Dick Goddard is a Cleveland institution, and after 50 years on television, he goes to work every day on a street named for him: Dick Goddard Way.
“Have you seen that section of South Marginal Road? It would make the Ho Chi Minh Trail look like the Autobahn,” says Goddard, whose self-deprecating sense of humor is one of his trademarks.
May marked the release of a new book, Goddard’s eighth, titled Six Inches of Partly Cloudy, the proceeds of which will benefit animal charities. In it, Goddard describes his life and career, muses on everything from God to global warming, and allows old friends like Robin Swoboda and Ernie “Ghoulardi” Anderson to dish about Dick, sharing what it’s like to know — to really know — the man with whom we’ve shared our living rooms for just over 50 years.
There are viewer stories and old photographs, hand-drawn cartoons by Goddard himself (who once dreamed of working for Disney) and, of course, margin quotes about Goddard’s favorite furry friends. In essence, the book tells us everything we already knew — that Dick Goddard is the nicest man in Cleveland — but after 50 faithful years in a city that’s often stumbling, it’s a message that bears repeating.
