With over 80 books in our library, this year we're taking some time every week to highlight one of the books on the Eckhartz bookshelf. This week's book is Ike and Me: What a Time it Was by Rich King. It was a finalist for Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year.
Ike and Me is the story of two guys from different backgrounds who became great friends working together in the golden age of local television news in Chicago. Rich King and Richard “Ike” Isaac have a combined one hundred years in broadcasting experience. Rich was a sports reporter and anchor at WBBM-TV and Radio, then at WGN-TV where he worked for 26 years with Ike who was a photojournalist on camera. Rich is White and was raised in a neighborhood where racism was rampant. Ike is Black and while race is a big part of the story there is much more. Rich and Ike worked in the golden era of local TV news. They had daily access to all the Chicago sports icons, Michael Jordan, Walter Payton and Mike Ditka among many others. The inside stories of these Chicago legends are poignant, inspiring and at times very funny. “Ike and Me” is a half century of Chicago sports memories as well as a story about two guys who worked together and formed a strong bond when local TV sports coverage was at its zenith.
