Ron Hunter, arguably the real Ron Burgundy, is off to that great newsdesk in the sky

At 11:05 yesterday morning, I received a text message from my friend Ali back in Louisiana saying that her father had passed away. Upon getting the message I texted her back to express my condolences and to offer whatever emotional support I could possibly extend to her, the only thing that you ever really can do in those sort of situations, I guess. I'm rarely socially awkward in any way, but this sort of thing is one of those times where I am dreadfully socially awkward. I never know what to do or say. But then again, does anyone?

Anyway, her father had been living in Las Vegas, so at the time of this exchange she said that she was about to board a plane to Nevada in order to tend to his affairs. I called her a couple of hours ago to catch up and to see how things were going out there. She said that she was fine (she and her father had been estranged for years) but that her little brother was taking it kinda hard. Interestingly, she also told me that by the time she landed at the airport in Vegas she'd numerous voice messages on her phone from the AP and other press outlets seeking confirmation of her dad's death. Why would the AP be digging for information in regards to the death of Ali's father, you ask? Well, her father was Ron Hunter, a legendary television newsman, the man some believe to have been the inspiration for the Ron Burgundy character in Anchorman.


(via nola.com)

In his long career, Ron Hunter anchored top rated local news desks in New Orleans, Miami, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Chicago, where he shared the desk with the likes of Jane Pauley and Maury Povich. His obit in the New Orleans Times Picayune went online a few hours ago and highlighted his "cocksure presence and flamboyant reportorial stunts." I can still vividly recall his face beaming into my parent's living room every evening over the duration of my most formative years.

In the time that I've known Ali, I'd estimate that we've spent dozens and dozens of hours talking on the phone. A great many of those hours were spent talking about her father, and many of the stories that she's shared with me are out and out ridiculous. I've tried to convince her that she should sit down and write a book about her childhood and the relationship she had with her father, and that the film rights to the thing itself would probably make her a rich woman, but she was always afraid that her dad would sue her if she did, and she just didn't want to go there. I mean, some of the shit I heard would make Augusten Burrough's upbringing sound downright Leave It To Beaver-ish. And I'll admit, there were times that I believed that she was embellishing some of the things that she told me about him because they were so outrageous, so over the top, so beyond the scope of rational belief, that it almost made him seem like a cartoon character of sorts. But then I read this blog post tonight, written by, Ed Kilgore, a former colleague of her father's in Buffalo, NY, and it pretty much collaborated every crazy thing Ali ever told me about her old man. Kilgore writes...

Ron Hunter had THE biggest ego of any person male or female I've ever worked with, and it's not even close. It was actually quite incredible how much Ron valued his own opinions and appearance, and yet in a strange way, he made it seem natural; like, doesn't EVERYBODY think like I do? You want an example? Ok, for starters, when Ron began anchoring at Ch2 after moving to Buffalo from New Orleans, where he virtually owned the market, we didn't call it Ch2 News, or Action News, or even News news. We called it, "The Ron Hunter Report". Not only that, Ron had a special animated opening made up, which featured a likeness of Ron, with his big buffont hair-do, running around with a microphone as if he's out getting the scoop. The show then opens, with Ron leaning into the camera, and with a booming voice "I'm Ron Hunter, and the big story in Buffalo is....." The standing joke around the news room, of course, was that the next word would be "me".

Ron was the actor of our generation, and seemed proud of it. He often BECAME the story, which was ok if it helped the ratings, and it often did. Oh, so you want an example? Here's one, and forgive me for forgetting the names, but Ron once did a tear jerking story about a young girl of 9 or 10 years old who was dying, who gave a vital organ to a girl her age so that the ailing young girl could have a nice future. Ron did some amazing interviews with the parents of both girls, and then in the story, used closeup shots of both girls with appropriate, gut-wrenching music behind them as we dissolved back and forth between the two adorable young faces. Heck, I'm crying just thinking about it. Anyway, do we fade to black here? Are you KIDDING? Heck no. I hear Ron instruct the cameraman to zoom in very close when he wraps up the story, so we finally come out of the story, and there isn't a dry eye in the studio or newsroom, and Ron hesitates...one beat....two beats.....three beats....a big tear -- a REAL tear I'm telling you -- gushes down from one eye, as Ron actually whispers on camera, "we'll be right back". You can't make this stuff up. Ron Hunter WAS Ron Burgundy in Anchorman if ever there was somebody to base it on.

The most tragic story of all that Ali ever told me was about the time her mother disguised her voice to sneak past the call screener and make it on the air of her father's radio show on WWL in New Orleans. He had a marriage counselor on as his guest that night, and her mother called in to say that he was basically a shitty husband and father. Ali, who was around seven at the time, recalls her father coming home later that night in an unholy rage. She remembers a knock-down, drag-out fight so vicious that they kept her up well past her bedtime. Eventually she dosed off, only to be woken up by the sound of a gunshot.

Her mother's death was ruled a suicide, but there were so many murky issues with the case that her father was run out of town and effectively kicked out of the news business altogether. Ali remained in Louisiana where she was raised by her aunt and uncle and still lives today. He pretty much died a broke and lonely man.

I guess that's the part of the Anchorman story that they decided to leave on the cutting room floor.

Ron Hunter's Obit in the Times Picayune

Ed Kilgore's blog remembrance of Ron Hunter

The Chicago Sun Times weighs in

So does the Chicago Tribune