Terril L. Yeager

Terril “Terry” L. Yeager August 28, 1946 – August 28, 2015 – 69 years Terry was the third child and last child born to Ralph D. and Dorothy (Anderson) Yeager in Lake City, Iowa and raised in Rockwell City, Iowa. He played all sports in school- football, basketball, baseball, and track and graduated in 1964 from Rockwell City, Iowa. Terry worked three years for a rock station in Ft Dodge and moved to a TV station there as an assistant film director. He attended Fort Dodge Community College and later moved to Minneapolis to attend Brown Institute of Broadcasting because of his interest in TV. In April 1966 he met his future wife, Connie. After graduation, Terry enlisted in the US Army but before he had to report to duty, he worked for the Minnesota Highway Department operating a jack hammer, this would benefit him later. In July 1967, Terry went to Ft Campbell, Kentucky for basic training where running the jack hammer made him stronger than the average recruit. Within 2 weeks, he was moved up to squad leader. A Sargent asked if anyone could type and Terry raised his hand and his future with the Army was sealed. He became a clerk/typist. His next assignment was Ft Huachuca, Arizona for further training and in December 1967 he was assigned to a base in South Korea. During that time he worked for Armed Forces Radio playing rock music and entertaining the troops. He later returned to the United States in January 1969 and within the month, married Connie Schutt. Terry’s next assignment was Ft Bragg, North Carolina and in November 1970 he was honorably discharged from the Army and reaped the benefits of being a veteran his whole life. Terry and Connie returned home with a newborn son and in 1971, Terry returned to Minneapolis, for a refresher course in television from Brown Institute. His first job was in Hackensack, Minnesota where he was a booth announcer, engineer, and had a semiweekly community events show. But after that, it was time to move on. Terry found the name of a station in Wausau, Wisconsin in the TV Guide so he drove down for a verbal and on air interview and was hired. He started work at WSAU-TV in August 1972 as an assistant sports director. In April 1973, he was so proud to tell everyone that, after 7 boys, he had the first girl in the Yeager family and in February 1975, Terry and Connie welcomed another baby girl. That night, in “Packerland”, he made the announcement that a new Viking was born. During Thanksgiving 1978, the owner of KMTV in Omaha was visiting his daughter in Wausau and watched Terry doing his sports cast. KMTV’s manager called and asked if he was interested in a job in Omaha so he moved to Omaha in January 1979 where he was named sports director in 1981. He continued to excel at feature stories involving himself- he drove in a drag race, flew in a hot air balloon, played basketball, did hunting and fishing stories in and out of state, and skied at Mt. Crescent. What he really loved doing was covering kids sports and his favorite was the Special Olympics. He was instrumental in getting the games popularized in Omaha. At first, Terry covered the Huskers with minimal enthusiasm, but it didn’t take long for him to become a big fan. As sports director, he was able to travel to all the games. He produced a weekly half hour show interviewing Tom Osborne and discussing the previous day game. He also interviewed many other nationally known coaches and sports figures. He went on fishing trips to Alaska and Canada with Coach Osborne where they had many conversations off the record as they sat in a boat far from the maddening crowd. As what often happens after a station sells, a new owner will replace the talent. He was the #1 sports anchor in Omaha at the time. He was offered a demotion to weekends as a reporter but he didn’t think he could handle that so he resigned effective in January 1988 after he covered the bowl game. After that, he had various jobs but ended his work career at PayPal after 7 years because of health problems. Terry is preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Gene and Merv. He is survived by wife Connie: children, Brian Yeager, Amy Rhodes, Carol Olafson all of Omaha, three grandchildren, Dillon of Phoenix AZ, Hannah and Nathan Olafson of Omaha. Terry said this of his love of covering sports- “To get people, besides the hard core fans to watch. I love to get involved with a story whether it is learning to drive a drag racer to the latest in Kung Fu martial arts. Giving sports fans more than just scores is very important. You can’t find a job anywhere that you can actually participate in and tell the people at home how it felt.” CELEBRATION OF LIFE, Saturday, (10/10/2015), 1:30 pm at Braman Mortuary (Southwest Chapel) CELEBRATION OF LIFE, Saturday, (10/10/2015), 1:30 pm at Braman Mortuary (Southwest Chapel)