Every Writer’s Hero: James Michener

Posted Aug 18, 2011 by TBO.com

Updated Aug 18, 2011 at 02:39 AM

By LINDA McEWEN

It was 8:30 on a Tuesday morning a few years ago, and Tom’s old friend Art Pepin of Anheuser-Busch fame was on the phone. Art, living with his second heart transplant, the oldest man to have such an operation, was now thoroughly enjoying life and his many friends from all over the country.

Pep’s conversation went like this according to Tom. “We’re on the bus leaving St. Petersburg near Isla del Sol and heading your way. I have Stan the Man Musial, and two of his old St. Louis friends, and James Michener.”

All writers love their skills and admire those who have made it so successfully with so much talent, and Michener was one man Tom always wanted to meet.

Pep said to Tom, “You met James at my house once and said you wanted to spend some time with him. Now’s your chance. He wants a guided tour of parts of Tampa. You know it better than me and you’re a writer. He’s going to write something new and wants to see retirement, sort of, communities on inland water and Tampa in general. Can you make it?”

“Do the Bucs need speed in the secondary?” said Tom. Yes, in other words.

“We’ll be there in 30 minutes,” Pep said.

“Geez, James Michener,” said Tom to me, “Every man’s hero. He wrote Tales of the Pacific, The Covenant, Hawaii, The Source, Centennial, Alaska, Sports in America, Mexico, and the World is My Home’ among many others, all favorites of mine, I want to ask him about his writing techniques, when he writes, what kind of desk he has and most of all how he has that great memory to be able to put together these wonderful volumes of historical fiction so beautifully.”

Michener came in with his pals and had just celebrated his 86th birthday, so Happy Birthday from Tom and he said, “Thank you. Today is Groundhog Day. The Lord on this day long ago created the Groundhog. He looked at the groundhog and said to Himself, ‘I can do better than that’ and so He created me.”

To Tom he said, “Sports, you know, have been always important to me. Got me an education, in part anyway. I was a pretty good forward at Doylestown and we had terrific teams. And by the way, I wrote about the teams in the local paper so I was briefly a sportswriter.

“The basketball, and to some degree my academics, won me a scholarship to Swarthmore, where I continued basketball. Played it in the industrial leagues until I was 40, then took up tennis seriously and played that until I was 80. Tough to do now with the artificial hip, but life’s been good, I am a very lucky man. I have worked hard but I am so fortunate to be able to do what I have done.”

“When lightning strikes, it is wonderful and lightning struck,” he said modestly about his spectacular achievements.

Michener was associated with Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, where he has a condominium, library use, a secretary and teaches fiction and non-fiction writing once a week. His condo was near Stan the Man’s whom he has known from 1960, when they were both campaigning for John F. Kennedy. He and Stan went to Poland together to see their ancestors.

Michener spends October through February hereabouts, then goes to the University of Texas until the early summer, where he teaches as well as writes. He is also actively involved in building three museums, including one for the postal service, on which he is an expert, in Washington, D.C.

So the Budweiser bus with the special horn was off with the men for their tour of Tampa.

Tom said that for entertainment, Musial played a tune or two on his harmonica and Michener recited a British poem about sewers. They then went to see and meet everyone they could at the TPC golf course, where the PGA Seniors were playing and visited with golfer Jim Colbert. The tour of Tampa continued so that Michener could see as much of Tampa as possible.

Tom said “After the tour, I was returned to my home, leaving to see them again Wednesday night at The Vinoy in St. Petersburg where Musial was giving an 86th birthday party for his sportswriting buddy, Jim Michener. ‘Call me Jim,’ said the man who made the South Pacific musical and so many great movies possible, but above all informed so many of us in this world with his pen, his typewriter, his computer, but mostly his brain.

“Now, I want to see Hemingway’s home and office in Cuba.” said my spouse. 

OK, Tom, you’re the Boss.

Babaloo!