I love telling stories about Bill, and none more than this one. Here it is, more or less fact-checked by Bill:
In 1966 Bill was a law student who was working part time at the local TV station in Topeka as a night and weekend anchor. On this particular night, he was alone in the studio when the phone rang. It was the station's correspondent in the newfangled "radio car."
"There's a huge tornado bearing down on the city," said the reporter.
"Are you sure?" said Bill. "There's nothing on the wires."
"I CAN SEE IT!" shouted the reporter. "It's right in front of me!"
Bill went into the studio and broke into the broadcast (he told me it was a very popular program -- Beverly Hillbillies? -- so pretty much everyone was watching.) "There's a very dangerous tornado approaching Topeka," he said, and then the words that made him a legend:
"For God's sake, take shelter!"
And they did. The '66 Topeka Tornado killed 17 people and leveled much of the town. But if not for Bill, it would have killed hundreds. One of those people he saved came just a few years ago to see @WaitWait and thanked Bill in person.
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