"Everything happens for the best," my mother said
whenever I faced disappointment. "If you carry on, one day something good will
happen. And you'll realize that it wouldn't have happened if not for that
previous disappointment. "
Mother was right, as I discovered after graduating from college in 1932, I
had decided to try for a job in radio, then work my way up to sports announcer.
I hitchhiked to Chicago and knocked on the door of every station--and got turned
down every time.
In one studio, a kind lady told me that big stations couldn't risk hiring an
inexperienced person. "Go out in the sticks and find a small station that'll
give you a chance, " she said. I thumbed home to Dixon, Illinois.
While there were no radio－announcing jobs in Dixon, my father said Montgomery
Ward had opened a store and wanted a local athlete to manage its sports
department. Since Dixon was where I had played high school football, I applied.
The job sounded just right for me. 
But I wasn't hired. My disappointment must have shown. "Everything happens
for the best. " Mom reminded me. Dad offered me the car to hunt job. I tried WOC
Radio in Davenport, Iowa. The program director, a wonderful Scotsman named Peter
MacArthur told me they had already hired an announcer.
As I left his office, my frustration boiled over. I asked aloud, "How can a
fellow get to be a sports announcer if he can't get a job in a radio station." I
was waiting for the elevator when I heard MacArthur calling, "What was you said
about sports?
Do you know anything about football?" Then he stood me before a microphone
and asked me broadcast an imaginary game. The preceding autumn, my team had won
a game in the last 20 seconds with a 65－yard run. I did a 15－minute build－up to
that play, and Peter told me I would be broadcasting Saturday's game!
On my way home, as I have many times since, I thought of my mother's words:
"If you carry on, one day something good will happen. Something wouldn't have
happened if not for that previous disappointment. "
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