At 90 years old you might say Lee Corso has enjoyed a pretty good life.
The son of Italian immigrants, his father fled Europe for the US during the first world war. Corso was born in Chicago and lived there until his family moved to Miami when he was 10, partly due to the weather, partly due to Al Capone living nearby! Playing football and baseball in high school, Corso was offered $5000 (big money in the 1950’s) to sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, but his father pointed him towards college because his parents barely had an education.
It was at Florida State University he made a lifelong friendship with his college roommate: Burt Reynolds. Recounting his college days with Reynolds, Corso highlighted the trademark wit and showmanship that would see him as the colour commentator on ESPN’s College Gameday program from 1987 until this year.
“He was so good-looking I used him as bait. He’d walk across campus and bring back two girls, one beautiful and one ugly; I got the ugly girl. His ugly girlfriends were better than anyone I could get on my own. We were a dynamic duo: I had the car, and he had the looks.”
Between playing college football and being on ESPN’s college football broadcast, Corso was a college football coach across four decades, but it was on TV where he was best known and hit the peak of his powers. A high energy guy with catchphrases, his most famous: “not so fast, my friend”, routines, and using a team mascot’s headgear to announce who he thought would win the day’s game. That one would sometimes have him being pelted with cans and rubbish by the crowd for going against the home team!
Corso even acknowledged how good life was. You’d hear it if you tried to call him and he didn’t pick up his phone. The message on his answering machine went through the usual spiel of identifying himself and prompting the caller to leave a message after the beep, before just before signing off he’d say, “life is gooood”.
There was a time when life wasn’t so good. One morning in 2009, Corso went outside to pick his newspaper, sat down in his chair, and when his wife walked onto the patio, she noticed half of Corso’s face was drooping and he couldn’t speak. Stroke. Corso was partially paralysed and unable to speak for a month. He was determined to overcome it and get back on air ASAP. With intense therapy, four months later he was back at the desk. Previously a master at adlibbing, after the stroke Corso had to script more of his appearances due to cognitive challenges.
Lately he’s encountered something that’s harder to overcome: retirement.
Corso announced his retirement from College Game Day earlier this year. While his statement talked about how fortunate he was to have an almost 40 year run on the program, noting all the friends he made and experiences he had, it likely wasn’t his decision to walk away. And when this year’s college football season got underway the reality of not being at work began to sink in.
A video recently surfaced of Corso being asked what it’s like no longer being on the broadcast for each week’s big college game.
“Lousy. I hate it. I can’t watch ‘College GameDay.’ I can’t get used to it. I’m not working anymore. I used to fly all over. It sucks.”
Not that this should be a surprise. When Corso was canvassed on his longevity over a decade ago, he was hostile to the idea of stopping.
“Retire?” Corso says, blurting the question back as if he were spitting out sour fruit. “Huh? Why would I want to do that? I’m never going to quit…. I have the best job you could possibly have.”
When Corso’s disappointment with retirement hit the internet, there was a general lack of sympathy. Noting that he should have retired back when he had the stroke, or he’d been struggling for a while in the job, he was lucky he had the career he did, or that he’s rich, he can “fly all over” any time he likes.
His role gave him the extra incentive to push through with the stroke rehab. Maybe he was struggling, but unfortunately that one is often tossed at older people in public roles. Yes, he was lucky to have the long career, but it doesn’t make it less painful when it goes away. Arguably it’s more painful.
The final one is simple. Money can’t buy purpose. Corso was 90 and still buzzing around like someone 30 years younger. Sure, he could “fly all over” if he wanted, but to do what? There are no more pre-production meetings, no suit, no makeup, no TV cameras, no crowd, no three hours of live TV on Saturday. Corso was flying all over to do something. That’s gone.
Last month a video was released by Business Insider which showed a flipside of this circumstance, seniors in the US who were working into their 80’s, not by choice, but because they had to. The comments were mostly sympathetic that these elderly people were still grinding it out.
Those featured recounted some of their lives, expanded on their circumstances and highlighted how their financial missteps meant they never had enough for any sort of retirement. Maybe they weren’t much different from Lee Corso. It’s been the work that’s kept Corso going, he knows it. And while it may seem unfortunate seeing people in their 80’s still working, they all admitted it gives them purpose. It poses an awkward question; would they be as vibrant without having to work?
Work can both feel a joy and a burden, depending on if it’s a luxury or forced, but in each case, it offers something that’s much harder to come by in retirement: a purpose.
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