An unnecessarily sad ending

There are no happy endings in life. There are joyous celebrations, but most endings are sad, drawn out affairs, turning acrimonious about petty things, big and small, mostly money and trinkets.

Ernie Harwell died nine years ago. He was 92. He was the voice of the Detroit Tigers from 1960–2002 (with a notable two-year gap) and with Baltimore, the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers. He was also the voice of the World Series on CBS radio for many years and did some TV work with the California Angels during that notable two-year gap. He was enshrined in Cooperstown (in 1981) and was such a fixture in Detroit that a gas-station owner would close his station, “fifteen minutes before Ernie.”

He was married for 68 years to a woman he met while attending Emory University in Atlanta. 1941, just after Ernie had graduated and just before he enlisted in the Marines. Lulu Tankersley (forever known as Miss Lulu) was also a college graduate, but “I knew Ernie would be doing this from the day I married him. We used to walk in the parks in Atlanta — we didn’t own a car then — and he would say, ‘What do you want to hear? Baseball? Tennis? Golf?’ And I would pick and he would start announcing, right there, a make-believe game,” she told Mitch Albom years ago.

Following two stints in the Marines, Harwell made the jump from the Atlanta Crackers to the Dodgers — by being traded for a player. But this isn’t about Ernie’s legendary career or his live-long love, Lulu. It could have been, except for two things, control and greed.

Mrs. Harwell died March 1. She was 99. She outlived her husband by seven years, but not her children, nor Ernie’s ‘friend,’ S. Gary Spicer, who was also the manager, off and on, for the Harwell’s estate. The Detroit Free Press published the untold story of how infighting, court battles and bankruptcies have left unpaid bills, accusations of malfeasance from every corner and sour feelings by all concerned.

None of the Harwell children appear to be very successful, from the reporting done by the Free Press and documented in court filings. Bill Harwell, now 75, worked for 45 years as an insurance and annuity salesman. Gray Harwell is a preacher based in Florida, who tried some outrageous stuff when it came to looking after his mother after Ernie passed. Julie Harwell was forbidden from Fox Run, where the couple lived following Harwell’s retirement in 2002, after running afoul of the staff and administrators at the exclusive facility. Carolyn Raley was accused of shutting out the family by burying their mother without notification, which was found to be untrue.

The Harwell children were like mice fighting over crumbs. I had heard through friends and associates in the intervening years that the kids were at each other’s throats over their parent’s money and assets. Spicer has had his share of battles as well, fending off the Harwell’s and others who claim he bilked them as well. Hall of Fame shortstop and former manager Allan Trammell, Darrell Evans and Dave Bergman all claimed Spicer cheated them out of money. Reportedly, Spicer settled with all three.

Lulu Harwell’s death should have been a celebration. Instead, it brought out stories of the worst in people and a never-ending battle over what turned out to be, nothing. A friend of mine put it best, as a former officer of the court, “probate was the least liked by anyone on staff. Even a nasty divorce doesn’t get to the lowdown, horseshit level some humans can get over the estate.

And, yeah, this applies: “The fight’s so bloody because the stakes are so small.”

Indeed.