Almost everyone who knew him fairly well has a Dave Nitz story. Here is mine.
He rescued me once from having to do play-by-play of a basketball game.
His affiliation with Louisiana Tech University athletics spanned more than 40 years, and he was the Shreveport baseball -- most the Captains -- play-by-play radio man for 20 years.
He was dedicated and knowledgeable, personable (always with some stories), fun ... and talented. We all loved "Freeway Dave." He did love to travel, mostly by car.
Give us Jim Hawthorne, Tim Brando and Nitz, and you've got "The Big Three" of northwest Louisiana broadcasting fame.
They were the modern-day successor to IZ, Irv Zeidman, the Shreveport Sports baseball/Centenary College basketball "voice" of the 1950s/early 1960s.
We all listened to Nitz for hundreds -- maybe a couple of thousands -- of games (football, basketball, baseball) over the years. You had to love it!
Dave passed away Tuesday at age 82, and we are sad. He was a character to remember.
It was a pleasure to occasionally sit in with Nitz in the broadcast booth or on the basketball media table. And one memorable weekend is my "Nitz story."
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The week before Christmas, 1979, Dave was broadcasting Louisiana Tech women's basketball but also had agreed to do three Centenary College men's basketball games in New York (City and state).
Jim Hawthorne had been Centenary's play-by-play guy for much of the 1970s -- before, during and after the Robert Parish era. But starting with the 1979-80 season, he had been hired to be LSU men's basketball announcer.
Tracy Jackson -- who operated the Manpower temporary employment agency in Shreveport -- had play-by-play experience and did some Centenary games early that season. But he and wife Jo had a large family and he wanted that Christmas time with them, so he wasn't available for the New York trip.
Centenary was scheduled to play Long Island University on Thursday night, then Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. -- near Albany, three hours from New York City -- on Saturday night, and finally national power St. John's University in Queens on Sunday night.
It just so happened that the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters were going to play in a big holiday tournament at Madison Square Garden that weekend.
So Nitz was going to be in NYC, and we needed a play-by-play announcer for the Centenary games. Ah, yes, Nitz would do it.
And as the Centenary sports information director for four years I was the "color" analyst for the road games, butting in to Hawthorne's play-by-play for much of that time.
There was a catch to Nitz's availability. The Lady Techsters, who the previous season had emerged as a national power (a status they would maintain for two decades), were playing in a tournament in Las Vegas early that week. They won that title and the team -- and Nitz -- flew to New York City on Thursday.
Fine, except the time frame was short. Centenary's game with Long Island actually was in Brooklyn. So the question was, when and how would Nitz find the game's location?
(It was a weird setting. The Schwartz Athletic Center was a gymnasium converted from an auditorium -- it once had been a theater -- and it was on the third floor of a building attached to LIU's main building. Go figure -- Long Island U. in Brooklyn?)
Game time, thankfully, was 8 p.m. (Eastern time). I had brought the radio equipment and set it up, and actually started the pregame broadcast.
Quick note: I had never done play-by-play on radio, in public. Had been the "sidekick" -- analyst -- for high school football games and Centenary basketball. But the only play-by-play I'd done, many times, was in the bedroom of our home in Sunset Acres.
Never desired to do play-by-play on radio. Not my thing. (Would have been worse on television.)
But game time was close, Nitz wasn't there. Oh, my .. where is he? I am not relishing this.
And then ... two minutes to tipoff: Here's Dave!
Freeway Dave to the rescue. Actually, Subway Dave ... because -- experienced and savvy traveler he was -- he had found his way to Brooklyn by subway and then a cab to LIU.
Very times in my life was I happier to see someone than Dave that night.
And it was a wild game to broadcast -- a 114-101 game, Centenary on the short end. But what a pleasure to do the game with Dave.
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Even better was the Saturday experience. First, Dave broadcast the Lady Techsters' game with Rutgers at "The Garden," which -- again, thankfully -- had a 1 p.m. start. High-profile matchup, which the Techsters won 89-83 in overtime. Got to sit with Dave at press row on the Garden floor.
Then, we were off to Centenary's 8 p.m. game at Siena. Rode the train to Albany -- a neat trip near the Hudson River, and a passenger's view of the U.S. Military Academy. Caught a cab from the train station, and broadcast a good effort by Centenary but an 86-82 loss. Still fun.
The next day, Sunday, back to Madison Square Garden and the Techsters' thrilling victory against powerful Old Dominion, 59-57. Tech's record after that: 16-1.
That night, we made our way to Queens for Centenary's test against a talented St. John's team, one of the many powers for legendary coach Lou Carnesseca. I did a pregame interview with him, and he was very nice (to a radio novice). Centenary was no match for Lou's team; the final was 92-72.,
What a weekend with Nitz.
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A follow-up: The Centenary team that had a 1-8 record (the victory had been in the season opener) after the New York trip improved slowly, then blossomed in March and wound up with a winning record and as the Trans America Athletic Conference postseason tournament champions.
The Lady Techsters made the national semifinals (it was the AIAW then) for a rematch with Old Dominion (which starred Nancy Lieberman, Anne Donovan and Rhonda Rampolo). ODU won that one easily, but Tech's final 40-5 record was a sign of great things to come in the future.
One other Nitz connection with me: The first Louisiana Tech events he broadcast were the games in the 1974 NCAA baseball regional at old Arlington Stadium. I covered that for The Shreveport Times, an early career highlight.
The University of Texas had one of the nation's best college baseball progams, but Tech darned near earned a College World Series trip, beating the Longhorns to reach the winners' bracket. Texas came back to top Tech twice.
It was a heckuva start for Nitz's career at Tech. He was a "new" guy for all of us then and became a legend over time.
We remember him fondly, and we are thankful for the memories.
