Jim Nantz’s advice on losing his father will bring tears to your eyes

ESPN’s Kevin Clark said earlier this week that he had lost his father.

“Jim was an old-fashioned newspaperman, a legendary UCF history professor, an all-time football man and a Hall of Fame grandfather (and a great guy),” he wrote. in a moving tribute on Twitter. “Together we conquered every hockey practice, Magic game and WWF Raw taping in Florida. God, he loved us. Call your dad.”

Clark is one of the brightest and most curious minds in the NFL media landscape; in recent years he has disappeared from being a writer to the Ringtone to his own show on ESPN. And this week, in the wake of his father’s death, he conducted an interview with CBS golf and football legend Jim Nantz — who calls both golf and football for CBS — because, he said, “my dad would want me to keep going.”

Nantz was determined to help Clark continue as well. He researched Jim Clark in an attempt to talk to Kevin about the subject. And so their conversation wandered from football to fathers. (It’s worth it and you can find it here.) After their official conversation ended, Clark added, Nantz continued to talk.

“I can’t describe how special and meaningful it was,” Clark said.

Clark, who was understandably sensitive to the mixing of his father’s passing with his content world, initially told his producers not to make cuts on social media where Nantz talked about grief. But then, he said, “enough people spoke out about this part, and I changed my mind.”

What he ultimately posted — Nantz on losing his own father, making decisions without him and getting meaningful advice from Arnold Palmer — is CBS legend at its best. Here’s the clip, which I’ve transcribed below.

Jim Nantz to Kevin Clark on Arnold Palmer’s fatherly wisdom:

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received came from Arnold Palmer at a time like this. My father hadn’t passed yet, but he failed, and I was faced with some pretty big career decisions.

Actually, it was the chance to switch to news and leave the childhood dream. All I ever wanted to do was work for CBS Sports, but now I had the opportunity to work for CBS News and put this behind me.

And it was a great opportunity, financially and beyond. But that wasn’t what was in my heart. And I felt sorry that my father was unable to consult me ​​about this. He was deep in his battle against Alzheimer’s disease.

But there was some media attention to this decision. And finally I said, ‘I’m not taking the money. To me that is not the driver. I have the job I always wanted. I’ll stick to sports.’

So shortly after that, I mean maybe two weeks after that decision came out in the press, I saw Arnold in Augusta. It is one of his last times as a competitor. He was on the putting green, and he looked around and he saw me and said, ‘Hey, come over here.’

And I had been the beneficiary of a wonderful friendship with Arnold. It was so deep that one day I did his eulogy – I was one of him hymns at his funeral. Anyway, he came to me and asked me, ‘How come you made this decision? How did you get involved?’

And I told him it was hard. He said, ‘Why was it hard?’ And I said, ‘Because my dad wasn’t there to talk it out.’

He says, ‘No, you don’t understand. Your father made that decision with you.’

I said, ‘What’s that like?’

He said: ‘He was talking all the time. You just didn’t realize it. He was here.’

“And Arnold had big hands, like baseball gloves, and he was reaching [Nantz touches his chest] and almost knocked me over. He kept hitting me in the heart here.

He says, ‘Jim, he was here. He’s here. He will always be here. You listened to him and you made that decision in consultation with your father. Never forget that as long as you live and encounter moments in your life, you don’t know what to do. Just remember, it’s here.”

That’s the best advice I can tell you. As you march on, your career is magical and wildly successful. It’s only getting bigger. So many paths to conquer and great things to set out and achieve. He will still be there. Just like Arnold said.

Thanks to Kevin and Jim for sharing this moment. And think for a moment about Jim Clark, that one sounds like he was the best.