Kathy Pinna
All Hardin Did Was Ask a Simple Question
Out in the cavernous Coliseum the partisan crowd thundered as the Dodgers went into the ninth inning leading the San Francisco Giants. Reporter Don Hardin made his way though the stadium catacombs to the visiting dressing room to interview Giant pitcher Johnny Antonelli who had been knocked out of the game in the seventh inning by a home run. The dejected Antonelli was bent over the radio listening to the waning moments of the game when Hardin walked up to ask what kind of pitch he'd thrown on the four-bagger.
Antonelli promptly had a caretaker throw Hardin out and lock the door. Minutes passed and the door opened and Antonelli beckoned to Hardin. "The Giants had just lost and I thought he was going to punch me in the nose," said Hardin. "But I went over anyway. It was a fast ball, " said Antonelli, who then apologized for banning the Independent sportswriter. The Mississippi born, 36 -year-old newsman got started toward a newspaper career while working as a Navy technician on the world's largest radio transmitting station in Nankuli during World War II. "While disliking radio work, which I was forced into, I began taking correspondence courses in journalism," said Hardin, who has alternated between work on the sports copy desk and writing assignment at The Independent for the past seven years.
But a byline was 10 years, college, another war and many movie matinees away. After his discharge in 1946, Hardin re-entered college and took a job with the Cabart chain of theaters in Long Beach as an assistant and manager until he was recalled to Navy service during the Korean War. Finally, in 1952, while again working as a move house manager, Hardin landed a part-time job on the sports desk of The Independent. He took a regular staff position in 1953.
When not tied down to the desk, Hardin works feature stories at sports evens "as a respite from the endless phone calls and yeoman toil which one must put up with on the desk." Hardin has another claim to journalism fame. His two boys were the subjects of an Independent photographer's first prize National Editorial Association picture in 1958. The photograph showed Gregg Hardin, 10, and brother Doug, 12, laughing delightedly over newspaper headlines relating that a local castor oil plant had burned down.
- The Independent, Monday, May 16, 1960 on page 11.
Antonelli promptly had a caretaker throw Hardin out and lock the door. Minutes passed and the door opened and Antonelli beckoned to Hardin. "The Giants had just lost and I thought he was going to punch me in the nose," said Hardin. "But I went over anyway. It was a fast ball, " said Antonelli, who then apologized for banning the Independent sportswriter. The Mississippi born, 36 -year-old newsman got started toward a newspaper career while working as a Navy technician on the world's largest radio transmitting station in Nankuli during World War II. "While disliking radio work, which I was forced into, I began taking correspondence courses in journalism," said Hardin, who has alternated between work on the sports copy desk and writing assignment at The Independent for the past seven years.
But a byline was 10 years, college, another war and many movie matinees away. After his discharge in 1946, Hardin re-entered college and took a job with the Cabart chain of theaters in Long Beach as an assistant and manager until he was recalled to Navy service during the Korean War. Finally, in 1952, while again working as a move house manager, Hardin landed a part-time job on the sports desk of The Independent. He took a regular staff position in 1953.
When not tied down to the desk, Hardin works feature stories at sports evens "as a respite from the endless phone calls and yeoman toil which one must put up with on the desk." Hardin has another claim to journalism fame. His two boys were the subjects of an Independent photographer's first prize National Editorial Association picture in 1958. The photograph showed Gregg Hardin, 10, and brother Doug, 12, laughing delightedly over newspaper headlines relating that a local castor oil plant had burned down.
- The Independent, Monday, May 16, 1960 on page 11.
