JanSport and Skip Yowell...one in the same

Howard Schulz did not create Starbucks. He took a good idea about selling specialty coffee, made it great and turned it into a worldwide brand.

Skip Yowell did exactly the same thing for backpacks and the outdoor industry. His cousin Murray won a design award for a pack frame, used his cash prize to start making packs and named the company after his wife-to-be, Jan. Skip showed up from the plains of Kansas, sold those packs to REI and other outdoor retailers and spent the next four decades putting packs and JanSport-branded gear on people all over the world.

Skip died last week and we're all lesser for it. He was a great friend, colleague, innovator and supporter of the outdoor experience to those of us who knew him well.  He was a quiet leader. The impact of his influence was felt throughout the outdoor industry and he touched every facet.

"Genuine" and "Authentic" were two of Skip's favorite words and they fit him to a "T". Just two years after he and Murray started the company, I met Skip and our decades-long relationship began.  I was on an acquisition team in my corporate days that had just bought the newly-started K2 Ski Company and we were looking for another product that would offset the seasonality of the ski business. JanSport Backpacks, it turned out, was the answer.

Skip had brought in famed mountaineer Lou Whittaker to test JanSport gear with his successful guide service on Mt. Rainier.  In the ensuing years, Lou became a very important part of both our lives. We are all kindred spirits and our journey together since then has been exciting, fun and rewarding.

There are enough stories about Skip to fill several volumes. As he said himself, "Murray and I didn't want a real job so we came up with a way to have fun and work at the same time." If there was ever a poster boy for "Find out what you love and just do that." it was Skip.

We literally went to the corners of the earth together and that in itself is a great story. Squirreling away canned hams in China to eat after the feline meals we were served. Taking the boss's kids on a bar tour of the North Cascades waaay after curfew. Trekking on the active runways at Paine Field.to the chagrin of security. Getting lost on the way to Camp Muir with one of Skip's legendary "Dealer Climbs". Keeping tabs on the "best tan" contest that Jane and Skip had going year round. My mind is filled with those kind of memories.

Perhaps my favorite is Skip's visit to the corporate office of the company that had just bought the young JanSport. Very slowly, he sauntered through the sea of cubicles wearing a white rawhide-fringed, bell-bottom suit with cowboy boots, shoulder length blond hair, sunglasses and a huge squash blossom necklace that would knock your eyes out. When he reached my office, he said very softly, "Do you think they noticed?" Believe me, there wasn't a white shirt and rep tie that didn't.

Since the recurrence of his cancer at the first of the year, most of our contact had been by email. He was very frustrated that he couldn't travel.  He and I were never far away from our next flight. We had finished our PBS documentary about Lou Whittaker and Skip was trying to get JanSport involved in the production.  He was never down. Always positive. Always looking to the future.

There are not enough Skip Yowell's in this world. People who love life and those it brings them in contact with. Skip was very special. He won't be on the cover of Time Magazine like Howard Schulz, but his memory is indelible in the minds of thousands and thousands of outdoor enthusiasts around the world. His New York Times obit is a very fitting epitaph. The JanSport brand is what it is because of Skip. His wonderful wife Winnie and the daughter he cherished, Quinn, will always have the love that Skip spread to so many coming back to them.  Skip, you put your stamp on all of us. RIP.

http://nyti.ms/1LzuUED

Silver Anniversary

Tomorrow, I will begin my 25th year of teaching public relations at the University of Washington. That makes me a "Millennial" of sorts. My teaching career has been influenced by the changes that have come to our society and lifestyle in the 1990's and 2000's. No more faxing in late assignments or having trouble with the IBM Selectric.

Now, I look at my phone more often  than my watch. I send announcements and updates from my phone or laptop.Staying on the cutting edge is a full time job and the students don't give you much leeway. Snapchat, Periscope, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are not just words in my vocabulary.  I have accounts and I post  on them regularly.

There are six courses in the year-long Public Relations curriculum and I've taught them all, more than once, in my tenure at UW.  Thank goodness you do still need to be able to write in order to succeed in this business and there is always something to learn about writing.

Six program administrators have come and gone during my 25 years and they've ranged in temperament and approach from Mr. Chips to Principal Vernon in the Breakfast Club and even Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher. Somehow the program has survived and been very successful.  We've turned out over 700 graduates during my time here and they have ended up in many far flung places in some very interesting jobs. The two key communications people from FEMA during the OSO Landslide, both were in the program. Some of the media types who have come over to have a look at this side of the communications business have stayed...while some have gone back (scared them, I'm sure).

I'm still teaching two of the courses, one in the fall and one in the winter. The fall course is about the news media and it gives me a chance to bring out the wonderful examples that "West Wing" showed us on the small screen. The trials, tribulations and successes of a public relations person have never been more clearly portrayed. Aaron Sorkin is a masterful writer and a hero of mine. He was at his best on WW. The program concluded its run in 2006 but the situations, examples and wisdom of building relationships with the media are even more true today than they were back then.

One of the actors from the show recently said he had just bingewatched (that's a word now, according to Webster) House of Cards. He made the comparison by saying that West Wing, which was based on the Clinton White House, made many young people want to go into government work.  House of Cards, rooted in the Bush years and today's congressional turmoil, is making the up-and-comers want to avoid government or political work at all costs.

Regardless, these classes are very practical.  We bring in people who are working in the jobs we're talking about. We use real world cases and we bring the business of effective communications to life. When I was asked to be on the advisory board to develop the curriculum, I had no thought of teaching. When the progsram was completed and UW said they would need someone to teach these courses, I decided to give it a try. Now 25 years later, when the first hint of fall hits the air, I get a rush thinking about going back to school. Teaching is a great outlet for me. Education is a gift that keeps on giving. It's exciting to think that I and the students can keep on learning together for years to come.

An Alaskan Wedding

Susan Butcher has her own day in Alaska. The first Saturday in March marks the start of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race that Susan made famous, and the State of Alaska has officially made it her day. She was a very special person and, for those of us who knew her well, there is a void since her untimely passing that can't be filled...except with memories.

Late summer holds one of those memories for me. On September 2, Susan married David Monson at their dog lot (that is what they're called) 140 miles or so northwest of Fairbanks. The wedding was a grand Alaskan affair and it marked Jane's first-ever trip to America's Last Frontier.

Jane says that her parents worried when I took her from the Other Washington to Seattle that she would ultimately end up in a snowbank in Alaska.  Despite my many trips there and my love of the wild country, she has managed to stay comfortably at home in our Magnolia neighborhood, with this unique exception.

I could not resist taking her to Susan's wedding which I was sure would be a once-in-a-lifetime occasion...and it was.. After some considerable coaxing, Jane packed her party dresses, stacked heels, fine coats and scarves and said "Ok, I'm ready."

When we landed in Fairbanks, the rental car counter was the next stop.  "Where're you headed?" was the first question from the counter person. "Susan Butcher's wedding." was my proud reply. "Not in our car, you won't!" as he snatched the contract right out of my hand. "You're on the haul road for the pipeline for over a hundred miles. that's nothing but rocks and mud."

So it was on to try the next rental company. "Where're you headed?" "Just in town for a few days," I replied. "First time up here?" "Nope.  I know where I'm going," Success! Off we went...very carefully...headed for Milepost 149.

Not far behind us was one of Susan's sponsors...an east coast gal who was bringing Susan's wedding gown...she blew all four tires on her rental somewhere North of town and showed up late that evening in the back of a pick-up full of good ol' boys.

Trail Breaker Kennels was on part of an old goldmine claim that Susan and David leased from a prospector. The place was decked out for the wedding and the guests had already begun to arrive the evening before.  Most were sleeping in their pick-ups or in tents. Jane would have none of that. Part of my negotiation for the trip was a hotel room. Susan thankfully made a reservation for us at the Manley Roadhouse, about 25 miles away.

We met a lot of the folks, mostly Susan and David's friends from all over the state, helped feed the dogs, ate some very fresh jerky and then went off to check in at the hotel.

The Manley Roadhouse is in Manley Hot Springs and, yes, there are hot springs, beside a scenic creek. A few houses, a post office and an airstrip make up the rest of the town. When we checked in, we got the "Northern Exposure" Cicely-Alaska-eye from the locals, until they connected us to Susan, then the smiles came out. "Don't worry about a key. We're always here. Just take your stuff upstairs." Jane was feeling pretty good as we climbed the stairs...until she saw that "upstairs" was an open dorm full of cots. Oh, well, so be it. We're inside under a roof.

We walked around town and Jane mailed a postcard at the post office, where she struck up a conversation with the post mistress, who was also the bush pilot who flies people around the area.  She was going to the wedding too. Jane said she hoped the dress she brought for the wedding would be appropriate.  Her new friend said it would, " if you don't mind the black flies carrying you away.Honey, cover up everything but your eyes or they'll eat you alive." Perhaps a little overstated but it's Alaska you know. Jane decided to change her outfit.

Back to Trail Breaker for a spaghetti feed that night. Susan asked Jane how she liked the roadhouse and Jane said fine. Susan said that was good to hear because it's taken them a while to come back from the ax murder. (Seems a guy from Michigan checked in earlier in the year, got up in the middle of the night and hacked up a few of the sleeping guests before someone stopped him with a shotgun.) I could have done without that story for Jane's well being but somehow she soldiered on. Some good singing and drinking took the sting out and finally we were off to bed...after carefully planning our escape route.

Wedding day was a bit overcast but still a nice fall day. Susan looked lovely in the dress that her sponsor Allied Fibers had designed and made for her. Don't tell the New Yorkers but Susan fed her dogs in the dress that morning before the ceremony.

A hundred or so of us were privileged to be there for the nuptials.  Susan and David had a friend who was their "Marryin' Sam". Her maid of honor was her main Iditarod rival Rick Swenson and her dogs were the ring bearers. They wrote their vows and, as you might imagine, the words had great meaning.

The toasts and party after were a blast. Susan's father and grandmother were on hand and her honored mentor Joe Reddington, who started the Iditarod Race, gave them a heartfelt wish for lifelong happiness. The days are still long in September with sunset near 10 pm.  The payoff for the day was the show that the Northern Lights put on as we partied into the night. Magnificent.

Brunch in Manley with Susan and David the next day and then a soak in the hot springs got us ready for the trip home. It was quite an adventure for Jane and it lived up to most of the billing. The exception, and Jane won't let me forget it, was the wildlife.  I had given her a big build-up about the moose, elk, bears, wolves and eagles we would see. A chipmunk, a squirrel and a crow were all we could forage. Even I was disappointed.

Still we were lucky to share a piece of Alaska of which only a few people can be part. When Susan's native Alaksan friends from across the state rolled in before the wedding with a Salmon they had caught that morning, we know we were in a place where the right things become important to life. It took three us to lift it out of the truck. We smoked the huge King Salmon and ate it that night. with a fine brew chaser and a sky filled with Aurora Borealis. Alaska is a special place. Incredible!

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Large Mouth Bass

You couldn't just meet Dick Bass.  You had to experience him. If he was awake, he was talking...a mile a minute. (and there are great stories about him when he wasn't awake) He had a story or a poem for every occasion...and he was quite a story in himself. The clergyman presiding at his memorial said he could imagine St. Peter, after meeting Dick, turning to God and saying "Are all Texans like this?" Rancher, oilman, ski area developer, adventurer, Dick went after everything he did with a vengeance. Why not the Seven Summits!?

It's hard to say who came up with idea to climb the highest mountain on every continent and call the effort the Seven Summits. But Dick and his cohort Frank Wells, then president of Warner Brothers, decided to tackle that daunting challenge in a big way.

I met them both back in the 80's when they started that journey and now, with Dick's recent passing, the story of their quest will be left to the history books.  Frank took a detour to be president of Walt Disney before he could reach the final summit of Mt. Everest, but Dick kept his eye on the prize. He finally put his name in the record books as the first person to reach the Seven Summits in 1985.

Persistence and tenacity were high on Dick's list of important traits and he wreaked of them. Four times he tackled Mt. Everest before he made it the final jewel and his crown of mountains. I'm personally disappointed and I might say even offended that the New York Times published a major obit, choosing to focus on the "paid assistance of professional climbers" who went with Dick on the Seven Summits adventure.  The majority of those climbers were not paid to be there.  They wanted the opportunity to go places they had never been  Dick and Frank gave the climbers that opportunity, while surrounding themselves with the best, like good leaders do when they tackle an unknown challenge.

Dick's mountaineering achievement has been credited and discredited for the the dramatic rise in guided climbs on the world's highest mountains. But Sir Edmund Hillary and Reinhold Messner were predicting the advent of guided (paid) Everest climbs long before Dick and Frank had their great idea. Governments and guide services both discovered on their own the opportunity to make money from the mountains with encouragement from their clients,

Do not mistake Dick Bass's business success and personal wealth as the reasons for his climbing accomplishments in the mountains of the world.  He took every step on his own.  He scaled every obstacle and avoided every danger to reach his goal under his own power. He earned the Seven Summits. And he did it with heart and soul and his own inspiration.,

When it was over, Dick celebrated as only Dick Bass could. Big Time. At Snowbird. And his partner Frank Wells was right there with him when they walked together to the top of Snowbird's peak. There, several hundred of his closest friends, even the mountain people like us, listened to his stories one more time and afterward the symphony choir echoed "Climb Every Mountain" into the valleys below. Frank was later tragically killed in a helicopter skiing accident but, fortunately, he was able to be there to relish the realization of the dream. It was an amazing celebratory moment in time. Well done and well deserved.

For several years after achieving the Seven Summits, Dick was the oldest person to have climbed Mt. Everest. Finally someone surpassed his record and immediately he began to get ready to win that honor back. During the ensuing years, I spent a lot of time working and playing with Dick at his home in Dallas, at Snowbird and around the world.  A few months ago, he made a special trip to Seattle to add his comments to a film we were working on about uber expedition leader and guide Lou Whittaker. Dick credited Lou with opening the door for him to the mountains of the world that he came to love. We spent the day with him telling stories and he was still planning his next Everest climb and looking for the next $80 million development deal,which he always seemed to be chasing.  He was always moving ahead. "If you never stop, you can't get stuck" he used to say.

At the time of Dick's Seven Summits quest, I formed a group called the First Team made up of interesting and exciting individuals who had all achieved a first in some kind of sports endeavor.  The tag line I coined to describe it was "Records are made to be broken, but a first lasts forever."

My long-time friend Phil Ershler, a member of the First Team who, with his wife Susan, became the first married couple to reach the Seven Summits, went with me to Dick's memorial service in Dallas.
Phil spent more time with Dick on the Seven Summits and Mt. Everest, specifically, than anyone. As we sat in the honored row of "Mountain People" next to his family at the service, we listened closely to one of Dick's best and oldest friends paint a water-colored picture of Dick's life.

In summing up, his friend said he asked Dick which was more important to him, being the oldest person to climb Everest or being the first to reach the Seven Summits. He said that Dick replied without hesitation, '"The Seven Summits, of course, because there can always be somebody older but a first lasts forever." Phil and I just looked at each other and smiled.  Dick is with us and always will be.

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Media Relations

The most important aspect of media relations is the relations, It's not just who you know. It's how you can build valuable relationships with mutual trust and respect in the meda.

I've been teaching that to students in the UW PR Certificate program for almost a quarter of a century. Even in today's lightning fast news media landscape, building those relationships is still the key.

When I saw Ed White from KING-TV at his retirement party recently, we realized that our relationship virtually spanned his entire career. For 32 years, Ed has been sitting in the middle of police and emergency scanners and ringing telephones while he made decisions about which stories would be covered that day and who would cover them. Suffice it to say that is not an easy task...but Ed made it all work.

There is no one better at running a broadcast newsdesk than Ed White. His skills and work ethic are legendary. When word got out that he was stepping down from his role, it wasn't just KING-TV that took notice. It was the entire broadcast community. Every anchor, every reporter, every news producer and camera person in town came out to congratulate Ed.

When you;re good, very good, at your job, people notice. And when that job is planning manager (read Chief Assignment Editor), not only those on the news side of the game but those of us who are sources for news know when we've found a competent ally, as well. Every PR person around has spoken with Ed at some time or other. We're used to receiving curt "No Way!" responses and to suddenly only hearing a dial tone on the other end of our media calls.  But Ed White could make you feel good about the "no" because he;'d tell you why. He would even take the few minutes he had to try to help you make it a better story. That has a very special meaning to a PR person.

Because of his exceptional skills, I've regularly asked Ed to speak to my UW Class on a panel of broadcast news professionals. No matter what was going on, he would always find a way to show up...and, usually with a stack of really poorly written or misdirected news releases in hand to wave in our faces as he chided us. It was no holds barred for Ed. He'd give the students the straight answers whether they wanted to hear them or not. He's come to my class for so long, I think he could teach it. I do not look forward to replacing him on the panel..those are.tough shoes to fill. One of our friends joked, "Who could ever replace Ed White...Ed Black?"

I've been building relationships with the media my entire career. Since my college friend Jane Pauley went to work in local television, I've known the value of those connections. The relationships I've nurtured make me better at my job. I'm constantly learning about what makes news today and what doesn't. It's an art not a science.

Ed White has brought one of the most important jobs in the newsroom to a new level. Because of Ed, the bar is very high now. No matter what is said about the relationship between journalists and PR people, Ed White made it work. And made it work well. I'm actually going to miss those midnight calls when only the two of us knew that the other one would still be at the desk working. I consider it a great privilege to have worked with him and to call him my friend. Now, go have some fun, Ed.  You deserve it.

Sad time for Charleston

Charleston, South Carolina, is a very special place for me and Jane. Over the past 20 years, we've worked there, lived there, celebrated there, grieved there and done a lot of growing up there. We've made life-long friends there.

Mayor Joe Riley was a working partner. From the first time I met him, I knew that Charleston was in good hands. He's a good public servant and a good man. But now,my heart is aching for Charleston and every one of its residents. I've seen them stand-up to everything from hurricanes to confederate flags and they'll stand-up to this senseless, angry, horrific act of violence...but it still hurts.

I've sat on the steps of Mother Emmanuel Church on a hot summer evening watching the locals chatter away as they'd come and go. They'll do that again...but not with quite the same safe feeling...that will take a while.

Many of the roots of our country, black and white, were seeded in Charleston. We're a strong people. We'll weather this storm. We'll get better...but not without more heartache and tears. Jane and I miss our friends in Charleston more than ever. Just so sad.

A Little Bit of Letterman

David Letterman and I didn’t know we shook hands at the end of our high school baseball game against each other until we connected a few years later.  We always lined up and shook hands with the opposing team…so we’re sure we did. The next time we ran into each other was in local television when Dave was a weatherman and late night movie host and I was an assistant in news and programming. Jane Pauley was a cub reporter then too and we had known each other in college. Jane was my Jane’s sorority sister and I managed and sang with a campus singing group where Jane P. was a member.

As time passed and Dave became a television celebrity, we came in contact again and that’s when my long standing acquaintance began. On Dave’s program, he calls it “a brush with greatness”. He admits that after 18,000-some-odd guests, he has trouble remembering who he interviewed on any particular night. So, only if I can give him enough touch points, would he remember us…but I do.

It started with phone calls to his staffers.  I explained our connection to his long-time assistant, Laurie, who interceded for me and relayed greetings and messages. I began to place some clients on the program through the writers who Laurie put me in touch with. One of my favorite segments is when I placed uber-climber Lynn Hill on the show. She and Dave climbed a make-shift wall and Dave feigned hurting his back on the first hold. We had a ball.

My strongest contact happened when I came to know Mary Connelly, now a producer for Ellen Degeneres.  Mary totally got my connection with Dave and became my best liaison with the program. Of the 20-plus times I’ve attended the show, many with Jane in tow, there are certainly standouts.  I spent several of my birthdays there and got the full “green room:” treatment. Paul and band always stopped in for coffee.  I had some great chats with Anton Fig, the band’s drummer and a native of Cape Town, South Africa.  I’ve done a lot of work in Cape Town and Anton and I found that we have several friends in common. As a bonus, Mary took us on stage after the show to sit in the great man’s chair and toss footballs into the garbage can (Mary once beat Dave on the air in this perennial contest.).

With us in the “green room” (which, of course, isn’t green) have been some very fun surprises.  A long chat about the northwest with K.D. Lang, who lives in BC,  began a nice relationship there and Don Henley, formerly of the Eagles, was a hoot when we cabbed together to the airport afterward and talked “Hotel California” as we flew to DC. One time, Al Pacino made a brief appearance with handlers all around but Don Novello aka “Father Guido Sarduccii” and actor comedian Jay Thomas were both a lot more talkative.

The “green room” was fun but sitting in our front row seats (you can see us to the left of the red shirt in this screen shot) was always the highlight. If you’ve been to see the show live, you know that Dave does his own warm-up with an audience Q&A.  I always worked hard on my questions, just in case I got called on, which I did more than once. I brought Seattle and the Mariners into the mix on a couple of occasions and Dave acknowledged his affinity for the northwest and the Mariners ball club. My favorite encounter came when I told Dave that I knew he had a “spacer” to fill the gap between his two front teeth and that I had some work done on my teeth too. When they filled in the gap in my teeth, it seemed to change my life.  He said “How so?” I wasn’t prepared for his follow-up but Danica Patrick was on the show that night after winning the pole position at the Indianapolis 500.  So my comeback was that no woman had ever won the pole position at Indy before my gap was filled in. Dave laughed, removed his plug and I got to meet Danica Patrick.

In one of my early bios, I said, “I worked in local television with David Letterman and Jane Pauley. They went to New York and I ended up in Seattle” They may have become stars but I still think I got the best part of that deal. For me, Dave leaving the Late Show is like seeing a friend you’ve grow up with move away. There’s a void that you can feel. My parents were from Indiana and our Midwest roots are similar. Sense of humor. Easy going lifestyle. Love dogs. Quiet and reclusive away from work. Our mothers had the same approach to life and loved to “spar” with us. So much alike that I could often tell you what he was going to say before he said it. I recorded his daytime show and have seen virtually every one of his late night shows (I’m a late night person). I even found him on the air at 2am in Australia to keep me company.

Through all the ups and downs of the past 30-plus years, David Letterman has been the real thing. What you see is what you get. Whether up or down, healthy or not, happy or angry, you could feel the emotion in Dave. His mentor Johnny Carson was the same way. Neither was a comedian in the strict sense of the word.  They both were just funny and they made their guests feel they were part of the joke. I will miss Dave and the connection we had, no matter how far removed.  He made me laugh. He made look at life straight on. He made me care about those things worth caring about and not worry too much about the rest. Dave, you gave us all a lot of yourself. Now go enjoy some of life on your own…with Regina and Harry, of course.