I guess it was Tuesday night this past week. My son, Grayson and I came home and there was a message from Bob Farley, the Photo Editor for the Birmingham Post-Herald. He'd needed a photographer to shoot some pictures here in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night and he wanted to know if I'd be interested in helping them out. Wow...a real assignment from a newspaper...I hadn't had one of those in years now...

I called Bob back to tell him that I wasn't too busy and that I'd be happy to help him out. Instead, I talked to one of the staff photographers at the Herald- Bob wouldn't be in until 3 a.m. the following morning (ugh! I thought MY hours were bad...). So the next morning, Bob called and told me that they needed some images of Bob Bockrath, the Athletic Director at the University of Alabama during the Auburn-Alabama basketball game. Basically, I was told to follow him around and get some candids of him with other people before and during the game. Nooooooo Problem...Bob and I also set up a system for getting the images back to Birmingham electronically. It's really nice when you can talk to someone who has some computer savvy. It makes it so much easier to get things done. Bob loaded the test file that I sent him the first time without a hitch.

I'd told Bob (Farley) that I would set things up with the University and called Larry White, the Director of Sports Information. I explained to Larry what the story was about and what my needs were regarding access to Mr. Bockrath. Larry told me that he'd call me back when the arrangements were made. I half-way expected to not hear from Larry and my suspicions were right- very typical of the University of Alabama S.I.D.'s office. I never did have good luck with them and I've found that after five years away from them that things haven't changed a whole lot.

Bob called me back and told me that because of an editorial that his paper ran calling for the firing of the Athletic Director, that Mr. Bockrath  wasn't in much of a mood to be photographed- especially by the Birmingham Post- Herald. So, now instead of a cake walk, it was going to be tough to get a photo. Great.

My one redeeming hope was that there was a trophy presentation scheduled for halftime and Bockrath was expected to be on the floor. Great. I'd get some nice, candid shots of him then. So, my plan was to shoot some images of the Athletic Director in the stands during the game and then at halftime. I'd been asked to send a package of 3 images and they were expected to be used as the lead art for the story. So, on Saturday, my plans were to take Grayson to the Circus in Birmingham, come home and then shoot my assignment that night. At 5:30, I turned onto Paul Bryant Drive near Druid City Hospital and as I rounded the corner, I could see the line of traffic going into Coleman Coliseum- something that I hadn't seen in quite a while. I got shivers thinking about it and was actually a bit nervous going in. While walking in the door to get my credentials, I ran into the reporter for the Post-Herald. I introduced myself and he asked me if anyone had told me what the situation was with Bockrath. I told him I knew and he grinned and told me I had my work cut out for me. He was right...

Bob Bockrath, the Athletic Director at the University of Alabama Photo by Mark Lent

After getting my credentials, I ran into a few people that I hadn't seen in years and caught up with their lives and talked to them about what it is that I'm doing now. I was surprised to hear that one of them had moved from the paper in Montgomery to Huntsville. I know several people at the Huntsville Times, so I asked her about them too. I enjoyed catching up and it seemed like I'd never left the newspaper business after talking to these folks. One of the photographers, Mark Miller of the Montgomery Advertiser-Journal, told me that he's seen the YITL web site and reads the journals. Something I though was pretty cool. Mark is one of those people that I always look forward to seeing. He's got this constant grin on his face and always seems to take things in stride. Always fun to talk to.  I also ran into Mark Almond, from the Birmingham News, Kent Gidley from the University of Alabama Sports Information Office (he's their photographer) and saw, but didn't talk to my old boss from the Tuscaloosa News- someone I loath the sight of and have no respect for as a person or as a photographer. Best to just ignore him...

Now, it was time to get down to work- I found one of the assistants from the Sports Information Office and she showed me where Bockrath would be sitting. I checked the hallways around the coliseum and didn't have any luck finding him. Tip-off eventually rolled around and Bockrath still wasn't anywhere to be found. Finally, I saw him walking to his seat. I walked up into the stands to get a wide angle shot of him watching the game, which would be in the background portion of the image. Before I could even get two words out, Bockrath took an open-handed swipe (like a hard slapping type of swipe) at me. I couldn't believe it. This was the Athletic Director of the University of Alabama- one of the best athletic programs in the country- and he was trying to hit me. Unbelievable. It really caught me off guard and I was stunned. Bockrath told me that he didn't want his picture made during the game.

So, no more Mr. Nice Guy...I did what any other journalist would do- I pulled out my 300mm lens, got a row or two over from him and I shot his picture. He IS a public figure and he IS in a public place and so in the eyes of the law, he's "fair game"- whether he likes it or not...I  told the reporter at the game about what had transpired. I waited until the half to try to get photographs of Bockrath in a more public setting- somewhere that he wouldn't be as inclined to act like such a horses-you-know-what...He sat in the stands for the presentation and so, I was stuck with head shots of the A.D. I kept watching him during the game and he showed absolutely no emotions (other than when he wanted to hit me). He'd just site there, with his hands loosely clasped in front of his face.

Bob Bockrath, the Athletic Director at the University of Alabama Photo by Mark Lent

The pictures were transmitted over the weekend and on Wednesday of the following week, I had gone to lunch and was driving back to work and saw a newsrack for the Post Herald and on the front page, above the fold was my picture. It felt good to see an image that I shot on the front page of a newspaper again. I got back to work and immediately called my wife to tell her. I think that there was a better picture to be made of Bockrath, but under the circumstances, It wasn't a bad shot. Still, it won't win me any prizes...

Editorializing a bit now and looking back on the shoot, I'd heard a lot of bad things about Bockrath before the shoot from Alabama athletics fans, from facility and even from some people inside the athletic department itself. It's an understatement to say that he's not well liked.  Still, I really wanted to shoot a good picture of Bockrath. But when someone tries to hit you, it changes your attitude a little- at least it did for me. Now I feel like many others who follow the University sports programs that he should indeed be fired. I was talking to one of my friends and told him what had happened during the shoot and half joking told him that I thought Bockrath is a "P.R. Don't" for the University of Alabama. Another one of my friends, Jerry Pope, who I wrote an earlier journal about, tells me that the University, at the direction of Bob Bockrath, instituted a program that doesn't allow handicapped patrons to use the elevators at the Football stadium. Jerry went on to tell me that a woman he knows who is a quadriplegic was forced to use her "puffer" (a device used to help her control her own movements by blowing into it)  up the ramped exit ways to her seat in the upper section of the stadium. Jerry went on to tell me that Bockrath  even wrote a letter to "Tide Pride" patrons telling them about the policy.

Bockrath has also been under fire for his handling of ticket sales for the Alabama Bowl game this year. It's also known in these parts that one of the major reasons for Gene Stallings leaving the university was because of  clashes that he'd had with Bockrath.

In all, my impressions of him and the Alabama sports program are that they've stayed the same in some areas (which may or may not be a good thing) and has gone down in other areas. All in all, I think that the program was in better shape under the direction of Hootie Ingram, who resigned several years back. I put the blame for this demise on the shoulders of the Athletic director, The Sports Information Director and the school administration for allowing this type of activity to go on. We are a major -league sports program run by a bunch of amateurs. I feel sorry for the coaches and athletes who have to endure this kind of administrating.

Behind the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism
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