Retired (but not really) John Telich felt blessed with TV job at Channel 8

Jul. 21—John Telich, when he really, truly does retire, will be able to look back on a long satisfying career in television rich in memories, one filled with countless acquaintances made and countless young lives touched.

Telich, 69, retired as a sports anchor at WJW-TV 8 on Feb. 7 after more than 40 years in front of the television camera in Cleveland. Except he really isn't retired because come the high school football season next month the Euclid native, along with his sidekick Dan Coughlin, will be back in action for Friday Night Touchdown — Channel 8's unmatched recap of the best games on the gridiron on any given Friday night in late summer, the fall and on through blustery November and December playoff games.

"Friday Night Touchdown has been a staple at Channel 8 as long as I can remember," Telich said during a recent sit-down interview at one of his favorite restaurants in Euclid. "I just wanted to keep doing it. There's such a rush on Friday night when you're covering a couple of games and you're racing back to the station to put your highlights together.

"Being there and seeing the kids, the whole pageantry of high school football — you can't beat it. I love it. We always try to mention as many players' names as we can when we show the highlights."

There is a reason viewers turned in to watch Telich anchor the nightly sports news or report from on the scene, as he did when Indians pitcher Lenny Barker threw a perfect game in 1981, as he did from Oakland in 2016 when the Cavaliers won the NBA title. There were also many, many others too numerous to mention.

In a business populated by sports anchors with giant egos, John Telich has absolutely no ego. None. No matter what event he was reporting, he never, never made himself bigger than the story. It's like he's sitting on a folding chair, sipping a cup of coffee and chatting with a neighbor on his back porch.

"John Telich is great — the salt of the earth," Coughlin said in a phone interview. "He should have been Irish."

Coughlin is a proud Irishman and likes to joke harmlessly about those who cannot trace their roots to County Cork in Ireland.

"Friday Night Touchdown recaptures my Plain Dealer days on the high school beat on Friday nights," Coughlin said. "We work fast, and there's a lot of teamwork involved. And John is the greatest teammate anybody ever had. He does his work so efficiently. As long as he's there, everything is going to turn out OK."

Telich said virtually the same thing about Coughlin, and no wonder; they've been together at Channel 8 since September 1980. They met at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., in February of 1980 when Telich was working for a TV station in Buffalo. Coughlin was already at WJW.

"Dan and I work so well together," Telich said. "Nick Kovach is our producer. I can't say enough great stuff about him. He's the brains behind Friday Night Touchdown. He makes it fly."

Telich is one of the lucky people who got to work his dream job. He said growing up he wanted to be Jim Graner, Gib Shanley or Ken Coleman — legendary names in Cleveland sports broadcasting.

"I was the nerdy kid that watched the Browns game on the TV in the basement and did play-by-play on the tape recorder," Telich said.

Telich graduated from Euclid High School in 1971and matriculated at Ashland College — "one of the greatest experiences of my life," he said.

Sports was always at the center of his life, at least it was until John met his wife Jane, whom he married in 1976.

"It was great growing up in Euclid," Telich said. "I've had two homes in 42 years. I'm drawn to Lake Erie. The lake has had almost a mystical pull to me,"

When he was a boy, Telich and his friends would play basketball in the driveway and shoot at the hoop over the garage door. If snow was on the driveway, they had to shovel a clear area before they could play.

"My next door neighbor, God bless her, all she ever heard was the sound of that ball on the concrete and us taking shots," Telich said. "We had two basketballs going in the winter. Down in the laundry room, I always had a tub filled with super hot water. We would shoot with one ball for a while, and then it would lose its bounce because it was 30 degrees outside.

"I took that one in, run it under the hot water and switch it for the dry one that had been in the water. We played forever."

Telich graduated from Ashland in 1975. He worked in radio in the Ashland-Mansfield area in 1976. He got his first job in TV at a station in Rapid City, S.D., in June 1976. His next TV gig was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1977. He worked in Buffalo from 1978 until got his big break at Channel 8.

Telich has not forgotten the long and winding road he traveled to get the job in his hometown. He mentors aspiring broadcasters looking for a path to follow.

"I always tell young people nowadays there is no one tried-and-true way to get into the business or advance," Telich said. "You have to be adaptable. You can use social media to your advantage. You can start a podcast. There are a million things you can do."

While at the station in Iowa, a segment of the sportscast was dubbed "Telich Tries It." One time he parachuted from an airplane. Another time he was a hockey goalie He ran a marathon in another segment and hang-glided in another.

The "Telich Tries It," appealed to the TV station in Buffalo. Telich was hired by WJW to do weekend sports on Sept. 15, 1980, as a replacement for Fred McLeod, who left Cleveland for a television job in San Francisco. Telich and Mcleod developed a strong friendship before McLeod, now deceased, became the television play-by-play announcer for the Cavaliers.

"Fred and I became friends from the moment he got the job in San Francisco," Telich said. "He called me the next week to congratulate me on getting the job in Cleveland. He said, 'Anything you need, I'll be on the lookout for you here."

Telich, though, was very content working in his hometown at age 27.

It would be wrong to assume Telich goes into hibernation between high school football seasons. He stays active training and participating in ultra-marathons — races of 31, 50 or 100 miles. He is training for the Burning River 50-mile race set for July 30 through the Cuyahoga Valley National Parks.

Telich has only one regret — regret really isn't the right word — about retiring.

"I really miss the people," John said reflectively. "I worked with some great colleagues. I miss the day-to-day wonderful camaraderie and teamwork we had. But I don't miss the stress.

"Whenever a huge story breaks now, I can keep my eye on what's going on, but not be stressed and think 'I have to do a 4 o'clock report, one at 5, one at 6, another at 7 and one at 11.' That's missing, and that's good."