By Dick Mittman
indy500.com
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Jep Cadou was in the press box when Willie Mays made his incredible catch during the 1954 World Series. He was in the press box when Neil Armstrong blasted off to the moon in 1969.
And he was in the press box at the Indianapolis 500 when Mauri Rose won at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the second time in 1947 and when Helio Castroneves won for the second straight time last May.
Cadou, a veteran Indianapolis news reporter, has covered the spectrum of sports, national and political events during a career that has spanned some 60 years. On Halloween, he reached his 80th birthday, still following racing at the Speedway with a fervent eye.
"The competition now is really fierce, a tenth of a second dividing the fast and slow cars in a lot of these races, the fast and slow qualifiers," he said about his continued passion for racing. "So it's really gotten competitive. There used to be a handful of top-notch drivers. Now there're a hundred or so top-notch drivers in all levels of the sport."
Though retired from The Indianapolis Star, where he served as sports editor for a quarter-century, Cadou still sits in the press box of every Indianapolis 500 and later helps with the editing of the Indianapolis 500 Oldtimers Newsletter, a 16-page publication sent to some 900 members of the group five times a year. He also wrote in the past for National Speed Sport News and other racing publications.
Cadou is in his 10th year working as a greeter at the Wal-Mart store in Westfield, Ind. He attacks this retirement part-time job with the same enthusiasm as he did his newspaper reporting duties. A couple years ago, he was voted one of the top 10 greeters in the country.
Cadou greeted the world on Oct. 31, 1922, in Indianapolis. His father, Eugene Jepson Cadou Sr., was dean of Hoosier political writers. His mother, Ruth Dern Cadou, lived to 94 and was, as he called her, "a lovely lady."
Ruth Cadou and Jep's aunt took him and his cousin to his first Indianapolis 500 in 1927 when he was 4 because his father didn't have much interest in racing. Cadou has attended every "500" since, except for 1964 when he was ill. He doesn't remember much of his first race, won by George Souders, except for the noise.
But Cadou is one of the few people to have seen races won by rookies Souders, Graham Hill (1966), Juan Montoya (2000) and Helio Castroneves (2001).
"The first race I really remember," Cadou said, "was 1930 when Billy Arnold won and led all but two laps. We sat in old Grandstand E, which was wooden at the time."
Cadou was attracted to the sport because of its competitiveness and because the major race was in his hometown.
He grew up in the area south of Butler University on the city's north side and attended Shortridge High School. He was sports editor of the Monday Echo school newspaper and a classmate of author Kurt Vonnegut. He moved on to Indiana University in the fall of 1940 and was editor of the Daily Student his senior year. He was called to duty in the Army in 1943.
"The day I was supposed to get my diploma at graduation ceremonies, I was on KP at Camp Lee, Va.," he said.
He was assigned to the OSS and spent his time on Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California.
Ten days after being mustered out of the service in 1946, he went to work for The Indianapolis Star. He started as a police reporter and was assigned to the "500" for the first time in 1947. That was the race where the EZY sign was flashed to rookie leader Bill Holland and teammate Rose passed him for the victory.
"I did the fan story, the fans, the crowd, so forth," he said. "Then, until I became sports editor, I did the Victory Lane story with the winner. We were in the old Pagoda, the wooden Pagoda, at the time.
Cadou was promoted to sports editor in 1953. Bill Vukovich was the winner during Cadou's first race in his new position.
"In the 50s, Rodger Ward was one of my favorites. And Eddie Sachs was one of my favorite drivers. He was great. He really had a flair for public relations."
In the fall of 1954, Cadou was sent to cover the baseball World Series between Cleveland and the New York Giants. He still looks on the legendary over-the-shoulder catch in centerfield by Willie Mays as one of the biggest sports stories he ever covered.
During his time in the job, he wrote a lead story and a column on the race. He penned six columns a week during the year. He was noted for his ability to write fast and accurately. Even at 80, he still is an excellent editor.
Cadou chronicled the move from the front to rear-engine car in the 1960s. He remembers the reliability of Jack Brabham's little Cooper-Climax in 1961, which signaled the change in car design at Indy.
Cadou was one of the fortunate journalists credentialed to cover the launch that sent Armstrong to the moon. He said the reporters stayed in a Daytona Beach motel and commuted to Cape Canaveral each day. They interviewed the astronauts before blast-off.
In 1971, Cadou made a dramatic career change and became director of public relations for the United States Auto Club. Three years later, he switched to feature writer for The Saturday Evening Post and then worked for Bill Hudnut in his first bid for mayor of Indianapolis in the late 1970s. He worked for the Indiana Loves pro tennis team, the Indianapolis Speedrome and Indianapolis Raceway Park before returning to The Star, from which he retired in 1989. He served as president of the Indianapolis Press Club, American Automobile Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association and 500 Oldtimers Club.
So many events. So many memories.
"Favorite memory? The 1960 race, which I thought was the greatest of them all," he said. "Rodger Ward and Jim Rathmann exchanged the lead countless times before Rathmann finally won.
"Another is Mario Andretti's lone victory in 1969. He had this race won about seven times, but something always happened to his car. He's one of my all-time favorites."
But when it comes to picking the best driver he's seen, Cadou turns to four-time Indianapolis 500 champion A.J. Foyt.
"He's absolutely the greatest," he said.
Over the years, Cadou has watched the addition of the Brickyard 400 and the SAP United States Grand Prix to the Speedway's schedule, along with the constant upgrading of the facilities.
"It's been a marvelous development," he said. "I'm looking forward to my "80" race coming up (in 2003)," Cadou said. "Sam Hornish Jr. has really been doing a fine job with his two consecutive IRL championships. He hasn't had any luck at Indy yet, but I hope he does this coming year."
At 80, Cadou still is looking forward to the next "500," the next winner.
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