ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 16, 1996 TAG: 9611180112
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: ON THE AIR
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
There was silence through the phone line when Dan Bonner was given the good news. One of his friends and former Virginia basketball teammates had been named the Cavaliers' new radio analyst.
``Jim Hobgood?'' repeated Bonner, who has become one of the premier telecast analysts in the sport. ``Oh no. This is terrible news. I'd just as soon he not get the opportunity. I'd just as soon he not be in the business. He may be the best extemporaneous public speaker I've ever heard.
``He may take my job.''
Bonner all but had his tongue surgically implanted in his cheek when he said that. Hobgood, a Richmond insurance executive, does bring a different background to the Virginia network. He definitely played the game. He hasn't called it on the air, however, since doing a few games on a part-time basis with John Gordon almost 20 years ago when Hobgood was in graduate school.
``I was a frustrated radio guy for a long time, I think,'' said Hobgood, whose first game isn't exactly a tough assignment - Virginia's trip to the Maui Invitational for a Nov. 25 opener against South Carolina. ``I view this as a great opportunity, and hopefully, I'll be a fast learner. I do know the game.''
Longtime UVa fans undoubtedly recall Hobgood, who was a classmate of Barry Parkhill (they were 1973 graduates) and was a roommate of Bonner, who works games for ESPN, CBS and the ACC's network. Those two also were ushers in Hobgood's wedding, 20 years ago next month.
Known as the ``Uniontown Rifle'' during his playing days, Hobgood was an excellent perimeter shooter. He averaged nine points per game in his UVa career, ``but there was no 3-point goal then,'' said Bonner, like Hobgood a Pennsylvania native.
In Hobgood's junior season (1970-71), the Cavaliers started 18-1 and reached the top 10 in the polls. Then, their outside threat stretched and strained an Achilles tendon. He didn't practice, and for game nights, he regularly got a shot from Dr. Frank McCue to help him through the pain. Without Hobgood, UVa slumped and finished 21-7, losing in the first round of the NIT.
``Jim, like me, played in the Stone Age,'' Bonner said. ``That was when you had a center, two forwards and two guards, none of this one, two, three stuff. He was a forward. When he was on the floor, teams had to play us man-to-man. When he wasn't out there, they zoned us, and that was trouble.''
Hobgood was responsible for Bonner, now a Social Security administrator in Staunton, starting his post-graduate days as the UVa women's basketball coach. Virginia assistant athletic director Barbara Kelly offered the job to Hobgood. ``I didn't think I had the patience for it,'' Hobgood said. ``I suggested Dan. So, I guess I'm responsible for his getting married, too.''
Bonner married one of his former players, Terry Israel.
Instead of coaching, Hobgood went into politics. For 12 1/2 years, through 1987, he was the district administrative assistant for U.S. congressmen, J. Kenneth Robinson, R-Winchester, and D. French Slaughter, R-Culpeper, in the old 7th District. ``It involved a lot of public appearances,'' said Hobgood, 44.
When Robinson retired, Hobgood campaigned for the seat, but lost to Slaughter in a primary. Then, he talked his former opponent into hiring him. Until recently joining the Equitable agency, he had served for two agencies in Gov. George Allen's administration, in health and human resources.
He's also watched a lot of hoops. When he learned that former Cavalier Marc Iavaroni was going to N.C. State as an athletic administrator and wouldn't be returning to the UVa network, Hobgood contacted Kyle Denzel, general manager of Virginia Sports Marketing and the network coordinator. Parkhill, employed in fund raising at Virginia, and Bonner also boosted their ex-teammate's candidacy as Mac McDonald's new hoops sidekick.
Hobgood doesn't intend to be political on the air.
``I tend to be more analytical,'' he said. ``I've always been fascinated in what can happen in the change of possessions at the end of the game. Then, in the last few, it ceases to be a physical and is rather more of a mental game.''
Gee, would Bonner have explained that differently?
STAGGERING: On Sunday, the NCAA will pair and announce the 16-team Division III football playoff field that leads to the Dec.14 Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in Salem. The bracket will be revealed and the pairings teleconference will be aired live at 2:30 p.m. Sunday on Channel 18 on Salem's Booth cable. Roanoke's Cox Communications will not air the show.
AROUND THE DIAL: CBS Sports is sending today's Virginia Tech-Miami football telecast (3:30 p.m., WDBJ) to 73 percent of the nation. Georgia-Auburn goes primarily to the Southeastern Conference markets. Hockey can be a tough game. Seven games into the ECHL season, the Richmond Renegades canned their new play-by-play voice, Kris Cook, a 1995 Appalachian State graduate who had no professional experience. Evander Holyfield's 11-round stunner over Mike Tyson brought pay-per-view boxing to a record 1.6 million homes, about 440,000 more than had bought the previous record show headed by Tyson's quick KO of Peter McNeeley. Roanoke's Cox Communications cable had a similar number of sales to its Tyson-McNeeley record, just under 1,200. Jay Bilas, the former Duke forward, will be the primary telecast analyst for the Atlantic 10 Conference's TV dates this season. Also returning to ESPN is another ACC grad. Former Maryland star Len Elmore left TV after the 1991-92 season to go into the sports agent business. He sold his business and will be back on the tube. Elmore's return game Wednesday is St. Joseph's-Duke in the Preseason NIT.
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: headshot of Hobgoodby CNB