The Earth Says Hello

I mentioned a while back that I’m a sucker for the human interest story. Everyone has at least one story to tell, and I enjoy hearing what they are.

Last week, I collaborated with Blake Christenson on a piece about what inspired our organization’s members to come to Cedar Rapids to do flood relief work, and what they plan to do when they are done with their year of service, which is coming up very soon.

We got a lot of good answers, so many I ended up using only a few of them. It would be a shame to see such well thought-out on the part of these people go to waste, so I think tomorrow what I will do is post more of their responses on here.

I’m also scheduled to do another homeowner profile later this week. We were supposed to do it last Friday, but was pushed back due to other priorities they have. So hopefully, we can get this in once and for all this week.

Again, I think everyone has a story or two to share with the world. Unfortunately, to get to all 6.8 billion people living in it is an unrealistic goal. It’s also too easy for their stories to get lost in the vast amount of information that comes to us faster than a speeding bullet these days.

I’ve read it before where journalists are asked what their dream interview would be, and they always answer somewhere along the lines of a very important world figure, like the President. I really don’t have a dream interview. I’m happy to listen to anyone who wants to tell me about themselves.

There is one story though that I find particularly intriguing, and given the right opportunity, I wouldn’t mind learning more about it. After messing around on the Internet over the weekend, I stumbled upon some information on a guy by the name of John Swofford. While you may never have heard of him, he’s held a pretty integral role in sports over the last several years.

He is the commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the collegiate athletic league that includes schools like Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina and one of tonight’s two finalists for the NCAA men’s basketball championship–Duke University. He is also involved with the controversial Bowl Championship Series in college football.

Prior to becoming ACC commish, Swofford had a long history with North Carolina, serving as its athletic director from 1980 to 1997. Before that, he was the quarterback on the Tar Heels football team during the late 1960s and early 70s.

While John was still in college, his brother William became famous for something unrelated to sports. William was a singer who Baby Boomers might recognize better by his middle name, Oliver.

Teaming up with Bob Crewe, the producer for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Oliver released a cover of the song “Good Morning Starshine.” Originally from the musical “Hair,” it has also been used on “Sesame Street“, “The Simpsons”, and in a commercial for Burger King. Oliver’s version (which is heard on the BK ad) reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969.

Bill Swofford would follow that up by singing “Jean” for the film “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” which made it to No. 2 on the charts. His newfound success landed him on the premier variety shows of the time, including “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and “American Bandstand.”

I can’t find it now, but a search on Google turned up a subscription article that says Bill’s quarterback brother toured with him over the summer of 1969 and made a brief appearance on Ed Sullivan. William Swofford died in 2000, having left the music business some time before.

As nuts as it may sound, I’m intrigued by the story of a 20-year-old kid who’s a football star at a Division I college going around the country with his musically talented and famous brother. With the right treatment, it would make one hell of a documentary–or even a motion picture. To me, that’s the stuff dreams are made of.

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