Omaha Paper on Hawthorne's Legacy

Jim is a great guy!

A true LSU ambassador.

I have listened to mr. Hawthorne my whole life. Gonna miss him


Nb4 some asshat says jack hunt.

People can say what they want about Jim, but that mans voice has given me more goosebumps than anything else in this world. He has commentated almost all of my childhood heroes.

Holy sh*t! Jim was a part of the attempted Reagan assassination investigation!


At the 1981 Final Four in Philadelphia, Hawthorne called the final third-place game (between LSU and Virginia) in NCAA Final Four history. But that wasn’t the most memorable event of the week.

With Sunday off before Monday’s games, Hawthorne got in a car and drove to Washington, D.C. As a history buff, he wanted to see the White House.
“Back then, you were able to drive up pretty close to the White House, so that’s what I did,” Hawthorne said. “I got out and took some pictures. And then I saw this limo and a lot of people hanging around. I asked someone what was going on, and they said, ‘President and Mrs. Reagan are going to church.’ ”

Hawthorne drove over to the Reagans’ church, down the road, to get a closer look. The limo was parked outside. He went up to the limo and snapped photos of the insides and the back, which he says had an expired license plate.
“I was amazed at how you could really get close to the president,” Hawthorne said. “The next day, I got to the game and everyone was huddled around a TV set. I said, ‘What’s going on?’ Someone said, ‘The president has been shot.’ ”

That was the day John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate President Reagan. The NCAA games played on. Hawthorne went back to Shreveport and developed his film. His jaw dropped when he looked at the photos of the limo by the church.

“I looked through the window of the limo and I saw a man standing off to the side with dark hair who looked like Hinckley,” Hawthorne said.

“It was him. I knew it was. He had been there the day before. My news director said I needed to call the FBI. We did, and they came by and took my film. We never heard back from them.”

I don't get why people ride his arse for that, that's one of the stories that makes that moment so great. Dude was shocked like everyone else.

To me he is the guy who replaced Ferguson.

Is he still going to do football and basketball this upcoming season?

Yes

GeorgeReymond

quote:

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“Well, now it’s going to take a single or an error or a wild pitch or a passed ...” Hawthorne wasn’t able to get “passed ball” out of his mouth. Because Morris, a light-hitting, left-handed second baseman, went down low and swung at the first pitch. According to LSU’s radio audio archive, Hawthorne’s next words were: “Line drive, way back, way back, HOME RUN! TIGERS WIN! TIGERS WIN!” To this day, Hawthorne says he doesn’t recall what he said. He just remembers he wanted to cry.

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These are Hawthorne's exact words as Morris stepped up to the plate:

"And now it'll take a base hit, an error, a wild pitch, or something.......swung on and hit to right field that's way back there...way BACK THERE......
HOMERUUUUUUUUUN! Tigers win! Tigers win....Warren Morris...hits a two-run home run (almost sounds like he said three-run home run)...and the Tigers are the national champs! I don't believe it!........Hoooooly cow !!!! pause.....Wooooooooo!


(He never said 'passed ball', nor was he 'about' to say it, and he never said 'line drive, way back, way back.')