Illinois Entertainer September 2017 | Page 16

16 illinoisentertainer . com september 2017
RIGHT SAID FRED

F

red Huebner is certainly not a newcomer on the local sports radio scene . His roots go back four decades . “ Like a lot of those guys on the Score , I started working at Sportsphone ,” he explains . “ I was there beginning in 1976 . We would do reports that were exactly 59 seconds--and people called the number to get the most recent reports .”
Sportsphone was the pre-curser to sports talk radio , but Fred was there at the beginning of that trend too . Just a few months after the Score signed on as Chicago ’ s first sports-talk radio station , Huebner was on the staff . At first he was just a weekend producer , but it wasn ’ t long before he was doing sports updates .
“ My big break was when ( Mike ) Murphy was doing nights at the Score ,” Fred recalls . “ I was his update guy , but he needed someone to bounce things off of , so he really made me part of the show . When Murph moved to mornings , I went with him . During the time Murphy and I did mornings , we routinely beat Mike and Mike ( ESPN ) because we were doing local sports talk .”
It was during his decade-long stint as a morning sidekick / update anchor for Murphy and later Mike North that Huebner became a wellknown name in Chicago . Both morning hosts had a reputation of being a little difficult , but Huebner never had an issue with either man . “ Murph only had two rules . When he asked you to do something , you do it . And if he asks if you ’ ve done something , don ’ t lie to him if you haven ’ t done it . Once you follow those rules , you don ’ t have any issues with Murph . I only had one semi-run in with Mike North , and it wasn ’ t that big of a deal . We had a 4:30am meeting , and I got stuck in traffic and showed up at 4:35 , and he wasn ’ t happy . But other than that , no issues . He ’ s a happy-go-lucky Chicago guy who just wants to do a good show , and if you ’ re also dedicated to that , there are no issues .”
In one way , Huebner is a man on an island in the Chicago sports-talk world . He may be the medium ’ s only 60-year-old non-ethnic unabashed soccer fan . “ I got introduced to soccer when I went to Morton East ( in Cicero ),” he told me . “ Our team went downstate , and even though I wasn ’ t a fan at the time , I hopped on the bus and tagged along . But honestly , it wasn ’ t until 1990 during the World Cup that I really became a fan . I watched all the games--and they were tape delayed because that World Cup was in Italy . The American announcers really took the time to explain the game to the ignorant fans like me , and I really immersed myself in it . By the time the 1994 World Cup rolled into America , I knew the backup players on Cameroon . That ’ s how into it I was .”
Being one of the only soccer fans in sports radio led to some opportunities for Huebner . “ I got a press pass because I was at the Score and got to know the Fire--the general manager at the time was Peter Wilt . And because I would hang around and talk to the folks there , in 2007 when
By Rick Kaempfer
they aired a few games on My 50 ( television ), I was asked to broadcast a couple of games . The first one I did was a David Beckham game .”
Huebner is now on staff at ESPN Radio ( AM 1000 ) in Chicago , and his soccer interest followed him there .“ For three years I did Chicago Fire Weekly on the radio . We did it for a little while live from the Fire pitch . It was always at a time when nobody was there . Well , one time the cops showed up because ( co-host and former Fire player / coach ) Frank Klopas used the wrong code . This year I got a call saying that the radio show wasn ’ t going to
Fred Huebner
air anymore . I was very bummed – but that disappointment didn ’ t last long . Next thing I knew they were telling me that it was going to be a television show instead ( on Comcast Sports Network ), and that I was going to host it . It ’ s been a great opportunity .”
On the other hand , the last few years have been incredibly difficult for Huebner on the home front . Our phone conversation took place on his drive to the hospital .
“ My wife has recurring ovarian cancer right now , and I ’ ve just recently recovered from lymphoma . My spleen had to be removed . A normal spleen is only a few ounces . Mine was 3 pounds . So I ’ ve been going through chemo , and had to miss a few months of work .”
Recently his soccer world and medical world collided . “ When Bastian Schweinsteiger was signed , I mentioned on Twitter that I wanted to get a jersey . One of the people at the Fire saw that , and told me he ’ d get me one . Well , I didn ’ t hear anything for a while , so I was starting to think they had forgotten me . But when Ihad Schweinsteiger on the show , at the end of the second segment , he said ‘ I know you ’ ve been going through a lot , so I wanted to give you this ’ and it was an autographed jersey . Such a nice gesture . It meant a lot to me .”
Fred Huebner can be seen on Chicago Fire Weekly on CSN , and can be heard on ESPN Radio with Mike Murphy on Saturday mornings and before Chicago Bears games on Sundays .