May '09 Politically Speaking—John Daly Column

This is a posting about my good friend John Dancy who is now retired from NBC News. John was the reporter who broke the Iran-Contra Scandal back in the 1980s. He also covered the White House and Moscow for NBC along with four wars. Talk about someone who witnessed the Cold War. I keep bugging him to write a book about all that in between his trips with wife Ann and rounds of golf. Maybe we can get him started by writing a few posts here. But John is doing so much more with his news skills — like producing a video for a local school in Durham.

John and I met about 12 years ago when we were paired together at the Michael Jordan Celebrity Golf Classic in Greenville, North Carolina. Needless to say, I forced John to “spill the stories.” And there are plenty that are funny and poignant. John and his wife Ann are two of the most enjoyable dinner guests we’ve ever had.

John has always been kind and open to me with his knowledge and experiences. He recently shared with me — and some of you — his personal thoughts on Tim Russert after Tim’s death last year.

John is always instrumental in helping young TV news folk make the grade. He became a professor at Duke and Brigham Young over the past few years since his retirement. In fact, he is still in contact with a couple of students he mentored at Duke who are now in local TV news.

We caught up with John and Ann in Tucson at the Ara Parseghian Celebrity Golf Event. And no surprise to me, John is working on a couple of new projects.

One that is in the works is with North Carolina Public Television that will explore the history of Beach Music in the Carolinas and how it evolved through racism and other factors of last century. I told him when the show is finished to get me the links to post here.

I can’t wait to hear the reaction from John’s overseas colleagues when they hear him discussing at length shagging. Like some of you right now who have not lived in the South, John will not be talking about the kind of shagging popularized by Mike Meyers in the Austin Powers movies. The shag, down South anyway, is a dance.

But John has also produced and narrated a video for the Durham Nativity School in Durham, North Carolina. You can see it here. Once you get to the page, scroll down to the photo of the boys with drums.