CHAPTER TWO: "The Name Game"

     Every year when my birthday rolls around in June, I always find it quite interesting and enjoyable to read the particular greetings each year via text or social media: “Happy Birthday, Marlin”, “Happy Birthday, Luke”, “Happy Birthday, Duelin' Luke”, “Happy Birthday, Coach Lee”, “Happy Birthday, Coach Dalton”, “Happy Birthday, Lindy”. Yes, I am a man of many nicknames, aliases, and nom de plume's as it were. It's like a chronological trip down memory lane, as depending how each person addresses me tells the story of when and where they met me during my lifetime. So I thought I would offer an explanation of the origin of each of my many names that are all one-in-the same ME.

     I was born Marlin Dean Lee Jr named after my Dad, Marlin Dean Lee Sr., on his 26^th birthday. So we share not only the same name but the same birth date. Growing up I always thought that was cooler than cool and all these years later I think it's even cooler. Now instead of being called “Junior” or “Bubba” or something else that kids are called when named after their Dad, my Aunt Zela came up with something different. She took parts of my first name Mar-LIN and middle name D-ean and combined them to create “Lindy”. For the first six years of my life that is all anyone ever called me. And to this day everyone in my family calls me “Lindy” or “Uncle Lindy”. The same holds true for other folks who first knew me at that time such as neighbors, people at church, etc.

     So starting school happens. I'm so old that kindergarten was not a requirement at the time. I remember well, even now, that first day of first grade.  My Mom had walked me to my classroom door and stopped and asked did I want to be called “Marlin” (which of course, being my legal name, would have been the name listed on the teacher's attendance roll), or “Lindy”. I didn't hesitate for a second and told her “Marlin”. I was proud of my given name and also thought it sounded tougher and more manly I guess. So Marlin it was and would be all throughout school and in the work place to all who knew me in those environments for twenty-one years.

     Then we get to 1986. The first almost six years of my broadcast career I had used my real name Marlin Lee on-air, including at Houston country radio powerhouse KILT where I had begun working in 1984 as a disc jockey. But in Spring of '86 that would change. The station's engineering department had put together the brand new fire engine red KILT Mobile Studio which was to be used at virtually every KILT event for years to come. A pair of Houston radio legends, General Manager Dickie Rosenfeld and Program Director Rick Candea, had decided that I was the guy to man this studio on wheels at all remotes and special events, including being air talent at most of them, pulling me off my regular radio air shift.

     Now Dickie, though short in stature, was a larger-than-life individual who called virtually everyone “Podnah!”. The day he and Rick pulled me into Dickie's office he said, “Hey, Podnah, we're going to give you a brand new air name that everybody will remember, Coach Robert E. Lee!”. I understood why they wanted to use the name Coach because everyone at the station knew I coached football. But, the Robert E. Lee part I thought was a little bit hokey at first. Of course with today's completely ridiculous and preposterous cancel culture, if I used that name today I would be branded a racist! Give me a break!! But then, in more sane times, that was something of a revered name in the South including Texas. And what do you know, Dickie was right, as I gained more name recognition and fame in the Houston metro listening area than ever before.

     So now flash forward to the early 90's and I had gone to work for a pair of iconic Austin country stations KASE/KVET. But before I did I decided to choose a new on-air moniker. Something that would sound cool and old western. I had always been a huge fan of the Eagles and especially their concept second album (but worst selling) “Desperado”. This album told the story of the rise and fall of of the infamous outlaws The Dalton Gang. The opening track on side one was entitled “Doolin-Dalton” written by Don Henley, Glenn Frey, J..D. Souther, and my long-time musical idol Jackson Browne. The title references The Dalton Brothers and their outlaw compadre Bill Doolin. I thought great, I'll just change the “Doolin” to “Duelin”, like I'm going to challenge you to meet me in the street for a showdown, and now all I need is a first name. “Luke” seemed to fit and there you have it, the birth of “Duelin' Luke Dalton”.

     This new handle took on an entirely new life when I took a job as Program Director and Morning Radio Host  at country station WGLR in the small town of Lancaster, Wisconsin, which was part of the Dubuque, Iowa radio market. When you are the morning radio guy in a smaller market (and also on the coaching staff of the local high school football team) everybody gets to know you real fast and you get to know your listeners, too, on a very personal level. By the way that is not the least bit frightening as it might be in some large markets. When I moved to WPVL Radio in neighboring Platteville, Wisconsin, I had a full morning team of newsman, sports guy, and for awhile a female co-host known as “The Dalton Gang Show”. I only know of two people in Wisconsin whoever called me by my real name and those are Terry Noble, a fellow Lancaster High School football coach, and Norm Hanson, owner of the local Happy Joe's Pizza. Everyone else in the Badger state knows me as Luke Dalton. Even all the players I coached over fifteen years call me Coach Dalton, even though I was listed in the football programs by my real name.

    Now there have been other nicknames over the years I have been christened with by various friends or family members. Those include “Perkins” for Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom's host Marlin Perkins. My old high school classmate and roommate Danny Driggs' dad Dick Driggs (who was an absolute riot) called me “Fish” (for the Blue Marlin) as a few others also did. And then there were my high school friends Phil Palmer and Ray Barr who called me “Bruce”. This came about in algebra class after we had all three watched a silly Monty Python Show skit where all the characters in this skit called each other “Bruce”, so I was “Bruce Lee”, which was cool in light of the great martial arts legend of the same name. Almost fifty years later Phil and I still refer to each other as “Bruce”.

     An then there was my Great Uncle Bud, who was a always smiling, gregarious man (who my Mom says I took a lot after) who always called me “Sport Model”. And then maybe my favorite nickname was the one my Great Aunt Maude (who loved Latin culture) called me which was “Guapo” meaning “handsome”.

     Over the years I have gone on to perpetuate this nickname tradition by christening many of the young men I coach in football and baseball with nicknames. So much so that Lancaster Head Football Coach John Hoch once said to me, “Coach, you have nicknames for everybody don't you”, to which I responded “Pretty much”. One thing for sure is that if you were a player who had an old brother who played for me you would almost inevitably be called “Junior”. Among the most extreme examples were the Pink Brothers in Lancaster. Oldest brother Nathan we called “Pinker Dinker”, middle brother Evan was “Pinker Dinker Jr.”, and younger brother Trenton was “Pinker Dinker 3”. Of course when any of them ever screwed up on the field they would be called “Pinker Stinker”.

     So there you have it. Mystery solved. You can now tell all the players without a scorecard. Whether it's Marlin, Lindy, Luke, Coach Lee, Coach Dalton, or a few others, for better or worse, they are all 100% me. I'll answer to them one and all, just as long as you also always call me friend.