Paul Hagen: Even as a kid, Kalas had an air about him

WASHINGTON - Did Harry Kalas have time for lunch? Of course he did. Never mind that it was January and bitterly cold. Never mind that he was busy with NFL Films and had heart surgery scheduled in a couple weeks.

Kalas, the Phillies' Hall of Fame broadcaster, always seemed to have time for everybody. For each fan who stopped him at spring training and asked for a photo, each one who pestered him on his way to his car after a game and asked for an autograph. For almost anybody who wanted almost anything.

So, 3 months ago, he agreed to take time to come to the Towne House restaurant near his home in Media for an interview. Maybe a book would come out of it. Even if it didn't, there are plenty of worse ways to spend an hour or so on a wintry afternoon than listening to Harry the K's distinctive voice spinning baseball stories.

Many of the tales that occurred after he came to Philadelphia in 1971 have been well-documented. His 39 seasons with the Phillies came to define him, at least in the Delaware Valley.

Less well known is his life before being lured away from the Houston Astros. The childhood in Naperville, Ill., that had its share of trauma. The climb to the big leagues.

By the time Harry was born, his father, the Rev. Harry Kalas, was a busy man, spending a lot of time on the road for the World Council of Churches and working on the merging of churches for the Evangelical United Brethren of Methodists.

"Just because of his travel, we didn't really get a chance to talk that much or spend that much time together," Harry recalled while graciously chatting with patrons who recognized his distinctive voice and wanted to say hello.

His mother, Margaret, was a college graduate, unusual for women in those days. She was an avid reader and loved the opera. But she was also somewhat distant. Harry needed to find ways to amuse himself. One of his first great loves was a dog, a fox terrier named Squiffy. Harry, who was about 8 or 9 years old at the time, called him Skee for short.

"He was so attached to me and I was so attached to Squiffy that every time I came home from school, we'd just play for a while," Harry said. "He knew where my school was. Well, Mom took ill and she was unable to take care of Squiffy. So we had to give him away, which was a heartbreak for me. I was just a young boy. We gave him away to a family.