"And Tom Mees showed up!"

Going through some old VHS tapes and I came across a SportsCenter piece I had taped for some reason.

It was a Mets game at Shea and David Cone was pitching and struck out a batter. They showed some of the idiots in the upper deck wearing Cone Heads and firing orange cones around like lassos and, I believe it was Olbermann, quipps, "And Tom Mees showed up!"

The camera immediately cuts to Mees and I swear, you could all but see him mouth, "Fucker!" back at him.

1) I remember laughing my ass off because of Mees' rather large forehead and seeing him want to kill Olbermann right there on live TV.

2) I felt terrible, remembering how he tragically died while trying to save his son in a swimming pool, I believe.

That, and recalling the heartwrenching saga of Joe Delaney make things awfully dusty in here.

 

Tom Mees died in a swimming pool while trying to save his son? Seriously?

 

From the internet accuracy report.org


Tom Mees was an American sportscaster who anchored ESPN's nightly highlights show, SportsCenter, from the cable sports network's launch on September 7th, 1979, until 1993. Beginning in 1987, he did play-by-play for hockey games whenever ESPN had NHL broadcast rights. Mees continued to host SportsCenter in the off-season, and always returned full time to the show when the network lost broadcast rights to NHL games. Mees was also a familiar face on sister network ESPN2, and broadcast college football and basketball, as well as acting as host of the NHL draft.

Before he became one of ESPN's original sports anchors, Tom broadcast football games on the University of Delaware student-run station while still a student at UD. After graduating from the University of Delaware in 1972, Mees spent six years as sports director at WILM-AM in Wilmington. Working with the late Bob Kelley, Mees was the commentator on Delaware football and basketball games, covered professional baseball and basketball, hosted a weekly sports talk show and provided daily sports commentary. Tom then became sports director in 1978 at WECA-TV in Tallahassee, Florida, before joining ESPN the following year.

Mees, who couldn't swim, died saving his 4-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, from drowning after she fell into the deep end of a neighbor's swimming pool. Later, the police report was amended and the death termed a swimming accident, saying they could not confirm the rescue attempt. "We believe at this point there was no rescue attempt," police Captain Domenic Lombardo said.

 

PO: I'm not 100 percent sure, but I know it was in a swimming pool and I believe it was while trying to save a kid, his son. I'm sure some others know the story and can fill us in, but I remember being very sad when I heard about it.

 

Slappy: Thanks!

 

I just don't understand how people don't learn to swim at some point in their lives. So silly.

 

In the early days of Sportscenter, the Oklahoma State cowboy mascot was doing his thing, with his giant head, and George Grande goes, "Big Tom Mees gets in on the action."

 

Here is a real account. How sad this was to hear back in the day. ESPN should do a follow-up on his family some day.

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/sports/1996/08/15/1996-08-15_espn_vet_mees_dies_heroically.html

 

Uni: Thanks for the link.

So damn sad.

 

Not everyone has access to pools/oceans/lakes, and I'd imagine some are afraid of the water.

My mom took us to the pool a few times a week when I was 4 and 5, so I learned pretty early, I guess (if that's early). When we moved, we had a pool in our backyard, so not knowing how to swim was almost impossible in my family.

 

It's great and humbling to hear Tom Mees being mentioned again.

I miss the hell out of him. Ley, Charley, Tom, and the original gang will always be the ones who made ESPN fun to watch and enjoy. :'(

 

D-3 Fan: Amen. Those guys were hilarious, without being over the top. That was saved for the commercials -- wish Tom had lived long enough to be part of them. Steiner's classics (the pool boy and the run for your lives -- I forget the exact quote, I know that's not correct) were classics.

RIP, Tom.