Jerry Park, former sports director for Oklahoma City ABC affiliate KOCO, died Monday. He was 76.
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, who worked with Park at KOCO for more than 20 years, told The Oklahoman about a Cotton Bowl pregame show when Park was told producers had mistimed the show and he had to fill four minutes. “I remember thinking how calm and collected he was when they told him he had four minutes,” said Cornett. “I adopted a quote, ‘Nobody says nothing better than Jerry.’ He talked for four minutes about absolutely nothing, but you wouldn’t necessarily would have picked up on it.”
Park worked at KOCO from 1974 until his retirement in 1999. He started his career in broadcasting in Forth Worth, TX, in 1956 as a disc jockey. He also worked in television in Lubbock, TX, and Dallas.
Talking about a heart attack he suffered in 1993, Park himself is quoted by The Oklahoman giving some insight into how he looked at the world.
“After the heart attack, those things that were seemingly important to me, were no longer important at all — like being in front of a TV camera,” Park said. “The values of my family and the ones I care about were more important.”