Tampa, Florida					Thursday, September 09, 2010

Another Good Man Gone
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
TAMPA—Years ago, when my late great brother, Red McEwen, died, on his behalf, I quoted the eulogy for another blessed man: “If all for whom he did a good deed, or in some manner helped when help was so needed, would lay a petal on his casket, he would sleep beneath a forest of flowers.’’ I write that again this day in tribute to another of that grandest cut of those who are good to the bone, always there, uncomplaining, wise and generous, talented, and hard-working, who was taken from among us in a horrid, horrid way on the streets of New York which he loved so. I write that of Val Pinchbeck, 73, the master of the complexities of National Football League, and the televising of its games. Pinch was a former vice president those NFL the late Commissioner, Pete Roszelle, put in that high position and the present commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, kept, and with whom he and others still consult on those matters and others, though Val had half-retired to a home he bought a half dozen years ago in East Lake Woodlands. Tagliabue will a eulogist Friday at a memorial service for this man of great popularity. Pinch, with whom two other Tampa friends (Leonard Levy and Jim Heffernan, also formerly of the NFL executive front lines), were planning to see a New York Yankee game at Legends Field this week. Yes, of course, Val was a Yankee fan, but the assembly never happened. For a reason not yet clear, Pinch, fell near a busy intersection in Manhattan following a business dinner on TV business, and on his way to his accommodation at the Yale Club, and was struck, run over and killed by a taxi. Killed! Taken from us, just like that! No warning. Nothing. He was 73 and about as fit as a 5-9, slightly rotund man can be, when life ended for our buddy—mine and yours. No charges were filed, said his beloved son Val, Jr., in Tampa where he works in television after graduating from the University of Tampa. No, the son said, there was no evidence of a heart attack or a stroke, nothing, really, that could be a cause, other than the frightful fall not far from safe haven at the Yale Club, or the nearby NFL offices. “No, we just don’t know, yet,’’ said Val, whose late mother, Pansy, and late dad, sent to the University of Tampa on assurances she got from my wife Linda, whose travel offices are in nearby Downtown Tampa, and I that we would look after him as needed. We did that and it was easy and it was a pleasure and yes, we were all there, Pansy, Val, Jr., another son, James, also in Tampa now, Linda and I, Levy, and the Heffernans. Proud times, those. Not like these with Pansy gone and now Val again at her side. See, we are talking now about a man who was a key NFL executive, a man has for years been responsible for you NFL TV fare, the broadcasting contracts, and matters assigned, such as an early contact with those of us in Tampa Bay who in the late Sixties began talking about an NFL franchise and later three Super Bowls here. Pinchbeck was a key in all that became what it has become, with the NFL—the Buccaneeers, the Super Bowls, the Pro Bowl, the NFL meetings here, the works. No, Val was certainly not the only one up there at 410 Park Avenue that figured big in all that. Rozelle did and Tagliabue has, the present commissioner in the last two Super Bowls, the change in Buc ownership, and whatever is ahead. Figuring importantly also were the late Don Weiss, the late Jim Kensil, Heffernan, Joe Browne, Dick Maxwell and Jan Van Duser, of the strong Tampa connections, Super Bowl Empressario Jim Steeg, Donna	Montana, Greg Aiello, Pete Abitante, Joe Ryan, Leslie Hammond, Vince Casey, Lynn Kelly (Val’s aide for years) and so many more, including Pittsburgh owner Dan Rooney, the expansion committee chairman when the Bucs were created. And, in those very first of that pursuit that has paid such dividends, when Bill Marcum and the late Ed Rood and I appointed ourselves a committee, our first contact was the late American Conference president, Milt Woodard, then the forever friend, Val Pinchbeck, Sr. Pinch, the late Pinch now, was our contact and was our Santa Claus, a tag that fit him well, spiritually and physically. Val, as mentioned, was a tad heavy, thus, yes, his belly could shake like a bowl full of jelly, when in laughter, which he so often was. My, he was of such good humor, Val was. He was a smiler, a laugher, a handshaker. He knew every one just about everywhere and everyone knew him, his job and his dress. Dress. Yes. Dress. Attire. Pinch loved the pastel sports coast—baby blue was a favorite. He loved light pants and a white—yes, a wide white belt—and white buck shoes. Those were his trademarks, likely no matter what the weather. He seemed always headed for the beach, or a restaurant at the beach. Oh, yes, Val was a tireless gourmet. I can tell you that. Hank Greenwald, longtime broadcaster now living in Naples, and who will eulogize his friend Friday, and tell you that. Name a classy restaurant and Val knew it. In Tampa favorites were Bern’s, Fleming’s, Donatello’s, Malio’s. Val was a calculating man, a careful man, which compound the way he left us. He remembered people and their names. He would delight a young newsperson by calling them by name. He also was available and always, always helpful. Well, except on the golf course. Oh, he loved to play, a reason for his East Lake Woodlands home near Heffernan. But, he just wasn’t good that game. Just not good. Flat swing. But, he tried. He tried and he never would fret so over never conquering the sport, as so many of us do---or, did. Now, all of this more recent success traces to military service, to public relations jobs in college, then in the NFL. He fit perfectly the prototype Rozelle sought and found to become his executives—newspapering and public relations backgrounds. Then, when Pinch and his family came to Tampa, and surely where Val, and the rest of the family will stay, he jumped in full force. He joined this and joined that. He supported this and he supported that. He became helpful to Jim McVay and the Outback Bowl, and of course, the Buccaneers, particularly PR man Jeff Kamis, and former GM Rich McKay. He was at most Buc home games, working for the NFL, as is Heffernan. He was on the sidelines, visible so in his pastels, in the skyboxes, in the pressbox, in the stands. Val Pinchbeck was as suite smart as he was street smart. The NFL was lucky Val Pinchbeck came along. He gave the league and he gave our beloved Tampa Bay every ounce of his counsel and support these years, and always in good humor and spirit, without qualification. My what a good life he led and how he enjoyed talking about it to us all who knew him so well. Right now, somewhere, Val Pinchbeck is saying, over a heavenly steak, “remember the first Super Bowl? Hey….Vince Lombardi said, hey, we’re going to . . . ‘ ‘’ Leonard and Heff and I passed on that Yankee game we were going to see with you, Pinch. See you along the way, old friend, as you said so often. ##
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