TOM MEES

[James C Kaufman]

Tom Mees, an ESPN sportscaster since the beginning of the channel,
drowned today at the age of 46. He drowned after rescuing his 4-year-old
daughter from drowning in their swimming pool.

James

[Sandra Doyle]

I've just read on the Clari-news that Mees was unable to
swim, but jumped into the pool anyway when he saw his
daughter fall in. That's love for you, poor guy.

Alright, everybody, get out there and learn to swim!
Go to the Y if you have to and take lessons! Damn it!
This didn't need to happen!

Sandra

[Sandra Doyle]

James C Kaufman (jck...@mercury.cis.yale.edu) wrote:
: Tom Mees, an ESPN sportscaster since the beginning of the channel,

: drowned today at the age of 46. He drowned after rescuing his 4-year-old
: daughter from drowning in their swimming pool.
: James

Oh, what a shame! I hope his little girl doesn't have
bad dreams/messed up life, over it.

Sandra

[Brad Ferguson]

In article <4uvaia$g...@netnews.upenn.edu>, sdo...@mail1.sas.upenn.edu
(Sandra Doyle) wrote:

> I've just read on the Clari-news that Mees was unable to
> swim, but jumped into the pool anyway when he saw his
> daughter fall in. That's love for you, poor guy.

As a sports journalist, Tom Mees reported on a great many so-called
"heroes" who never really measured up, not where it counts .. and, when
the time came, he stood head and shoulders above them all. Tom Mees
humbles us all with his courage.

--
Stop by and set a spell at http://www.fred.net/thirteen/

[John M. Vogel]

Sandra Doyle (sdo...@mail1.sas.upenn.edu) wrote:
: I've just read on the Clari-news that Mees was unable to
: swim, but jumped into the pool anyway when he saw his
: daughter fall in. That's love for you, poor guy.

The police have said that this was not the case (that he drowned trying to
rescue his daughter). I wonder what happened.

John
jvo...@crl.com

[Mr Spock]

Are you some kind of an Idiot??? Or maybe you just don't have any kids,
so I wouldn't expect you to understand. Then again I did see your
wife!!!
--
Beam me outta here!!!

Energi z e. . . . . . .

[John M. Vogel]

Mr Spock (s...@gate.net) wrote:
: Are you some kind of an Idiot??? Or maybe you just don't have any kids,

: so I wouldn't expect you to understand. Then again I did see your
: wife!!!

I suppose this is referring to my statement that the police said that Tom
Mees didn't drown trying to save his daughter. My info came from the
AP wire story printed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of a few days ago.
People want to believe that he perished trying to save his daughter. In
fact, I'd like to believe it, but unless the investigators say otherwise,
I don't yet.

Hoping that the police report is incorrect, and my sympathies to the
family in any case.

John
jvo...@crl.com

[John M. Vogel]

John M. Vogel (jvo...@crl.com) wrote:

: Mr Spock (s...@gate.net) wrote:
: : Are you some kind of an Idiot??? Or maybe you just don't have any kids,
: : so I wouldn't expect you to understand. Then again I did see your
: : wife!!!

: I suppose this is referring to my statement that the police said that Tom
: Mees didn't drown trying to save his daughter. My info came from the
: AP wire story printed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of a few days ago.
: People want to believe that he perished trying to save his daughter. In
: fact, I'd like to believe it, but unless the investigators say otherwise,
: I don't yet.

Here is the AP story from the CNN homepage:
(Sorry about some of the margins, I copied this directly from CNN's homepage)

SOUTHINGTON, Connecticut (AP) -- Tom Mees, one of
ESPN's original sports anchors, drowned Wednesday in a
swimming accident in a neighbor's pool, police said.
He was 46.

Police said their earlier reports of Mees rescuing
his 4-year-old daughter from the pool could not be confirmed.

"We believe at this point there was no rescue
attempt," said Southington police Capt. Domenic Lombardo.

Police initially told The Associated Press that Mees
jumped into the pool to save his daughter, Gabrielle.

Capt. Lombardo said Wednesday night the only people
present during the accident were Mees and his two daughters,
Gabrielle and Lauren, 8. Police said they have not yet extensively
interviewed the children.

Mees' wife, Michelle, found her husband at the bottom of the pool
after Lauren ran to their home next door to get her,
police said.
The younger child was out of the pool.

His wife then began screaming for help. A lawn
maintenance man pulled Mees from the water, police and fire
officials said.

Mees had no pulse or respiration when he was brought
to Bradley Memorial Hospital at 2:50 p.m. and efforts to revive
him failed. He was pronounced dead at 3:15 p.m., said Richard Corcoran,
hospital vice president.

"Tom was an ESPN pioneer and the entire ESPN family is
devastated by this terrible news," said Steve
Bornstein, president of the sports cable network, which is headquartered
in neighboring Bristol.

Mees was the anchor of ESPN's nightly highlights show
`SportsCenter' from the network's inception on
September 7,
1979, until 1993.

Since then, he worked as the play-by-play NHL
commentator on
sister network ESPN2, generally calling two games a
week. Over
the past two years, he also broadcast college
football and
basketball and hosted the NHL draft.

In a tribute to Mees after a `SportsCenter' segment,
anchor Keith
Olbermann said: "Nothing and no one here will ever
be the same
without him."

Mees, a 1972 graduate of the University of Delaware,
got his start
in broadcasting at WILM-AM in Wilmington, Del.,
where he was
sports director for six years. He was sports
director at WECA-TV
in Tallahassee, Florida, before going to ESPN.

"`SportsCenter' would not be what it is today
without the 60- to
80-hour work weeks he put in when ESPN was just a
rumor,"
said Bob Ley, an anchor who started with Mees. "The
only thing
he loved more than his hockey and his Delaware Blue
Hens was
his family."

Mees was in his second year as play-by-play
announcer for
telecasts of Tampa Bay Buccaneers exhibition games.
He worked
last Saturday night's game against Atlanta.

"I just really got to know him in the last three
weeks," Bucs coach
Tony Dungy said. "When you see someone on Saturday
and hear
about this, it really is a shock. ... It puts
everything in perspective."

Mees is survived by his wife and two daughters.

There was no immediate word on funeral arrangements.

Copyright 1996 Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
redistributed.