Punch Prefers New Career to Old One

The name suggests Dr. Jerry Punch might be a fight doctor, or a professional wrestler.

What Punch is, is one of the more interesting people in broadcasting. Until 1995, he was juggling two careers--one as the head emergency room doctor at a hospital near Daytona Beach, Fla., the other as an auto racing pit reporter and college football sideline reporter for ESPN.

He finally had to make a choice, picking broadcasting over a lucrative medical career.

Punch is in Southern California for this weekend’s festivities at California Speedway in Fontana. He will serve as the host of the Busch Series Auto Club 300 television coverage on Saturday and as a pit reporter for the Winston Cup California 500 on Sunday.

Both races are ESPN productions but are being carried on big sister ABC for maximum exposure.

We caught up with Punch on his cell phone as he was driving from LAX to his hotel in Ontario Wednesday evening. We talked from 5:30 to 6:30, as Punch drove out the 105 Freeway, up the 605 and out the 60. Had he taken Interstate 10, he would have been right in the middle on the six-mile, 150-car pileup.

As it was, Punch was free to talk--and talk he did--about growing up in rural North Carolina, about toiling in auto racing as a mechanic and driver while in high school, about being a backup quarterback at North Carolina State for Lou Holtz, about how Ned Jarrett gave him his first break behind a microphone, about how holding down two full-time jobs contributed to the failure of his first marriage, and about how good life is these days.

Of his football career as a veer option quarterback at North Carolina State, Punch said: “Coach Holtz once told me, ‘You’re not slow, you just reach your maximum speed faster than anyone else.’ It took me a minute to realize that wasn’t a compliment.”

When Punch, 45, was in medical school at Wake Forest, he was in the press box at Hickory Motor Speedway when the track announcer didn’t show up. Jarrett, the promoter, asked Punch if he would handle the job. He was apprehensive because he had a stuttering problem. But Punch gave it a go, discovering he didn’t stutter behind a microphone, and became the regular track announcer.

That led to some local radio work, then a radio job with the Motor Racing Network and a one-year stint with WTBS before ESPN hired him in 1984.

Until ‘95, Punch was working 60 to 80 hours a week as an emergency room director. Even when he wasn’t on duty, he was in charge of 14 physicians, and one year he served as chief of staff at his hospital. On weekends, he donned his ESPN garb.

“I guess I had the philosophy that he who works the hardest and makes the most money wins. Well, I found that is a fallacy. In my years in the emergency room, I heard the last words of a lot of people. In their last breath, no one ever complained that they wished that could have worked one more day. They always said they wished they had taken more time to enjoy life and spend time with family and friends.”

He says most emergency room doctors burn out.

“Research has shown the average trauma physician’s career lasts between 8 1/2 to 10 1/2 years,” he said. “It’s not like on the TV show ‘ER.’ That’s too clean, too sterile of a setting, too laid-back compared to the way a real trauma center works. In a real ER, there is no time to get involved in anyone’s social life.

“When I was at the height of working both jobs, one of my older sons, when he was little, thought I worked for Delta Airlines, and the younger one thought I worked in the wooden box in the living room.”

These days, Punch lives with his wife Joni, 5-year-old daughter Jessica, and 15-month old son Logan in Cornelius, N.C., outside Charlotte. He seems to be making all the right decisions, including taking the 60 Freeway instead of the 10 on his way to Ontario Wednesday night.

FOX ON THE MOVE

Fox’s attitude about regional sports coverage seems to be working. Nielsen ratings for March show that Fox Sports West is tied for second with A&E; and HBO among cable channels in Los Angeles with an average rating of 1.5. Nickelodeon is the leader at 1.7. Fox Sports West averaged a 1.2 for March 1998.

WHERE’S THE FOX ATTITUDE?

Gary Sheffield talks about the Dodgers’ lack of attitude on “Goin’ Deep” on Fox Sports West Sunday at 9 p.m.

“When I used to come in and play against the Dodgers, they never put any fear in us,” he tells interviewer Chris Myers. “As a team, we felt we could just walk over these guys because they would lay down eventually. And they did.

“When I became a Dodger, that was one of the things that I addressed when I got here. . . . We can’t have that same laid-back attitude.”

ALL THE WAY WITH ELWAY

Besides the Kentucky Derby and the California Speedway races on ABC, the other big event this weekend is John Elway’s retirement announcement Sunday at noon. ESPN offers blanket coverage, and Fox Sports News’ coverage of the announcement will be carried on Fox Sports West 2. But a Fox Sports News special at 12:30, “Farewell to a Champion,” will be carried on Fox Sports West. An interview with Elway by Roy Firestone is the ESPN “SportsCenter Sunday Night Conversation,” and ESPN Classic offers a 24-hour Elway marathon that began Thursday at 5 p.m. and will be replayed, beginning Sunday at 5 p.m.

IN CLOSING

Will Elway end up in the “Monday Night Football” booth with Al Michaels and Boomer Esiason as a replacement for Dan Dierdorf? ABC is interested in talking to Elway and vice versa, but a source close to Elway said the job is not a priority with him. Nor is it a priority with ABC, which is content to go with two announcers.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What Los Angeles Is Watching

A sampling of L.A. Nielsen ratings for April 24-25, including sports on cable networks:

SATURDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Pro basketball: Lakers at San Antonio 4 6.5 14 Baseball: St. Louis at Dodgers 5 4.7 9 Golf: Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic 2 2.1 6 Auto racing: Busch Grand National 300 7 1.6 5 Bowling: Johnny Petraglia Open 2 1.2 4 Boxing: Johnny Tapia vs. Sergio Llendo 34 0.5 1 Baseball: Angels at Kansas City 52 0.3 1

*--*

****

*--*

Cable Network Rating Share Auto racing: International Race of Champions ESPN 0.7 2 Auto racing: Winston Cup Happy Hour ESPN2 0.6 2 Boxing: Sharmba Mitchell vs. Reggie Green SHO 0.5 1 NHL playoffs: St. Louis at Phoenix ESPN2 0.5 1 Baseball: Atlanta at Florida TBS 0.4 1 Golf: LPGA Chick-fil-A Charity ESPN2 0.4 1 Golf: Senior Home Depot Invitational ESPN 0.4 1 NHL playoffs: Boston at Carolina ESPN 0.4 1 NHL playoffs: Colorado at San Jose ESPN2 0.4 1 Tennis: Monte Carlo Open ESPN 0.4 1 Pro basketball: Vancouver at Clippers FSW2 0.3 1 Baseball: Toronto at New York Yankees FX 0.2 1 NHL playoffs: Philadelphia at Toronto ESPN2 0.1 0 NFL Europe: Scotland vs. Berlin FSW 0.1 0

*--*

****

SUNDAY

*--*

Over-the-air Channel Rating Share Auto racing: NASCAR Winston Cup DieHard 500 7 3.7 10 Pro basketball: Seattle at Utah 4 3.4 10 Golf: Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic 2 2.7 8 Pro basketball: Houston at Phoenix 4 2.3 6 NHL playoffs: Detroit at Mighty Ducks 11 1.8 5 Tennis: U.S. Clay Court Championships 2 1.4 4

*--*

****

*--*

Cable Network Rating Share Baseball: St. Louis at Dodgers ESPN 2.7 5 Soccer: U.S. women’s national team vs. China ESPN2 0.7 2 Tennis: Monte Carlo Open ESPN 0.7 2 Drag racing: NHRA Lone Star Nationals FSW 0.6 1 Baseball: New York Mets at Chicago Cubs WGN 0.4 1 Golf: LPGA Chick-fil-A Charity ESPN2 0.4 1 Golf: Senior Home Depot Invitational ESPN 0.4 1 NHL playoffs: Dallas at Edmonton ESPN2 0.4 1 NHL playoffs: Ottawa at Buffalo ESPN2 0.2 1 Baseball: Atlanta at Florida TBS 0.2 1

*--*

WEEKDAY RATINGS: Monday--Lakers at Houston, Ch. 9, 4.2/9; San Antonio at Clippers, Ch. 9, 2.1/3; Toronto at Angels, FSW, 1.8/3.

Note: Each rating point represents 51,350 L.A. households. Cable ratings reflect the entire market, even though cable is in only 63% of L.A. households.