A Memorial Tribute to My Dad, Ken Gimblin
My dad was born on December 2, 1937, to parents Earl and Nancy Gimblin. He was the first-born child, and as it turned out, the only son. Daughters Cathy, Nancy and Jean followed, giving Dad three younger sisters.
Growing up the 1940’s was, of course, different from today. Sacramento was a much smaller city. I remember my dad telling me about how he used to ride his bike through the Land Park neighborhood to Vic’s to get ice cream in the summertime. Or his trips out to his grandfather’s farm, in what is now Carmichael, to ride horses. If that seems out of character for my dad, let me tell you, it was a surprise to me as well. But he told me, not too long ago, that it was something he enjoyed doing, and was quite good at it too. Had it not been for the allergies that persisted throughout his life, he probably would have continued riding.
As a teenager, my dad, like so many other boys, developed a love of baseball. Dad admitted he was not the best athlete but he wanted to be involved in sports. One of the first jobs that helped him to be a part of a team was his job of equipment manager for a baseball team. This also gave him the opportunity to learn about the art of baseball, the with a front row seat from the dugout. It was there, on a dusty field in a Land Park neighborhood that he began his lifelong love of the sport that continued right up until the time he passed away.
By the mid-1950’s television was in the early stages of development and my dad was in his late teens. He had this ability to look at what was happening in the present and make some accurate predictions about what the future would bring. In the case of TV, Dad knew that this was not just some “fad” that would not catch on. And he wanted to be a part of it. I remember hearing stories about his job at a studio where everything was broadcast live and how when something went wrong, like the time the narrator walked right into the middle of the solar system set, you just had to go with it, and try not to laugh because there were no second takes! At the same time, Dad was also making his mark in radio, hosting his own on-air sports show while still a student at C.K. Mc Clatchy High School.
Although Dad had an affinity for sports, radio, and television, he chose to be more practical with his first four years of study, majoring in Education at Sacramento State. Perhaps it was the great hours teachers work. Perhaps it was the summers off. Perhaps it was the great pay. Or perhaps, it was something more, such as an inspirational teacher. In 1960, he graduated with a Bachelors of Education degree, with honors, no less. I only mention this because Dad moved out of his parents’ house shortly after he graduated high school. So not only did he hold down a job while attending classes, he also received honors as a graduate. He spent one more year at Sac State, completing coursework for teaching credentials in Elementary and Secondary Education, which he immediately put to use. His first teaching position was with Sacramento City Unified School District at California Middle School. He would work for Sacramento City Unified for the next forty plus years.
It was through teaching that he met his wife, Dorothy. They married on December 29, 1963. In 1964, Dad graduated from Sacramento State with a Masters Degree in Communications. This now gave him degrees in both education and broadcasting, both of which he continued to put to use throughout his life.
As the 1960’s drew to a close, Dad continued with teaching and broadcasting mostly on the radio. He was now working for the San Francisco Giants as well as the San Francisco 49ers, covering games and giving reports on Bay Area and Sacramento stations. In 1967, he became a father for the first time when I was born. Four and a half years later, in 1971, he became a father for the second time when my sister Jenn was born. You might think that someone with such a love of sports would have hoped for boys, or at least athletic girls. That didn’t happen and yet, my sister and I were never made to feel that we were not exactly what he had wanted and expected. Dad always encouraged us to develop our own interests and talents throughout our lives, always reminding us “You only get to go around once in this life”!
In my opinion, the 1970’s and the early 80’s was the time that my dad’s broadcasting career achieved the “local celebrity” status. In 1973, Dad became part of the first newscasting team for Channel 40’s 10 O’Clock News. Dad was chosen to be the director of sports as well as the on-air sportscaster. At the same time, Dad was also a part of a very well-known rock radio station, KROY, a station that dominated the Sacramento airwaves during the 1970’s. Even if you weren’t a fan of rock and roll music, you knew the call letters K-R-O-Y. And how could you not recognize the “All American Ken Gimblin”, as Dad’s introduction used to say.
The 1970’s also found Dad working PR for the California State Fair, a job he would continue to hold for the next two decades. And then there was my personal favorite, his job as the Sacramento host of Bowling for Dollars, a syndicated show with local celebrity hosts offering huge jackpots to competitors based on how well they bowled. Ads appeared in TV Guide featuring Dad holding big wads of cash. It was probably the cheesiest job Dad held in broadcasting, but he still managed to keep it classy, as we saw when we came to recordings of the show.
You might think that with all of these jobs, Dad missed out on “family time”. Well that’s not exactly true. While Dad may not have clocked the quantity hours, there was definite quality to the time we spent together. If Dad were covering a game at Candlestick Park, we’d go down to “the City” and after the game, we would head to Pier 39 or Ghirardelli Square for dinner. Often, we would stay overnight, sometimes taking in an exhibit at the De Young or a play at ACT Theater.
Sometimes an “item” (Dad’s term for just about everything) would suddenly appear for one of us. It wasn’t connected to a birthday or a good grade it was just “because”. I still remember Fuzzy, the big blue bear that Dad brought home for Jenn after the State Fair closed one year. Fuzzy joined a large stuffed St. Bernard, it was probably four feet tall, that had made its way into her collection the previous year. We were never sure if Dad simply went out to the midway as the carnies were packing up and offered to buy one, or if he actually went and played the games until he was able to win, though we always suspected he had worked out some type of “deal”.
I remember getting an “item” in the form of tickets to go see Shaun Cassidy in concert. Shaun Cassidy, star of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, was a teen heart-throb of the late 70’s. My poor Dad actually sat through a Shaun Cassidy concert at the Memorial Auditorium with a thousand screaming teenage girls just so I could see Shaun Cassidy on stage.
Once, the item came in the form of a small orange tabby cat that we named Frisky. Despite the fact that Dad suffered allergies, he got the cat for us anyway. And who did the cat worship? You guessed it. Frisky was his “friend” who would greet him when he came home late at night after working at Channel 40, keeping him company in the kitchen while he ate a late night snack.
While the term “Family Game Night” did not yet exist, we had Game Night in our house, usually after dinner. I’m not going to say that Dad was a bit competitive when it came to games, however, it always seemed like he had a huge stack of cash whenever we played Monopoly or Payday.
Dad also had this type of “dinner radar”, this uncanny ability to show up at the house within minutes of dinner being put on the table. I have no idea how he pulled this one off. The average person didn't have a cell phone, so it’s not as if he could call. It wasn’t as if dinner was on the table at the same time every night. Yet, dinner was served and there was Dad at the door.
Road trips were also a part of our childhood and I long ago lost count of how many times we heard the word, “Ladies” as we drove the highways of California. That was a Dad-code for “Your argument over who has violated the imaginary line dividing the backseat has reached a very loud level”. All it took was one “LADIES!” and quiet would return to the car, for a while anyway. Later, there were trips to other parts of the country, and then, the world. And the fight changed from seat space to seat location, as in who got to sit by the window. I wonder if that’s why Mom and Dad had their seats assigned elsewhere?
Family trips were only a part of Dad’s travels while we were growing up. Those were the days when journalists traveled with the team, so Dad had the opportunity to travel with the 49ers and Oakland Raiders when they were on the road, and he attended many Super Bowls over the years. There was a desire on his part, to see as much of the world as he could in his lifetime and so he set about making this wish come true.
The 1990’s found Dad leading a “newly single” life as his marriage to our mom had ended after 26 years. Dad continued with teaching. He was now in his second decade of running the Practical Politics Program, a high school internship program that gave students the opportunity to work in offices at the State Capital. Dad became a familiar fixture in many offices including the Governor, Lt. Governor, and various senate and assembly members. He continued to cover and report for the 49ers and Giants, his reports heard on many Bay Area radio stations, as well as KWOD Radio here in Sacramento. He expanded his travels and began taking trips abroad to Thailand, Ireland and England. Travel also took him to visit my sister and myself, as we had now left the Sacramento area. While these visits were supposed to be “just for fun”, they were usually timed so Dad could help one of us move. In Jenn’s case, it was from dorm to apartment, then another apartment as she completed her studies at UC Santa Barbara. For me, it was classroom to classroom during my early years of teaching on the Monterey Penninsula. Yet he never complained (much) except for the few months that my cat Miranda had to live with him. Even those complaints changed and yet another feline decided Dad was to be her “friend”. He even let her sleep on his bed.
I know that “technically” my dad retired from teaching at the end of the 1990’s, but really, that’s not quite accurate. After his official retirement, Dad returned to teaching, first as a long-term elementary PE teacher and later working for Capital City High School. Here, Dad continued to show his love of teaching, enjoying the one on one interactions he had with his students. He now used his off time to travel, to countries in South American and Asia. As the new millennium got into full swing, he took his love of teaching international and began teaching high school students in Brazil and Thailand, once again imparting his years of experience to a new generation. As for the sports, Dad never gave a thought of retiring from team coverage. He loved it too much!
In 2004, Dad walked me down the aisle when I married my husband Tim and a few years later welcomed granddaughter Dorothy into the family. He took this role quite seriously. Every time he traveled overseas, he brought back another doll for Dorie’s growing collection. When he came for dinner, he’d show up with an item for Dorie, again for no particular reason. He always made sure that he was covered in the present department when Christmas or birthdays approached, and that her Easter basket from Grampa had lots of goodies. He would ask about her hobbies and spent last Thanksgiving as part of a captive audience while Dorie gave a piano recital that featured every song she had learned. Then again, she had to sit through a lot of football games that day. Whether he came for dinner or breakfast, he always told her before he left “Grampa loves you”. Even when Dorie told him about her struggles with math, her least favorite subject, Dad would tell her that as long as she was trying her best, that was all that mattered. He also reminded her how important it was to get an education.
My dad was a very unique individual. I’ve heard from many people since Dad passed who have described him in similar terms. “He did it his way” one person told me. Which he did. Or, “he was one of a kind”. So true! From where I stand, he seemed to have managed to put at least three lifetimes of adventure into one lifespan of 76 years. Teacher, sportscaster, broadcaster, State Fair employee, world traveler, brother, grandfather, father, and friend are just a few terms that describe Dad. He was someone who made sure he was living life to the fullest, every single day, and encouraging everyone else to do the same.