Last season Reggie Miller retired, and now Dale Ratermann. Yes, it doesn’t get any easier for the Indiana Pacers.
Huh? Dale Ratermann?
Yes, just maybe the most interesting man in the NBA, the man who contracted malaria in Timbuktu after traveling the Amazon and the Nile and some 70 countries after the 50 states, who competed in the national championships for table tennis, dominoes, chess, crossword puzzles and duckpin bowling, was at the Tony Awards, the ESPY’s and in the Iditarod and has published 31 books, and, well, that’s just the beginning.
“I look at life as an adventure and new experience,” says Ratermann, 49, who recently has run the Pacers Foundation after being administrative vice president for most of the 1990s and will retire Friday after 20 years with the organization. “I have a curiosity about what’s out there and then finding it. There’s more to life than cable TV.”
And, no, Ratermann never has subscribed to cable.
It might get in the way of some of his projects, like watching all the Academy Award winners for Best Picture. He liked 1932’s “Grand Hotel” best. That was one two-week vacation. He’s now working through a list of the top 100 novels of the 20th Century and is up to No. 76. So far E.L. Doctorow’s “Ragtime” is his recommendation.
Anything but a nerd
No, he’s not a nerd or an intellectual. Hey, he went to the University of Illinois.
Ratermann, from Marion in southern Illinois, is just one of the people who helps make the NBA go. There’s a core of hard-working, unknown and often unappreciated professionals getting the stage ready for the stars. Are they planning on running the original marathon route in Athens next year? Even though they’ve never run a marathon before?
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“I find things I enjoy doing and for six months it becomes my hobby and I dive into that,” Ratermann says. “I try to work with local experts and practice. For six months I train for the competition and see how I can do. I don’t care how I do. I love the experience of competing.”
Ratermann was supposed to be just like you and me by now–the wife, the kids, the two-story and a college loan.
He remembers one family vacation driving around the Great Lakes. It’s what we do in the Midwest. Not stopping too often either. That was experience enough then. Ratermann went to Illinois, did a year of postgraduate work at Arizona State and then returned to Champaign to become assistant sports information director.
It’s when the travel attraction began. Trips for holiday tournaments in Alaska and Hawaii helped fill in the missing pieces of seeing America. He began to stay a few extra days, mostly just looking. “I see all the big tourist stuff,” he says, “but mostly I enjoy seeing the diversity of people and appreciating the similarities of cultures and races.”
He got his big break in 1985, when he was hired to direct media for the Pacers. He moved to Indianapolis with his fiance, they bought a house and, well, it didn’t work out. He traveled with the team, and it began to shape a philosophy of life.
“More than anything,” he says, “I like the idea of being around people who are really good at what they do. Every day, so many people in the NBA take for granted being around these guys who are the best in the world, the players, executives, broadcasters, writers. To have access and exposure to them is very humbling to me, but also very motivating and inspiring. So I began going to these events and seeing the world, and whether it’s the NBA Finals or the table tennis finals, there are similarities in the intensity and work ethic of these people.
“I hope it rubs off just a little bit and causes me to work a little harder and practice a little harder,” Ratermann says. “I get excited about people who are good at what they do, and enjoy observing how they do it.”
Light bulb goes on
So Ratermann began using spare time and vacation for the biggest events, the finals in all the major sports and their halls of fame, Tour de France, horse racing’s Triple Crown races, the Olympics, the World Cup, golf majors, bullfighting in Spain, the Miss America pageant, a space-shuttle launch, New Year’s Eve in Times Square, Mardi Gras. He started to look for some lesser events, like chess championships, and when calling for information on the chess tournament, was told he could compete.
“A light bulb went on then,” Ratermann recalls. “I could participate instead of just watching.”
So he’d contact local experts and practice for six months, adding to a slew of hobbies. He became Western region champion in duckpin bowling. There are only a few duckpin bowling alleys west of the Alleghenies and he had to beat one other contestant for that. In the chess championships he had two draws before a loss. He reached the third round of the world dominoes tournament. But it’s all just for the experience.
Without a companion as he entered his 30s, Ratermann chose to go it alone. Sometimes he’d travel with friends, but more often by himself, hiring guides and just exploring. He’s the guy who when someone comes up with an idea, he goes. In a remote town in China his guide didn’t show up and it took a day to find anyone who could speak English. “They were amazed to see a westerner,” he says. “It was a challenge trying to communicate, but I found if you approach people with a smile and are non-threatening, people will try to help. They enjoy the contact as much as I do.”
A hitch in Africa left him around open sewage while staying at a flophouse in Timbuktu. He contracted a near-fatal case of malaria and was ill for almost a year.
It’s not like Ratermann doesn’t have plenty to do. In his spare time, he writes small, paperback crossword-puzzle and “Did You Know” types of books, and co-authored, “I Remember Woody,” recollections of Woody Hayes that was well received. He enjoys food. He took classes at the Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, of course, and worked his way through a list of America’s best restaurants. Charlie Trotter’s and Tru are Chicago favorites. He took falconry classes. A girlfriend was a kayaking enthusiast, so he took that up, and now is learning bridge. He doesn’t take pictures or collect souvenirs. It’s just for the experience.
Busy slate ahead
Ratermann leaves the Pacers with plans to run the marathon next summer after playing with hickory-shafted golf clubs in the National Hickory championship. When he returns, he figures to spend six or seven months riding a bicycle across the U.S., just to see America at a slower pace, then live in Europe for a while and then . . .
“I did a lot of stuff beforehand,” Ratermann acknowledges. “But it still took the wake-up call of the Timbuktu incident to make me realize life doesn’t go on forever, that each and every minute is precious. I’d have probably been satisfied with my four weeks of vacation, but now I want to experience the world 52 weeks a year.”
Bye, Dale, we’ll miss you. The Pacers are having a going-away party Monday. The parting gift will not be a rocking chair.
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