Art Kimball

from NewsTribune_IV Hall of Fame_092921

by Shaw Media

Ray Jauch

DISTINGUISHED MEDIA AWARD

SUBMITTED PHOTOS

Accomplishments

• His 56-year broadcasting career in radio and TV included a stop as the Sports

Director at WLPO and WCMY in Ottawa as well as Carmi,

Ill., and Frankfort, Ind.; also the sports director at what is now WHOI-TV in Peoria • Original host of The IHSA

Sports Report, handled playby-play duties for Illinois

State football and men’s basketball teams in the early 1980s and in later years was the voice for Illinois Wesleyan athletics • Longtime emcee for the annual IBCA Hall of Fame

Banquet • Received the first Broadcast

Pioneer Award from the

Illinois Broadcasters

Association in 2008

By Andy Tavegia

Art Kimball called games everywhere from Madison Square Garden to Assembly Hall to Redbird Arena. But ask his son, Steve Kimball, and you might just hear he’d much prefer the likes of Kingman Gym, Bader Gym, or Mendota gym.

That’s because he felt Art had a deep connection to those in the Illinois Valley. “It makes me feel good that he’s getting recognized because that was his favorite place to work,” Steve Kimball said. “I just remember that he was really well-respected and really well-liked. And he liked the people, too, because generally speaking they were WHERE are they(straight shooters). And that’s how my dad spent his entire life.” In an area filled with notable media personalities, NOW Kimball was one of the first. He spent plenty of time throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s becoming the voice of many great sports moments in either Ottawa, La Salle-Peru or Mendota.

But the very first may have been his favorite.

After a stint in Indiana, Kimball brought his booming

baritone voice to Ottawa in 1959-60 to work for WCMY-AM –- just in time to see an Ottawa High School basketball team that was ranked No. 1 in the state for a time and wound up finishing 31-2 with a trip to the state quarterfinals.

A daytime station only back in those days, Art would bring a wollensak recorder to those games and record them to have them air the following day on WCMY before the sun would go down.

Kev Varney, native of Ottawa and a sports historian who worked with Art in the 1980s at WJBC in Bloomington, said Art couldn’t believe how welcoming legendary OHS coach and Class of 2019 NewsTribune’s Illinois Sports Hall of Famer Gil Love was that first year.

“He welcomed him to town, gave him the time of day, gave as much of the information that he needed to prepare for the broadcast,” Varney said. “(He told me that) after talking to Gil, he said if people are like this in Ottawa, things are going to be alright.”

The relationships just kept developing, which was not at all difficult for Art in the Illinois Valley. It didn’t matter if it was at WCMY, Ottawa’s WOLI, La Salle’s WLPO, or Mendota’s WGLC, all of which featured Art’s talents at various stints between 1959 and 1989.

And by all accounts, those in the Illinois Valley loved him just as much as he loved the Valley. Take for instance La Salle-Peru’s outstanding 1967-68 team, led by Gary Novak, which went 27-5 and reached the state quarterfinals. Those Cavaliers developed quite a rapport with the red-headed broadcaster with a bald spot.

“The L-P kids would see Art basically setting up in the gym at A.J. Sellett Gymnasium,” Varney said, “and they would yell up, ‘Hey, Art!’ All of a sudden, they would salute him by pulling out their combs. And Art would pull his out and would comb over, and the kids loved it.”

Even since he passed on in 2010, the relationships endure. Visit any school around the Illinois Valley and mention Art Kimball and chances are you will find someone with a story or a warm smile.

“He loved the Illinois Valley, he loved the sports and the kind of kids they had up here,” Steve Kimball said. “In my opinion, and I went to school with a lot of these kids, there are tougher kids up there. He just enjoyed working people. He enjoyed being able to go into a tavern and be able to say hi to two or three people. The way he remembered names was incredible. Even when he got sick at the end he would fake like he remembered names.”

It was more than just his personality they liked though. It also was his dedication and professionalism.

“Number one, his preparation was second to none,” Varney said. “Number two, another reason he really stood out was he really cared about the small communities and the schools in those communities. He figured they were the only game in town, let’s play them up. And I think that’s one of the selling points on why so many people liked Art Kimball.”