Tom Durkin to retire August 31st

[Peter Berry]

Gee Vic , this pain you feel, is it related to trying to take Mr Peter Berry's job calling the Santa Rosa meet ? or am I mistaken ?

BTW PB you are right in correcting my post - sorry

No worries at all, Benny.

I haven't called at Santa Rosa, that's Wrona's gig. And pretty sure Stauffer would have zero interest in taking my job in West Virginia.

Vic Stauffer or Frank Mirahmadi would be great to have as a successor to Tom Durkin

[MaTH716]

Like someone said earlier, Durkin could call the phone book and make it sound exciting. Going to truly miss him, the best ever.

I would love to see Dooley get the gig.

Originally Posted by Cardus

Why?

Why not? Certainly better than the robotic GPS voice we call Larry Collmus.
If he can get a high profile gig, why shouldn't they?

[Chalky]

The 1994 Travers - Holy Bull and Concern

Great race. Great call. Mr. Durkin will be missed and I hate to be the person that tries to fill those shoes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdzSMdBqawc

[Travis Stone]

Originally Posted by Chalky

The 1994 Travers - Holy Bull and Concern

Great race. Great call. Mr. Durkin will be missed and I hate to be the person that tries to fill those shoes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdzSMdBqawc

The turn for home in this race is very similar to how he handled the turn for home in Rachel's Woodward. He realized - or predicted perfectly - that something dramatic was about to happen and was ready with a line that captured it. It's those types of lines that made his calls so memorable.

I was standing about six feet away from Tom in the booth at CD when Arazi made his move in the BC Juvenile. Frankly any of us would have seen the move Arazi was making. The Red, White and Blue of Allen Paulson's silks literally passing a horse every stride. He caught it perfectly on time and made the proper passionate call. Many of us would have well handled that. It's what he said AFTER the huge move that set him apart.

"Bertrando is a stunned second" What? Are you kidding me? Who the hell thinks to say that? That's what blew me away. Therein lies the genius.

He seamlessly makes calls I wouldn't even think of to try.

"Mike Smith let's the Bull roll but there's cause for Concern"

"Sunday Silence braces for the oncoming power of Easy Goes"

" 28 years in the waiting comes down to a fateful final furlong"

And hundreds more.

When I was evolving as a race caller people would occasionally say I sounded a little like Durkin. Was that my intention? No, Id say. My intention is to sound EXACTLY like him. But I'll never be good enough.

Later I'll post a TD story about the Sunshine Millions at GP that offers insight into the man not just the announcer.

[SundayStar]

it's too bad Tom doesn't get the TV call for the Belmont. he does get the on track call, right? it would be great if he could make a triple crown call in his last year.

[Benny]

Originally Posted by Peter Berry

No worries at all, Benny.

I haven't called at Santa Rosa, that's Wrona's gig. And pretty sure Stauffer would have zero interest in taking my job in West Virginia.

Boy, hard to extricate foot from mouth.

Sorry to go off topic, all, on the great Tom Durkins thread. Hard to believe that as he progressed in his career that he wanted to be PHIL GEORGEFF. The voice of Chicago racing way back. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Georgeff

Here's a sample of his craft, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdU6A...69962C054E064C

Wikipedia says that he lives in Alabama now, would be great to hear him on ATR.