Dave Diles RIP
Dave Diles has died, following a recent stroke, at age 78. Dave Diles is from an era that many here at MGoBlog will not have known. For many, many years, pre-Don Shane (and pre-Al Ackerman), he was all of the following:
Channel 7's (ABC-Detroit) main evening news sports anchor;
Detroit's first all-sports radio call-in program;
ABC's national college football scoreboard-show host, and;
a part-time host of ABC's Wonderful World of Sport.
This was an exceptionally classy guy. Together with another Detroit-area resident (and Michigan Man) Bill Fleming, they were two of the more important voices in college football, in the entire nation.
In today's terms, it would be vry near the equivalent of one person doing the jobs of Don Shane, Pat Caputo, John Sunders, and Dan Patrick. All at once.
December 28th, 2009 at 2:59 PM ^
I waited on him a couple times in A2. I remember him asking me all sorts of questions about school, plans, etc. Really seemed like a gentleman.
December 28th, 2009 at 3:37 PM ^
Too young to know of the guy, but still sad to see a man of his importance in the sports world pass away.
December 28th, 2009 at 3:53 PM ^
in his day, was the top of the Detroit Sports Broadcast scene. His hosting of ABC's postgame show came at the time ABC had a college football broadcast monopoly. Thanks, Dave, and Rest in Peace.
December 28th, 2009 at 4:37 PM ^
"WIDE World of Sports"
"...radio call-in program HOST"
and
"John SAunders"
All the kinds of copy-editing mistakes that former newspaperman Dave Diles never made.
Just a snippet of Dave Diles for anyone who never saw him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQtfBpd8K5M
December 28th, 2009 at 7:11 PM ^
Diles lived down the street when I grew up. Nice man. Interested in the neighbors and their families. Hosted the first sports talk show I can remember, Dial Dave Diles, on WXYZ 1270. The quality of the conversation and the intelligence of the questions was at a level you don't see any longer. One of his signature lines: "Lord willing and the cricks don't rise."
By the way, his son, also named Dave, was formerly the AD at Eastern.
December 28th, 2009 at 9:21 PM ^
i remember as a kid watching his post game show and the "high tech" scoreboard they used in the background (sarcasm).
he went thru every game score - the ivy league, holy cross, the citadel. i loved that show. definitely the precursor to espn.
December 29th, 2009 at 9:28 AM ^
meaning his focus was on the sports, not on his own personality. Calm, understated, dignified, and intelligent. Never shouted or ranted, but treated his audience like they were adults.
I know the point you're making about all the functions Diles effectively performed, but Pat Caputo can only wish he was as classy as Diles.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:56 PM ^
In trying to pick a name of a prominent long-time sports radio voice, I had to try to think of the "least offensive" to get anywhere close to Dave Diles. I came up with Pat Caputo (for longevity, at least) on the spur of the moment. "Doug Karsch" would perhaps have been a better choice, but as you say, Dave Diles was in a class of his own. There is no modern corollary to Dave Diles on radio that I can think of. And, as we both know, "radio" was actually just one small part of his greater body of work and achievement, which was mostly on television. He just did it all, and made it all look really easy.
You are soooooo correct, and I don't know how it could have been said any better: "Calm, understated, dignified, and intelligent. Never shouted or ranted, but treated his audience like they were adults."
December 30th, 2009 at 1:57 AM ^
I remember the horrific look on his face when he heard Eddie Brinkman drop the "F" bomb in a post-game interview after the Tigers won the division in 1972.
He was one of the best and will be remembered fondly.
He will also be missed greatly.
December 30th, 2009 at 5:53 PM ^
I worked Dave's very first television show at WXYZ-TV in Detroit in the early '60's. I was the cue card holder for the Dave and Lee McNew who did the news. I can still remember that first night... Dave was extremely nervous. We were in the break between news and sports and the director asked, "Dave, are you ready to go?". He answered with some funny comment. Then, over the loud speaker, the director said, "Dave, what about your gum?". Dave answered, "What about it?". "Are you going on the air chewing gum?", asked the director. With that, Dave took the gum out of his mouth and put it behind his right ear. And that's the way he did his first sportscast. And every night after that, if he was chewing gum, he would put it behind his ear a few seconds before going on the air.
I used to check in with Dave every night about 45-minutes before the show. He would hand me a sheet of paper on which he had typed the information to go on the cue cards. There was no such thing as a teleprompter in those days. I would write out the cue cards and then hold them next to the camera when he went on the air. He was a wiz-bang on the typewriter... there were no computers in those days either.
Dave enjoyed a good argument, loved to tease and give people a hard time, usually in a joking way. He and Jack Powers, who did radio news and called himself "The Pulse of Detroit", did not get along. Every night after finishing his shift, Jack would have to walk by Dave's office to leave the building. Dave's office, once a storage room, was very small. The door was always open. Every night, the words would fly, each trying to outdo the other in the art of the "putdown". After Jack would pass, Dave would mutter a few words and then we'd get back to working on the show.
Dave's passing brings back many memories... all of them good. I certainly enjoyed knowing and working with him.
Keith Balon