Back in 1942, Pemberton’s father, an engineer for the Santa Fe Railroad, moved the family from Cameron. In the ensuing six decades, the 1958 Temple High School graduate has become a fixture in the community. For 31 years with Temple–based American Desk, he sold stadium seats to such major sports venues as the Georgia Dome. He’s entertained Temple Wildcat football fans with lively radio broadcasts for more than 20 years, officiated high school basketball for 23 years, and he’s the first and only Houston Astros team chaplain.
In 1993, when Temple businessman Drayton McLane purchased the Astros, he quickly hired Pemberton as community development director and team chaplain.
“I’ve always admired his great Christian faith and willfulness to spread it,” McLane said. “So when I bought the team, I hired him. He’s been an inspiration. The players really turn to Gene.”
When Pemberton arrived at the Astrodome, the self– described baseball nut said he found a group of young players about to make their mark in the major leagues. He immediately went to work getting players involved in community service.
“We decided, hey, in that community there’s a lot of lives we could touch. And right about 2½ miles from that stadium is the largest VA center in the United States,” Pemberton said. “We started taking players over there to visit them (patients). They were young guys, but turned out to be hosses – Billy “The Kid” Wagner, Mike Hampton, Shane Reynolds. It was just a good bunch of guys early on who helped us set a foundation.”
Pemberton said no Houston Astros have been arrested since McLane bought the team and they placed an emphasis on Christian values.
“A lot of people say ‘you get a bunch of Christians, you’re soft,’” Pemberton said. “It’s not something we go waving a flag on, yeah, we’re Christians. It’s just a way to meld you together and build better camaraderie.”
One year before Pemberton left American Desk to work with the Astros, he and broadcast partner Mark McLain won the distinguished Katie Award presented by the Dallas Press Club for best broadcast team outside a major market.
With McLain handling play-by-play chores, Pemberton provided color commentary between snaps. In the second game of the 1992 season, the Wildcats battled the Odessa Permian Panthers, the school featured in the book “Friday Night Lights” and said to have a sort of hex, or mojo, over opponents, which made the Panthers invincible.
Apparently, Pemberton and McLain had a little mojo of their own working up in the booth.
Late in the game, Odessa Permian was driving on the Wildcats for what looked like a game-winning touchdown. The quarterback pitched out, but the ball hit the turf. Pemberton’s voice, broadcast across car radios and homes across Bell County, sealed the Wildcats’ victory.
“We recovered, and I hollered . . . ‘Mojo just died.’”
And those words – “Mojo just died” – were splashed across wall-sized video screens at the Katie Awards as Pemberton and McLain walked up to receive their trophy.
Last football season, Pemberton teamed with a new partner for Wildcat football – Ricky Crow. Crow said Pemberton weaves Temple history into his game commentary.
“The guy has an incredible mind. He can remember games back in the ’50s like he recorded and watched them yesterday,” Crow said. “People call him the mayor of Temple.”
Outside the broadcast booth, Pemberton keeps busy, volunteering his time to local causes.
“He does a lot of little things that no one sees, that he doesn’t want credit for,” Crow said. “He gives a lot of motivational speeches, even to Pee Wee football teams.”
Now that the seasons have turned, Pemberton is again on the road with the Astros. But this summer he plans to stay a little closer to home, working with the Astros in a part-time capacity.
But if the Astros astound critics like they did in their 2005 National League Championship season, and make a run at the pennant, Astros owner McLane said he might need Pemberton to come off the bench and pinch hit.
“He’s not going to be covering as many bases as before,” McLane said, “but hopefully we’ll be needing him in October.”
