Tim Weigel 1945 - 2001

Sportscaster knew how to play

June 18, 2001|By Rick Kogan, Tribune staff reporter.

With his colorful clothing and playful on-air manner, Tim Weigel was one of the most identifiable, influential and popular broadcasters in Chicago television history. Unfailingly upbeat even in the face of losing seasons and churlish coaches, he covered the sports scene with a reporter's hard-nosed instincts and a fan's on-the-sleeve emotions.

Mr. Weigel, 56, died Sunday, June 17, in his home in Evanston, a year to the day after he had been operated on for a brain tumor. His battle with the disease was waged in a public manner that not only inspired many people in similar circumstances but also was in keeping with Mr. Weigel's forthright persona.

That was his trademark in a career that began when he became a sportswriter and columnist for the Chicago Daily News in 1971 and continued for three decades on radio and on television, most recently on WBBM-Ch. 2.

"Tim was as much a part of Chicago sports as any of the players he covered," said former Bears coach Mike Ditka. "He was passionate and enthusiastic and a damn good reporter. He was also one of the great gentlemen and a lot of fun to be around. My wife, Diana, and I are devastated by this loss because we had become great friends."

Mr. Weigel was born in 1945 and grew up in north suburban Gurnee, with younger siblings Tony and Deni. His father, John, was a broadcast announcer and did voiceovers for national commercials; he later founded Weigel Broadcasting, which began airing on Channel 26. Mr. Weigel's mother, Virginia Ahn, had been a big-band singer with the orchestras of Tommy Dorsey and Vaughn Monroe.

The Weigel family moved to Lake Forest, where Mr. Weigel attended Lake Forest High School and excelled at sports and academics, ranking third in his class.

He attended Yale University, where he was captain of the freshman football team, on which he played halfback alongside fullback and future NFL Hall of Famer Calvin Hill. His roommate freshman year was another child of the Chicago suburbs, Gene Siskel, the film critic, who died in 1999. That both of these men would die in their 50s of brain-related diseases strikes many as a chilling coincidence.

Graduating with a bachelor's degree in history, Mr. Weigel worked for two years as an inner-city schoolteacher in New Haven, Conn., and began a family after marrying his high school sweetheart, Kathy Worthington, in 1966. The couple had two children, a son, Rafer, named for Olympic decathlete Rafer Johnson, and a daughter, Jenniffer. The family returned to Chicago, where Mr. Weigel got a master's degree in film from Northwestern University. They later went back to New Haven, where Mr. Weigel waited tables, played keyboards in a rock band called the Gross National Product and eventually went to work as a reporter with the New Haven Register.

In 1971 he was back in Chicago, on the sports staff of the Daily News. In 1975 he began filing reports for WMAQ radio and, a few months later, was named its television sports anchor on Channel 5. When asked if it was difficult to make the transition from newspapers to broadcasting, Mr. Weigel said, with a laugh, "Oh, yeah, until I got my first paycheck."

`Weigel Wieners'

In 1977 he went to work at WLS-Ch. 7, where he would become well-known for his colorful clothing and for his packages of sports bloopers called "Weigel Wieners." Those who may have thought his sartorial style a television affectation were not present at his high school junior prom, where he arrived in tux jacket, tie and Bermuda shorts. Nor did they work at the Daily News, where he shocked colleagues by sometimes wearing an outfit that consisted of blue T-shirt, orange overalls and blue suede boots.

"Tim's the only Yale graduate I know who dresses like a Blue Island pimp," the late Mike Royko once said.

Royko and Mr. Weigel were great friends, sharing a passion for language, music, piano bars and sports. They first met when Royko recruited Mr. Weigel to play outfield on the Daily News softball team, and they later competed on handball courts and golf courses.

"Some of Mike's happiest moments were spent with Timmy on the golf course," said Royko's widow, Judy. "They were like a couple of kids when they were together. Really smart and great storytellers, but kids."

Mr. Weigel was the lead sportscaster on the top-rated WLS news team from 1977 to 1994, except for a short experiment as a news anchor.

Mr. Weigel worked with hundreds of broadcasters during his career, and most share the opinion of former WMAQ anchor Floyd Kalber, who told the Tribune some years ago: "There's not an ostentatious bone in his body. He doesn't give a damn about status. What you see is what you get."

That was obvious whenever Mr. Weigel was in public. He was always polite and gracious, even to the most overserved bar patron who wanted to yammer on about sports. "These people don't have to watch me on TV, but they do," Mr. Weigel said by way of explanation. "I'm just returning the favor."