Rozner: To the end, Coppock was just being Coppock

Chet Coppock was an entertainer.

There's probably worse things you can say about someone who spent most of his life in television and radio.

That is, after all, the point. Isn't it?

Coppock died at the age of 70 a few days ago, the result of injuries sustained in a car wreck in South Carolina, mourned by a generation of fans that knew him as the preeminent voice of Chicago sports during the 1980s and '90s.

He's generally credited with inventing sports radio here, though Chuck Swirsky might want to enter a claim. Still, Coppock's nightly sports show in the '80s was the place to be.

Much like you dialed in to hear Steve Dahl if big news broke, when there was a sports story Coppock would have the big names on the air that night.

"I see a big story like what happened with the Bears. Would I have had Dave McGinnis on my show? Bet the rent," Coppock told me in 1999. "Would I have had the biggest NFL names in the country? Absolutely. Would I have had all the important parties involved on my show? No question."

Don't doubt it. He had a star-studded Rolodex and he used it every night.

Coppock was flawed, as are we all, and throughout his career suffered self-inflicted wounds, but he seemed to always resurface, desperate to find a platform for his wrestling-promoter's voice and personality.

In later years, it was in writing books and working sporadically for the Blackhawks, but he would have done more if he could have found a taker.

The man was far from perfect, but the Chet I knew meant no harm. He was just Chet being Chet. He was loud and obnoxious and opinionated, and sometimes that got him into trouble, but unlike so many news and sports personalities today, he was just being himself.

Coppock turned shamelessness into an art form, and those doing an embarrassing impersonation of him now only serve to remind us that Chet wasn't pretending. He didn't have to. The act is that it wasn't an act. The bit was eternal.

During the six years I co-hosted "Final Word" on Fox-32 on Sunday nights, we would occasionally have Coppock in for a segment late in the show.

It only ran for three minutes and the idea was to debate a few topics.

Chet would stroll in and bellow, "Alright Roz, which side do you want? Doesn't matter. I'll take either one and you'll be wrong!"

We poked fun at each other and laughed the entire block. No one was injured during the filming of this segment, because we understood the point of it.

It's live TV. It's supposed to be entertaining. No one tried to cure a disease, just have a little fun at each other's expense.

Not everyone cared for his shtick. That's OK, too. Chet didn't care if you loved or hated him. He only cared that you were interested.

Fading from view was not easy for someone who depended on the soapbox, so he continued to attend every Bears home opener - not missing one since he was a small child - though few in the press box would engage him.

Coppock knew he had been discarded, and it hurt him that some he had helped along the way had lost his phone number.

In the end, Chet was sadly reduced to hanging around while promoting a book or searching for a gig.

Chet was goofy, but I never had a problem with him. A polarizing figure in many ways, he treated me well and with respect, and that seems a fair enough barometer.

It should be remembered of him that Chet Coppock entertained the masses and didn't take himself seriously.

The world could use a bit more of that.