John Hambrick, the news anchor who oversaw the emergence of WEWS Channel 5's "Eyewitness News" from third to first place in the early 1970s, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
"The doctors have given him a few weeks to live, although it could be days," said his son, news producer Jack Hambrick. "That's the reality, and he understands that reality. He's not down or depressed. That's the kind of person he is. He's asking the doctors questions like a reporter, telling them not to sugarcoat anything."
Hambrick, 73, learned he had lung cancer earlier this year. It metastasized and spread throughout his body, including his brain.
"We're being told that's what will kill him," Jack Hambrick said. "The cancer is causing swelling on his brain, and that's what they're trying to control right now with medications. But he's done with chemo and radiation. The cancer has progressed to the point where they know it's terminal."
A Texas native, Hambrick settled in Georgetown, a city north of Austin, after retiring from television. He began his TV career in Texas, in 1963, at a station in Abilene. He was working at WCPO Channel 9, the Cincinnati station owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, when Cleveland came calling in 1967.
"I think local news was more fun in those days," John Hambrick said Tuesday, responding to questions by e-mail. "Not so much because it was less formatted per se, but because we had the freedom to experiment to a certain extent. What constituted good local TV news sometimes was a kind of discovery."
John Hambrick in the 1970s, shaking hands with Nelson Rockefeller on the campaign trail.
The 27-year-old Hambrick moved to Northeast Ohio, starting an eight-year stint at Scripps-owned Channel 5 on Christmas Day, 1967. The ideal anchor for the station's new "Eyewitness News" format, he was an instrumental part of a team that pulled ahead of its local rivals in the ratings.
"Strangely enough, I didn't feel any particular pressure," Hambrick said. "Coming from third place, I guess we felt we could only go up. I wasn't the architect of our plan. Maybe I was the primary contractor, but the late Don Perris [the station's general manager] and his carefully chosen management team were responsible for the plan."
His "Eyewitness News" colleagues included weatherman Don Webster, sports anchor Gib Shanley and commentator Dorothy Fuldheim. Dave Patterson became Hambrick's co-anchor in 1970.
"Let's not forget all the other people who populated WEWS News at that time," Hambrick said. "I suppose you can sum up our contributions to that old stand-by word, chemistry. Although I suspect it was more than that. I just don't know exactly what."
Hambrick left Channel 5 in 1975 and was replaced by Ted Henry. He spent two years as an anchor at KABC Channel 7 in Los Angeles and three years at KRON Channel 4 in San Francisco before starting a five-year run at WNBC Channel 4 in New York in January 1980.
"The years at WEWS were extremely important to my career," Hambrick said. "In fact, they jump-started it. While I appreciate the subsequent years in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Miami and a short stint in Beaumont, Texas, I often wonder how things would have turned out had I stayed in Cleveland."
John Hambrick on assignment in the 1970s.
He moved to Miami in mid-1985, working as an anchor at WTVJ and WCIX until September 1993. He is the oldest of three Hambrick brothers who became news anchors in major markets. Five years younger, Judd Hambrick, was an anchor in Cleveland at WKYC Channel 3 and WJKW (now WJW) Channel 8.
The third brother, Mike, has been a reporter and anchor in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Dallas and Washington, D.C. He had brief run as a noon anchor at Channel 5, so all three Hambrick brothers did anchor newscasts in Cleveland.
"My father had a very successful career, but Cleveland still occupies a very special place in his heart," said Jack Hambrick, a former TV reporter who operates the online site The Digital Texan. "It was early in his career, and it was a wonderful period for him."
John Hambrick and his son teamed up to co-produce "The Florida Highwaymen," a 2002 PBS documentary about African-American artists. Hambrick also was the film's narrator.
During his tenure in Cleveland, Hambrick released a country-western album, "Windmill in a Jet Filled Sky," featuring songs he wrote and performed. He'd record three more albums and appear in bit parts on episodes of TV series, including "Friday Night Lights," and in movies.
His many awards include three Emmys, two won in New York and one in Miami.
"Yes, there are plenty of dreams and goals that I failed to accomplish," John Hambrick said. "But, all in all, I've had a very fortunate career."