(670 The Score) Growing up in Chicago in the ‘90s, I was naturally obsessed with sports, like all of my peers. The Sox, Bulls, Hawks and Bears specifically. Frank, MJ, Roenick and Walter were the stars in town, and The Score was on the radio basically every day in my room.
I don’t remember a Chicago sports landscape that didn’t include live and local sports talk. I was part of the first generation that could say that. The Score had stars of its own. Mike North was a guy from my own neighborhood and sounded like it. There was Jiggs, Murph, Doug and Norm. There was Tom Shaer, Hanley and many more.
Of course, my guys were Dan McNeil and Terry Boers. My “Score awakening” happened in 1997 when Mac and Terry were going after Erik Kramer during an interview with the former Bears quarterback. It was unlike anything I'd ever heard and if I didn’t know already that The Score was different, I certainly knew then. Never mind that the criticisms in the interview were totally stupid. The Score was appointment listening for me every day after that.
Terry Boers had a gift that seemed so natural at the time, but after spending nearly 20 years in this business, I realize it’s incredibly rare. He had the ability to be insightful and hilarious while tip-toeing the line of what was appropriate – and rarely crossing it. Terry was a Score original, a Day 1 talent. That really means something to many of us. More than 34 years later, many of the staff of on-air personalities and producers that comprised The Score’s daily lineup in 1992 remain fixtures in today’s sports content landscape.
In 1999, I didn’t quite yet realize what I was going to do with my life, but after Terry teamed up with Dan Bernstein, I started to figure it out. The Boers & Bernstein pairing took many of the conventions of sports talk radio and either disposed of them completely or refined them to another level that none of us had ever heard. They were the gold standard for my generation of sports skeptics who don’t remember what it was like when the Bears won a Super Bowl, and they didn’t wax poetic about the two baseball teams in town that hadn’t won a World Series in 185 combined years.
After falling into an opportunity to volunteer at Loyola University’s WLUW, my radio career began, whether I realized it or not. In late 2006, I got my foot in the door at ESPN 1000, where I truly learned the bedrock principles of the radio business. I was devastated when my internship program wouldn’t allow me to return for another semester. It was a blessing in disguise because sometime in early 2007, my father walked into NBC Tower in full CPD uniform and asked his neighborhood pal Mike North how his son could get an internship. The wonderful Andy Garcia made it happen and 10 years after my “Score awakening,” I had my foot in the door.
I relished the opportunity to fill in on Boers & Bernstein as a part-time producer. After being the victim of a nearly fatal drunk driving accident that miraculously left me with merely a bruise, Terry dubbed me “Captain Indestructo.” Over the next five years, I battled through my own issues, a recession and a temporary career change before my life changed forever. After returning with my wife from our honeymoon in 2012, I learned that my friend Jason Goff had decided to take the leap and further his career in Atlanta.
That left the coveted spot of producing Boers & Bernstein wide open for me. I looked up to Goff, and I knew he wasn’t going to be easily replaced or forgotten. Jason and Matt Abbatacola took Dan and Terry to new heights. How could I possibly fit in my first full-time job in the industry?
I was grateful beyond belief and didn’t have time to worry. The show was already a ratings monster and a well-oiled machine. I compare it to hopping aboard a moving train. Ultimately, the reason I didn’t panic was because Dan and Terry immediately put my mind at ease.
They were about as low maintenance as it gets in our business and just wanted me to be me. This is why Terry Boers is so impactful in my life. He and Dan made me feel like I belonged, which is what they had always done for myself and many others like me. Working with Terry was like working with family – except better because it came with all of the love and none of the judgment or complexities that often come with family.
Terry’s retirement wish was to travel for one last Super Bowl broadcast. It was Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco. The shows from radio row were a blur in the best possible way. You’d turn around and spot Jerry Rice and then “Oh my God, there’s Adriana Lima! Here comes Ken Griffey Jr.!”
I was in a role I wasn’t used to but did my best. What I remember most were the dinners with Dan and Terry. Shoutout to the now-extinct Hunan Homes Chinese restaurant and the amazing Italian place where we were joined by Hub Arkush.
Traveling with Terry was an elite experience if you enjoy people watching (ridiculing) and laughing your ass off. The show continued its success as the years rolled on, but Terry’s cancer diagnosis hit us all like a ton of bricks. His emotional goodbye to our listeners of Boers & Bernstein in December 2016 was a day I’ll never forget. Terry vowed to retire on his 25th anniversary with The Score. He kept his promise and indeed returned for a final celebration in January 2017 for one of the most bittersweet days in our station’s history.
A five-hour broadcast was packed wall-to-wall with people that had been impacted by Terry Boers. It was masterfully produced by Matty. I just got out of the way. The radio station continued to evolve over the years as we navigated around the canyon left behind in Terry’s absence.
One of the best days of my professional life was our 30th anniversary broadcast at Real Time Sports in Elk Grove Village. Terry was battling several health issues but showed up for us and for you. He was one of the toughest people I had ever met. I was content to just be an observer to the on-air reunion of Dan and Terry. To remain an observer would’ve been a massive mistake by me. Thankfully I have friends like Leila Rahimi, who practically forced me on to the stage and on the air for what was an hour of my favorite radio we had ever done together.
On Friday, we lost Terry as he passed away while surrounded by family. He was the ultimate connective tissue. Terry was present for Michael Jordan’s first media appearance as a Chicago Bull in 1984. He was a trailblazer in the sports radio industry. Everyone adored Terry as a writer and a radio host, but what made him a true giant was his heart. His generosity was unmatched.
I became a father in 2014, and I learned a lot about what it meant to be a dad just by following Terry’s lead. From 2012-’17, I experienced the full spectrum of human emotion next to Terry Boers. The aching laughter of a mundane Tuesday in February to the sorrow and anxiety that occurred during the several national tragedies that played out as we were on the air together.
I went from being a fan to being a friend. The confluence of events that needed to happen for this to become a reality can’t be truly explained. That fact will never be lost on me.
One of the most important figures in my life and career is Score vice president Mitch Rosen, who hired me. Mitch allows me to create on a daily basis but most importantly has made an effort year after year to keep our Score family together. Every summer, we would have dinner with Terry, Mitch, Russ Mitera and a rotating group of others who could make it. All of us had been impacted by Terry Boers. Those dinners were a highlight of my year when times were often very tough in my personal life.
In our business, everyone believes they’re truly an original. The reality is we all take a piece of someone who we were influenced by along the way. I take pieces of Dan Bernstein, Dave Juday, the Zerang family, Rock Mamola, Dan McNeil, Jason Goff, Billy Zureikat, Mike North, Jonathan Hood, Harry and Spike, Steve Dahl, Eddie & JoBo, Joe Ostrowski, Matt Abbatacola, Ed Farmer, Darrin Jackson, Steve Rosenbloom, Les Grobstein and others.
Like many others, I took a big piece of Terry Boers with me, a piece that I’ll keep with me well beyond my career and for all my life. My heart goes out to Terry’s family. It couldn’t have been easy to share him with not only us at The Score but with the thousands of listeners who were impacted by him on a daily basis.
I take back what I said. There was definitely one person in this business who was a true original, one whose perspective we’ll never hear or read again. He went by “Larry Horse.” His name is Terry Boers, and he was the best to ever do it.
Chris Tannehill is the senior audio producer at 670 The Score and the former soundman for the Boers & Bernstein Show. Follow him on X @ChrisTannehill.