My Tim Russert Story

Many people have Tim Russert stories. Most of those who tell their stories knew Russert, much better than me. I only got to know him one late spring night and early morning, in June of 1997 in Cleveland when we drank beers and told stories until four o’clock in the morning under a tent on a suburban college campus.

The occasion of this gathering was sort of a reunion within a reunion. Five of us were back on the campus of John Carroll University for our college class reunions. Russert and Mark Pacelli were back for their 25th reunion and Bill Gagliano, Stan Mambort and I were back for our 20th. We shared common bond beyond just being fellow alumni; we were all members of the same fraternity, The University Club.

In the early to mid seventies, The University Club, or U-Club as it was commonly referred to, was chartered to be the “student host organization for the university” which was liberally interpreted to meaning that we were responsible for putting on rock concerts in the gymnasium. It was in this capacity that Bill, Stan and I first actually met Russert. We had all heard of him before of course. He was a legend in the U-Club even back then.

It was 1975 and we were in our sophomore year at John Carroll. Though he graduated John Carroll in 1972, Russert was still in Cleveland attending law school at Cleveland Marshall School of Law. With his connections in the U-Club, he ended up brokering a deal with another fraternity brother, Hal Becker who was then a senior at JCU, to bring Bruce Springsteen to the 2,000 seat gymnasium at John Carroll. This was well before Bruce Springsteen reached his peak of fame. Evidently Russerts brief foray into rock concert promotion helped pay his way through law school.

At least that’s what he told us that night. He also told us that years later he became friends with Springsteen and shared the story of the John Carroll concert with him and thanked him for helping to pay for his law degree. Both had by then decidedly grown in national recognition.

In fact, by the late spring of 1997, as we sat laughing and knocking back beers until the wee hours of Saturday morning, Russert had already been hosting Meet the Press for six years. Ironically, the one topic that was not discussed that evening was politics. We shared stories of our escapades during our years at John Carroll and reminisced about common friends and experiences. I seem to recall that we only agreed to go bed when we ran out of beer.

Over the years I’ve told this story several times to different people. When I’d see Russert on TV I’d often point out to anyone listening that we were fraternity brothers. If anyone probed a little more and asked if I knew him, I would invariably tell the story of the beer drinking bull session under the tent. When asked what he was I like, I always told them that he was the real deal; a regular good guy.

Last Friday, when I heard the news of his sudden death, the memory of that evening came back again and with it came immense gratitude for having had that opportunity to get to know my fellow fraternity brother a little better.