To Tell The Ttruth

In the 1980s there was a quiz show named To Tell the Truth. I think it was once a week in prime time. Seemed to be very popular at the time.

The synopsis of the show was that there was a fairly famous person and two impostors. The famous person was not physically known so nobody really recognized him or her. The two impostors also claimed to be the famous person and the panel had to find out who was the real person.

For any incorrect vote money was awarded. In the panel at the time as I remember was Peggy Cass and Bill Cullen. Both well known TV personalities. Bill Cullen was actually the original host of the Price Is Right TV show.

To make it short, this was a very popular show with a large viewership and it ran continuously from 1956 through 1981, I think.

Well to get to the point, through some acquaintance at my office I volunteered and was accepted as an impostor for the show. The big problem was that I was supposed to be Pete Gogolak a very famous place kicker for the New York Giants amongst other teams. He played between 196 and 1974 so by the time the show was being taped he was already retired.

He was Hungarian and he played soccer in Hungary. His claim to fame was as I remember that he was using the European style soccer kick that was very new and achieved good results.

So I and another fellow had to pretend that one of us was him. That seemed fairly easy, me being Hungarian right? But the problem was that I had absolutely no clue about American football. I didn't know any players, didn't know any of the teams and didn't any of the rules.

When they started asking me I was trying to make up some answers but it became very obvious that it wasn't me who was the football player.

When I found out, a few days earlier, who I was supposed to be on the show I was scared out of my wits. I tried to learn as much as I could about football in a very short time but the information was overwhelming. So, I figured I'll just wing it. My life didn't depend on this except my reputation.

The day of the taping was a whole day affair and it was fun. They taped several shows and I met a few very interesting people. One that stands out was the man who was the first to enter into the nuclear plant in Three Mile Island after the explosion.

My fiancee and my future mother in law were there cheering for me. The taping was in the NBC studio in New York's Rockefeller Center. There was food prepared for us and we were allowed to come and go as we liked and were treated as important people. The only ones isolated were the celebrity panel. We only met them once the show got under way.

It is interesting when we see these game shows now they give the impression that everything is very spontaneous. No way, everything was very controlled down to the color of my jacket I worn.

Anyway due to my ignorance of football I was found out fairly easily and Mr. Gogolak won. I received a check for $25 for my appearance which was more than nothing. Oh the show was taped in November 1980 and broadcasted shortly after.

One day I got a phone call from my niece from Pennsylvania that she saw me on television. I was very grateful and proud that somebody who knew me at least saw me.