Argus-Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota • Page 81

Argus Leader TT Section Ann Under 5 7 Sharks up close "four operators htte Bahamas offeraolvetomiMtfithefeh. 2F Sunday May 21. 2000 www.argusleader.com life Edrtor Jon 331-2206 Assistant Ufa Editor JiM Caffison a 331-2307 UFE WOSTFR Coach example of kindness, wisdom to kid on another team I ran the 880 for Chamberlain at the state meet in Watertown my freshman year, but I rode home with the Reliance team. My event was next to last, and Chamberlain's other qualifiers were both seniors, a jumper and a weight man. They finished early and wanted to get home for senior activities.

We cut a deal with Darrel Cadwell, the Reliance coach, and I squeezed into his car. I'm not sure a kid could do that these days, what with in i. I Christopher Gannon Argus Leader Steve Hemmlngsen dons reading glasses while writing his copy for the evening newscast in the KELO television newsroom. Hem-mlngsen, 55, retires from the station Wednesday after a 30-year career at KELO. time is right to cut into KELO's lead Anchor leaves trail of stories, critics, friends By DAVID KRANZ Artjus Leader Steve Hemmingsen never did produce the unspoken qualifications that today's successful television anchors need.

Instead of the glamour that bosses now require of their anchors, Hemmingsen brought a fatherly credibility that has kept KELO the undisputed king of South Dakota television during his 30-year reign on the state's air waves. Now, a week after his 55th birthday, Hemmingsen is retiring on his own terms, leaving up for grabs his role as the state's most influential journalist. Why KELO management is making such a big deal of this milestone is beyond him. This has not been the Steve Hemmingsen show. A lot of people who are here or who have come and gone from this place made it a good station," he says.

He is a cynic, humorist, teacher and journalist rolled into one big guy. And he is the first to play the weight card, thriv- ing on self-deprecating humor. At times he speaks his mind on the air, telling viewers what he thinks. Once he commented on the condition of schools. "They are spending more money, and the kids are getting dumber," he said.

Sometimes that produces a viewer rush to the speed dial to speak their mind. "Some tell me, 'Just shut up and do the news. And others will tell me, That's just what I was Reporters covering the education beat often hear about low teacher pay. "Why don't you tell them what you make?" he advises. His 10 newscasts a week are viewed by a total of 1.2 million people giving KELO a ratings lead never seriously challenged by its two competitors.

Since announcing his retirement, Hemmingsen says he has received more letters, calls and e-mails than he ever imagined. "Judging by this, I never had any enemies," he says. "They say they liked my sense of humor. That's the frequent undercurrent. And they said they thought I had credibility.

I don't know how those two things parallel." But he is realistic, knowing his departure pleases some. "Politicians would be at the top of the list. I didn't play their game any more than I had to. When they, toss out some puffing crap, I dont put it on, and I am not afraid to question their motives, which oftentimes are highly questionable." He has had his ups and downs with Bill Janklow, but the governor likes Hemmingsen for having the courage to speak his mind. "He has no hidden agenda.

When he has a personal opinion, he has the guts to tell you rather than hiding behind it," Janklow says. "He represents the old-fashioned newsman. He never picked on anyone who couldn't defend themselves. Hemmingsen retiring will be like a neighbor moving away." Dee Whitney of Sioux Falls, a retired nurse, and her husband, Chester, are loyal KELO watchers who will miss Hemmingsen. "We like his sense of humor, and we like his interpretation of the news.

It is a feeling like he is talking just to us," Dee Whitney says. Clancy Matsuda of Brandon, a retired U.S. Army colonel, thinks Hemmingsen is a good newsman and says his wife, Connie, watches every night. But he says he is bothered by the anchorman's style. "I think he has a tendency to be a little arrogant at times, almost self-righteous," Matsuda says.

The marriage between Hemmingsen and KELO came in September 1969. In 1974, at the insistence of station owner Joe L. Floyd, he became a news anchor. A year later, he was paired with Doug Lund. A quarter-century later, they are still a team.

Lund knows his teammate like a book and says it is easy to see why this transition is such a big deal for KELO. "He has the most political savvy of Hemmingsen See 3F JJr- 1 Reporter Keely Chalmers and cameraman with Evelyn Scott of Brandon at Fall Park In regulations, school liability i and the world of other i changes since 1959. Back then, all it took was a conversation between a couple of coaches. Darrel told stories all the way home, especially when we stopped for burgers at some little highway cafe. He paid for my meal, too.

I thanked him, I think, but not nearly enough, because I didn't have a dime to my name that day, and I was hungry. When we traveled for sports, the coaches took care of meals. My meal money was with the Chamberlain gang. Hard to imagine a 15-year-old off to his first state meet without any spending money, but there I was. I remembered that trip recently when I read that Darrel had died.

He was 75, he'd spent his life teaching and coaching in Reliance and Chamberlain. He's in coaching's hall of fame in South Dakota. In 1956, he married Charlotte Scott, one of my all-time favorite teachers. He called her Scottie, and, after he-retired from teaching, he and she operated the marina at the mouth of American Creek in Chamberlain. The last few years were difficult.

Alzheimer's disease graduallytookDarrersmind and memories, and it's hard to think of a great, old storyteller sliding into a shadowed place where the stories couldn't live. The last time I saw him, he didn't know me. That was the disease, but it hurt. As far back as I can remember, he knew me. He was one of those guys who took time to say hello to kids.

I never had him for a teacher or coach. I don't know what he was like in the classroom or on the track. But on the street or in the restaurant, he was a guy who made a shy kid know there was an adult who cared about him. He invited me to travel with the Reliance team to the state cross-country meet my sophomore year. Chamberlain wasn't going, and he said I could ride along and run, unattached, as it were.

I didn't, but I was flattered. 1- He also made a half-serious effort to recruit me and Ron Ballou after we were dropped from the Chamberlain basketball varsity our junior season. We had some attitude problems, and Doc Vance put us on the team for the last two games of the season. Darrel saw us at the Rainbow Cafe one evening and, as he always did, he stopped to talk. He'd heard what happened, and he said we could live at my folks' farm near Reliance, go to school there and, just maybe, get some playing time our senior year.

We said we didn't think we'd be comfortable with that. i. "You want to play here in Chamberlain, is that it?" he asked. r. Sure, we both said, "Then why are you sitting here sucking malts?" he said, irather forcefully.

"Get your thins off the table and go Shoot baskets. I never saw anybody make the team in a cafe." Good advice. Good guy. i Roach reporter Tarry Woater at 605-224-2760 or twoatarOnildco.net i Competitors hope ByBOBKEYES Argus Leader It may not seem so at first glance, but KELO-TV will have a vastly different look Thursday during the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.

Steve Hemmingsen wont be there, and he won't be coming back, either-at least not in the role that South Dakotans have come to expect. Hemmingsen, 55, retires from KELO on Wednesday with the close of the May sweeps period, concluding a career that began Sept. 29, 1969. His retirement leaves KELO without its lead anchor and its resident historian. It also gives the station's competitors an opportunity to chip away at KELO's massive lead in the TV news ratings.

"With Steve leaving and Dave Dedrick leaving a few years ago, the team is sort of breaking up," says KDLT general manag--er Gary Bolton. "It could present opportunities for KELO's competitors. Whenever you have change with the anchors, it could be cause for viewer changes as well." Hemmingsen's departure also signals an end to South Dakota's old-school era of broadcast journalism, defined by an anchor's ability to come across as a neigh bor first, reporter second. He never hesitated to inject his brusque personality into stories, a technique shunned by many today for the sake of impartiality but enjoyed by some viewers. "I never miss him," says Florine Dickerson of Sioux Falls, who's been watching Hemmingsen for three decades.

"It's like he's sitting across from me in my living room. I don't know him, but I feel like I know him. You wish him well, but not to see him is going to be hard." Joan Russell worked alongside Hemmingsen for several years as KELO's assignment editor. She later worked at KSFY and KDLT. She appreciates Hemmingsen's ability to find news in everyday Steve was that it was OK to do news abotit things that people yrerejalkirig "about," Russell says.

"People in the news business say, '1 think the view er shiuldber concerned about and we tend to force-feed news. But with Steve, it could be so simple. If people were talking about it, it was news. And it was OK to lead with that. He didn't always lead with politics and the big officials, and that sometimes offended a lot of politicians who just assumed they would be the lead.

I. 44: ITSV Thursday vlJ Comedians Rick Kearns, Randy Matson and Chris Voth take Friday Black songwriter i Harris kicks it out from 8:30 to KDLT news Sherry Kurtz Lloyd B. Cunningham Argus Leader Jim Healey from KSFY-TV tape an interview Sioux Falls. middle of our coverage," Mill-age says. Tom Claycomb, news director at KSFY, likens Hemmingsen to Howard Cosell, the late big-mouthed national sportscaster.

Whether they liked Cosell or not, people watched. And while "Monday Night Football" has succeeded since Cosell, many consider the Cosell years the show's heyday. Similarly, KELO won't be the same without Hemmingsen, even if it remains atop the ratings, Clay-comb says. "His departure won't mean we'll see the market turned upside down the day after his final newscast. But it does mean a lot of people will have a viewing habit upset, and they'll want to reset it," Claycomb says.

"Since their old habit is gone, maybe there's something in our newscast that will make them want to switch. All along, the road we've been traveling was to be a clear alternative." At KDLT, Bolton plans to promote his anchor team's experience as a reason to switch. Sherry Kurtz has been on the air at KDLT for nine years, and although Tom Local TV See 3F letting (22) Monday Dr. Ray I SP Christopher Gannon Argus Leader anchor Tom Hanson inserts his earphone as co-worker reads through copy before an evening newscast They complained about it, and that made Steve even happier. He just loved it." Hemmingsen's farewell broadcast will be the 10 p.m.

news on Wednesday, but he won't be gone forever. He intends to continue hosting the "First Monday" show, and news director Mark Millage hopes to tap him on big stories. "If we had another tornado fall from the sky like we did in Spencer, expect to see him back in the Today State parks are Tuesday Michael Mandrell of I Taos, N.M., performs "The Great Spiral Dance" on acoustic gui-j tar at 12:05 p.m. at Amer-j ica's Shrine to Music I Museum, 414 E. Clark in Vermillion, Admission is free.

mond Sidoti directs the Symphony Orchestra of the Sioux Empire Youth Symphonies at 8 p.m. in the Brandon Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available at the door. everyone in for free this weekend as part of the spring opener. As an added bonus, kids can get a free hot dog lunch and bait for fishing at the Kids Free Fishing Derby from 12:30 to 3 p.m.

at the Lake Alvin Picnic Shelter. The day is sponsored by the Minnehaha Sportsmen. Fishing licenses aren't required. Wednesday The Alpine Inn on Sioux Falls' east side hosts a weekly country music jam from 7 to 11 p.m. Steve Ransom, Mark Eiesland and Ron Alley host the session, which is open to any and all musicians and singers.

Sunday The Wells Fargo Falls Park Sound Hills Hank 3C6H8M Tx Saturday K2jJ The award-winning large-format film "Everest" opens at the Wells Fargo CineDome Theater. The movie takes audiences on an ascent with an international team of climbers who found hope, beauty and triumph in the face of tragedy. Liam Neeson narrates the film, which was the first large-format film ever to become one of the top 10 highest grossing films in North America. It shows through Sept. 29.

and Light Show starts up 30 minutes after sundown nightly through September. Sioux Falls' histdty is told through recorded script with an original score. Promoters promise you'll discover something interesting about the city. acoustically 11:30 p.m. at Theo's, 601 W.

33rd St. There likely will be a touch of reggae, a bit of country and a smattering of rock in the set. Hank Harris the stage at 7:30 p.m. at The Fpnny Bone, 431 N. Phillips Ave.

Call 339-4816 for reserva- tions. What else is going on? Read The Scene, your regional entertainment guide in Friday's Argus Leader..