I laugh these days when I watch television weatherpersons. When a breeze over 5 miles per hour is in the air you better watch out! An upper-level disturbance is bound to be upon us. That means we could have a thunderstorm, a hurricane, a snowstorm, or a potential drought. Yes, I am in jest.
I can’t help it. The folks doing the weather these days make me laugh. Not all of them make me laugh. I just can’t see the venerable legendary Al Bolton putting any major inflection in his voice that is aimed to make you hesitate, think what might be next, worry, or challenge your inhibitions toward buying ice-melt. I suppose that was because he worked for KSLA Channel 12 in Shreveport for decades. Not much snowing there.
Still, you get the point. Al Bolton was a gentleman. He spoke with a voice that made you swear he must be Jack Buck”s cousin and he always spoke to you like you had good sense. I doubt he believed all of us did; he still sounded that way though.
Though I knew he was not a spring chicken, I did not know that Al Bolton died in April of 2014 until I just peeled away from the browser that holds the words to a different browser that told me of his passing after I typed in his name, city, and the station’s call letters. Bolton was 88 when he died. What most will never know is how he lived.
I know I get sad when I think about Peyton Manning retiring and how he has had such a great career.
Peyton has done nothing compared to Al Bolton.
Al Bolton graduated high school at an Alexandria, LA school. He was born in Alexandria. After high school he enrolled at Tulane University and was accepted into the US Navy ROTC. While there his country came calling. His service was needed. He served well. When called upon, he was on the U.S.S. Hart, a destroyer in the western and southwestern Pacific Theater in World War II. He returned to finish his education in 1949 at Louisiana College in Pineville. What then? He returned to duty and served aboard the aircraft carrier, U.S.S. Rendova during the Korean War.
In January of 1954 KSLA Channel 12 in Shreveport went on the air. Al Bolton moved to Shreveport in February. He wanted to do the weather. Apparently no one else wanted to. The gig was his from 1954 to 1990.
Having served his country in the manner he did, it is easy to know why he just told us about the weather. Told us if it was going to be a nice day. Told us to take shelter if need be. Told us to wear some rain gear when we needed it. He just told us. He just…spoke the rights. He could never scare us with the weather. It was not his way. Folks depended on Al Bolton. I can only imagine how they felt in 1990 when he was no longer on the air.
KSLA was the news of choice in my grandparents’ house at 1439 Alma Street in Shreveport. My grandfather liked some tool at KTBS too. I don’t remember the guy’s name. He did the news. None of us liked him, except for my grandfather. Go figure. Herbert Daniel Johnson just liked the KTBS guy.
Alright. I found him. His name hit me. I looked him up and I will not use his name. It would not be nice after I referenced him as a “tool” in the previous paragraph. The internet is a funny thing. It can bring back moving images thought to be long gone. I just watched a piece of a KTBS newscast. I was right. The guy was a tool.
I also found a guy named Bob Griffin. He was on KSLA doig sports when I was a kid. He is on KTBS weekend duty. Bob Griffin is three years older than baseball. Wow. Awesome Bob! You go Bob!
The next time I hear one of our local weather guys try to make us wonder if we will live through occasional showers I will think of Al Bolton. Here’s to you, Al. You were the best.
Speaking the Al Bolton rights.
Danny Johnson