Well, this week we've been
taking a look back at some
of the stories and faces that sd
our station as we celebrate 70 years.
And tonight, Team Twelve's Jonan
McCall talks to two former anch.
Learning how one moment they
shared together on air helped
pave the way for so many others.
This is Action News.
Good evening, everybody. I'm Stan Stovall.
You could call Stan Stovall
an icon or even a legend.
And as one person said, he's the
reason the position is called anchor.
And those are not words that I e
lightly to describe myself because I was.
I've always, I always tell peop,
not just another taxpaying,
taxpaying citizens like everybody else.
But the truth is,
he's not like everyone else.
Paying a hefty price to pave
a path that he often walked
alone for a number of years.
And believe me, I I took my
share of how shall I say,
people who who it was difficultr
them to accept. A black face on
TVATV Titan in his own right,
Stovall recently wrapped up a ny
52 year career in broadcasting.
That took him from the jungles f
Burma to the charm of Baltimore.
But the pages of his story started right
here in the valley where he gre.
But get this, TV wasn't even on his radar.
You never saw African Americans on TV,
for that matter, very rarely.
Well, you never saw women.
You never saw his Spanish.
You never saw Asians.
It it was a segregated industry
limited to just white males. But
that all changed with the passig
of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Stations forced to make their newsrooms
reflect the communities they se.
For Stovall, it was an
unexpected opportunity.
In 1970, at the age of 17,
while attending Carl Hayden Hig,
another Phoenix station would
make him the first black TV
reporter in Arizona history.
A year later,
he would become the first black
anchor in the state and the
youngest in all of America.
That was very important to to
me to be a positive role model
and a good representative.
For people breaking that glass ceiling,
because for for so many years prior to that,
we just weren't given the opportunity. But
being the first came with its challenges,
including racism in and out of The Newsroom.
And this isn't the day before te
Internet and cell phones or whatever.
So they would literally write
you 8 letters, yet, you know,
write the station 8 letters.
You know what is this
end doing on the air? In
1974, he found his way to Channl
12 after a paid dispute at his
former station where he says.
His white counterparts
made more, but did less.
Two days after that, Channel 12
called me and offered me a job s
a weekend anchor and a reporter,
paying me three times when I was
making a Channel 3 at the time.
The move would put him in good company,
but I am the first black
fulltime sportscaster in the
history of Arizona television.
Ron Brooks joined 12 News back in 1971.
Working first behind the sceness
a film editor, but quickly risig
through the ranks as a news repr
and then as the weekend sports anchor,
as weekend sports anchor could
not get back in time to anchor
the sports on the weekend news.
So they pulled me out of
the film editing room,
put a shirt and a tie and a coat on me,
and somebody helped me write a script.
And I got in front of the
camera and did it live,
and I stayed on ever since.
The duo would make unexpected
history right here on Channel 1.
I'm soloing the weekend and we
get to a commercial break and I,
and as we're in the commercial
break about to come out to spor,
we come out on the monitor,
the monitors right in front of .
And Ron and I are both
looking at the monitor.
And we were just absolutely
mesmerized because we had nevern
two African Americans on a new t
together at the same time, ever.
And we both just sat there and
stared at the screen in the stu.
And I said yes, it sure is.
Well, what's happening in sport?
I went on and did the sportscas,
so it only happened once or twi.
So it wasn't a regular thing,
but it's never happened again.
That's what makes it unique,
a moment they both shared toget,
triggering a bond that's lasted decades.
And we've developed a real bond.
And it's good to know that
there's somebody else who walked
the same walk that I walked and
went through the same trials.
I mean, it wasn't easy getting
on the air. This legendary
duo now hoping to have their sts
cemented in the history of Ariza
broadcasting and that future generations
can understand the path they pa.
You know, that doesn't
allow me to go to Baltimore.
That doesn't allow me to walk io
this station and to, you know,
assume the role that he had some
40 years ago as the weekend anc.
You know that's not possible
without him or without you.
So, and I personally want to thank you.
You can tell how proud they are
to be part of this history.
I'll say this Talking with Stan,
it really was surreal knowing te
fact that 40 years ago he did st
in that same seat on the weekens
and for me to occupy it now ando
just talk with him about growinp
here and what his legacy has be.
Over the years in Baltimore,
it really was just an incredible interview
that I definitely won't forget anytime soon.
And it's interesting because you guys have
followed each other around the country.
Yeah, I worked in Baltimore
in a competing station.
So I watched and, you know,
remember watching him across,
you know, as a competitor,
but just thinking how, aw,
I was in that voice.
He just had such an incredible
voice and was always community
oriented and basically the Dean
of Baltimore news when he left.
So it was great to be able to connect
with him and have that history here in
Arizona and learning about him as well.
And very cool that they named te
studio at WBA. That is all true.
After him.
Yeah,
he is definitely on the Mount Rushmore
of news anchors there in Charm City now.
What are they up to today?
Are they both retired? So
everyone's retired.
OK, Ron's up in Prescott.
Probably watching right now.
I hope we would hope so.
Watching right now stands in
Baltimore, but he still comes
back to Phoenix often.
He still has a number of family members
here who still live here in Pho.
So he still comes here to visit
and he watches us when he does.
22 fine gentlemen. Yeah,
they really are great to hear from them.
Yeah, great story.
Really good story.