Ron Howard

Yesterday Ron Howard celebrated his 55th birthday. Many remember him best for his Opie days on The Andy Griffeth Show (later Mayberry RFD) beginning at age 6. Others probably remember him best for his days as Richie Cunningham on Happy Days in the '70s and '80s. Perhaps you know him best as a really good movie director.


I have another memory of Ron Howard. Back in the '70s I worked at the Pepperdine gym for a little over a year, and for 2 or 3 years in a row Pepperdine hosted a competition between TV celebrities from the 3 major networks called Battle of the Network Stars. It was quite an event on the Pepperdine Campus the times we hosted it... TV cameras everywhere... TV stars everywhere... Lynnda Carter in street clothes instead of her Wonder Woman costume... the main locker rooms cleared of college athletes so the TV personalities could dress and shower.


Here's where my story gets interesting. We issued combination locks to the actors who were competing so they'd have a relatively secure place to store clothes, etc. if they didn't have their own trailer. Well, as things were getting started on the first day I was walking through the men's locker room, and there was Ron Howard trying to open his lock. My guess is, since he had been acting from age 6, he'd never had to open a locker or combination lock and just didn't know how to do it. He asked me to show him, and I did. He smiled, said that was pretty simple, and expressed his thanks. That's my memory... Ron Howard... a regular guy... a guy who smiled and said, "Thanks."


I have a specific memory of one more of the "stars" from that year, and, coincidentally, his birthday was yesterday as well. Robert Conrad (b. 1935) competed for the NBC team, and my memory is pretty much him acting like an obnoxious jerk and poor sport when his team didn't win a competition. Two guys... two totally different impressions on me. Happy Birthday to you both!