The Hlog

Tom Brokaw Had a Question For Me

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Tom Brokaw, who was the anchorman of NBC's nightly newscast for 22 years, asked me something as we parted ways after a five-minute conversation Sunday morning at Augusta National.

"Does Cedar Rapids still smell like Quaker Oats?" he asked semi-jokingly after we had gone through security at the same time at the Masters.

I gave the same answer I give to some of my smart-aleck friends from other Iowa newspapers: "That's the smell of money."

Brokaw spoke highly of Iowa. One of his early jobs in television was in Sioux City. He attended the University of Iowa for a year in the late 1950s. He has told people that he majored in "beer and co-eds" there.

I told him that the school still uses his photos in athletics media guides as a famous alumni, and he said the U of I wanted to give him some sort of alumni honor, but he declined, saying "it would be a fraud."

Brokaw went on to get a degree from the University of South Dakota in his home state, and has certainly been no fraud in his adult life as a distinguished reporter, anchor and author.

He was here with Golf Digest executive editor Mike O'Malley, a Waterloo native who is a U of I graduate. Brokaw is here to write an essay on the Masters for the magazine.

They asked me about Dan Gable, wanting to know how he fuels his competitive drive since he got out of coaching.

Brokaw spoke of Barron Bremner, the former athletic director at Coe and Cornell. Bremner was an equipment manager at Iowa when Brokaw was a student there.

Anyone who has known Bremner remembers him. Brokaw said back then, Bremner was besieged with requests by fans for items that would become memorabilia. Iowa football was a powerhouse in the late 1950s.

Randy Duncan quarterbacked Iowa to two Rose Bowl wins in the late '50s. Brokaw said Bremner got a bunch of footballs, "and I could sign Randy Duncan's name very well ..."

You can imagine the rest.

Brokaw was genuinely interested in talking about Iowa, and waited for me to pass through security after him, so he could introduce me to O'Malley and chat a little bit.

"Iowa is a special place," O'Malley said, and Brokaw nodded in agreement.