist, performed two operations, the first five hours after the fall to get the hip back into its socket and the second four days later to put together the pieces of bone.

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Visser spent three weeks at Lennox Hill, the first two in traction.

She was in the same room former New York Jets defensive lineman and new CBS football commentator Dennis Byrd had occupied.

After being released from the hospital, she was taken to her apartment. A hospital bed was moved there for her, and round-the-clock nursing was arranged.

To pass the time, she has read about 15 books. Among her favorites, she said, was Jim Murray’s autobiography.

“What a delicious book to read,” she said.

She has also become a television junkie. “I shouldn’t admit this, but I’ve watched every minute of every preseason game that has been televised,” she said.

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Visser was scheduled to be in London for Sunday’s game, which will be shown at 10 a.m. She and Pat O’Brien were to serve as reporters. Instead, O’Brien will work on the field alone.

Visser said she hopes to be able to return to work by the start of the regular season on Sept. 5.

“At least I’d like to be able to be in the studio, even if I can’t go out on assignments,” she said.

TV-Radio Notes

Among those attempting to buy KMPC is a group headed by John Severino and Tom Van Amburg. Severino, former Prime Ticket president, and Van Amburg have been friends since 1974, when Severino, then the general manager of Channel 7, hired Van Amburg as his sales manager. The hitch in buying the radio station, as with other prospective buyers, is the asking price, believed to be in the neighborhood of $18 million. If this group bought the station, sports would probably still be emphasized, but it wouldn’t be all sports. . . . There are still rumors that Noble Broadcasting, which owns XTRA, would like to buy KMPC, but sources say Noble doesn’t have the financial resources to make a deal.

Sunday’s Raider exhibition game against the San Francisco 49ers at Stanford Stadium will be the first for Channel 9, with the new team of Rich Marotta and Hank Stram calling the action. Dick Stockton came close to getting the play-by-play job, but there were scheduling conflicts because of his work with the A’s. . . . TNT’s first exhibition game will be the Chicago Bears at the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at 5 p.m., and the network also has a good one next Thursday at 5 p.m., when the Kansas City Chiefs play host to the Buffalo Bills. Joe Montana is expected to make his debut as a Chief in that one. Gary Bender and Pat Haden are back as the TNT announcers. . . . New Raider radio commentator Bob Chandler, who also serves as host of the critically acclaimed “Amazing Games,” got some good news this week. ESPN has picked up that series for a fourth year.

Beginning tonight and continuing through Sunday’s final, Prime Ticket will carry Prime Network’s coverage of the Volvo/Los Angeles tennis tournament. Barry MacKay and Tim Mayotte are the announcers. This is Mayotte’s second season with Prime Network. . . . TBS and CBS will share coverage of next week’s PGA Championship, with TBS’ coverage continuing through the weekend. CBS will have late-night highlights at 11:30 on Thursday and Friday.

Branford Marsalis, the band leader on the “Tonight Show” and a former New York Mets season ticket-holder, has made arrangements for Met pitcher Anthony Young to appear on Monday’s program. Marsalis said he was a big baseball fan while growing up in New Orleans because of the influence of his father and grandfather. When he attended the Berkley College of Music in Boston he couldn’t afford to go to Red Sox games, but after moving to New York in 1981 and becoming a success, he became a regular at Met games and remains a loyal Met fan through a very difficult season.

Those who think bowling on television is always boring should have been watching the Wichita Open on ABC last Saturday, when Mike Aulby bowled a 300 game to beat David Ozio, who had a 279. It was only the sixth 300 game on ABC in 30 years, and the 279 was the highest losing score. The match drew a solid 4.0 rating in Los Angeles. . . . Next year, ABC will televise 14 bowling tournaments, down from 24. An ABC spokesman said the problem is not ratings but lack of support from sponsors.

The announcing team for CBS Radio’s game of the week on KNX Saturday at 1 p.m., Houston at San Francisco, will be Joe Buck, son of Jack, and Jim Hunter. Joe has been doing St. Louis Cardinals telecasts since 1991. Jack has been the radio voice of the Cardinals for almost 40 years. . . . An announcing team of Kathleen Sullivan, Jane Blalock and Mary Bryan will work ESPN’s coverage of the McCall’s LPGA tournament at Stratton Mountain, Vt. Saturday’s round will be shown live at 11 a.m., but Sunday’s final round will be tape-delayed until Monday at 1 p.m. . . . A new sports trivia show, “Sports Snapshot!” with Jimmy Cefalo, will make its debut on Channel 2 on Saturday night after the Rams’ exhibition game against the Cardinals at Phoenix.