November 1952 – KCBS-San Francisco – Lookin’ ’em Over – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
November 1952. Sometime around Thanksgiving 1952 and it’s smack in the middle of College Football season and this daily Sports feature from KCBS-Radio in San Francisco gives the rundown on College teams on the West Coast as well as an across-the-board look at the Sports scene as it was happening in the Bay Area.
Much of the emphasis is on the upcoming games ahead of the Rosebowl – assessments and speculation. Crosstown rivalries in Southern California make news all the way up in the Bay Area. A Visit and a ticker-tape parade and an upcoming fight with Rocky Marciano along with the creeping plague in the sportsworld with drug addiction and how a promising young hopeful, with a solid career ahead of him in the ring, saw it evaporate in less than a year from Heroin addiction. Yep, it was a problem back then, too. The damage is the same and the appeals are the same – the rehabs are a bit different, but the social stigma is still there.
And finally a look ahead to the coming baseball season in 1953 and a look at the then-current state of scouting and bonuses for promising players and how a signing bonus in the hundreds of dollars was a princely sum in 1952 and far cry from the atmosphere of the 21st century.
But Sports is sports and competition is competition no matter how or when and this episode of KCBS’ program Lookin’ ’em Over is a prime example of what America was looking at and listening to in 1952.
Hit the play button and do a little time-travel while you’re digging into leftovers.
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