KARE 11 says goodbye to ‘cornerstone’ Randy Shaver after 41 years

Randy’s been a fixture on KARE’s nightly newscasts and in the homes of millions of Minnesotans since 1983.

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/kare11-extras/kare-11-says-goodbye-to-cornerstone-anchor-randy-shaver-after-41-years/89-f6f61643-53dd-4841-af01-1f57f1ca0748

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Well, it is time time to say goodbye to our Randy Shaver. Tomorrow will be his last day here at care 11. And somehow, even though he’s been here for 41 years, we’re still not ready. We will miss his steady presence and professionalism on air and his friendship and wisdom behind the scenes. Randy simply put is the gold standard. Here’s a look back at his extraordinary career, but after months of negotiations with me, it’s hard to imagine tuning into care 11 and not seeing this face twins. Let’s talk about twins. Let me, let me talk about the twins. Since 1983 Randy Shaver has been a fixture on our nightly newscasts. His hard work and commitment to excellence, they’ve never had a home, helped build the care brand. He’s a cornerstone of the foundation of the place he really is for Paul majors. Another care cornerstone. There are two things about Randy that really stand out just a quarter inch bond, his hairline, he had more hair follicles per square inch than like a sea otter and his work ethic. Randy’s work ethic in my career was unparalleled. The focus this pack. I used to call him James Brown. Yeah, I used to say there was James Brown the hardest working man in sports. And that’s Randy. He’s just unparalleled work ethic. I’ve chosen to use when Randy is in. He is all in one of the most interesting stories here. Whether he’s covering hot rod racing. Nervous me or pro wrestling. But his true passion was prep football. I love high school football. It’s just that simple. I love everything that love was obvious by the amount of work he put in every fall for 40 years. Randy basically lived at care 11, calling coaches, coordinating photographers and furiously typing up scripts with just one finger. That was always a big part that made it successful. He would watch film and say, oh, that kid is a great player. He knew the name and how many yards they had and, and the performances that he had the last Friday night. It’s more than a highlight show. That is what made his weekly Friday night show the prep sports extra the best in the business. Here’s your host a fact acknowledged by his esteemed colleague and competition, wcc’s long time sports director, Mark Rosen, you could feel the passion he had for it and it certainly came across to the viewers. He said he owned that. I mean, he really did for high schoolers who competed in any sport being named one of Randy’s athletes of the week was a badge of honor. He had the privilege of following one of them all the way to the hall of fame. Randy loved covering athletes at the top of their game, but he poured just as much heart into those. Just starting out. Take for example, this story on young wrestlers that won him a national mural. Take it easy on your brother. I know, but it doesn’t mean you got to kill him. Now though, Randy is the sports director here at Care. In 1994 care promoted Randy to sports director a job he loved, but he could be a tough boss. According to one of his first hires, Eric Perkins, Randy has a gruff exterior, hand, write it. Give it to me right now. But ultimately, he just, he really wanted us to thrive back there. And that, and that goes to a person in that sports office. He cared deeply about us. He invited me to his house for Thanksgiving dinner like I was here a week. So we’ll see for Randy. It was and is always about the team. Well, it is the beginning of a new era here at Care 11 something I learned firsthand when he became my co anchor in 2012. It has been a privilege to stand next to him as we celebrated some of the best moments in our community. Pure Minnesota and to rely on his steadiness and insight as we navigated some of the worst in 2021 Randy was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame. An honor well deserved. According to fellow Hall of Famer Boyd Hooper, he demands excellence and that and that’s what you want in your coworkers, high expectations and there’s nobody with higher expectations than Randy. Many viewers will remember Randy holding himself to impossibly high standards after being diagnosed with stage four, Hodgkin’s disease in 1998. Despite a brutal treatment regimen, he rarely missed a day of work. Sometimes to the dismay of his wife, Roseanne. Well, good evening everybody. He worked, you know, having lost his hair. I said, well, why? And he said, I want others to know that they can get through this. They can get through this son of a gun if he didn’t. But 20 years later, he would have to do it again when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. And once again, he went public with his incredibly personal battle to help others. If there’s anything that comes out of my situation that’s positive is I hope that there’s men out there that say, you know what? Jeez, I, I need to go get my face. I need to be more proactive for me. Beyond raising awareness on air. Randy and Roseanne have worked tirelessly to raise money for cancer research through their nonprofit, the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund to date. They have raised nearly $14 million that work will continue. Even after Randy’s retirement from care for Randy’s family here at Care and for so many of you who have welcomed him into your homes night after night, this is going to be tough. I have a hard time imagining Carol Levin without Randy, he’s just been such a fixture here. His will be big shoes to fill. He’s just part of care le he is Care 11. So it’s a big thing, you know, it’ll, it’ll be a big deal. But for Randy’s actual family, it’s about time. I’m looking forward to him, spending time with our grandchildren watching them grow. I’m looking forward to spending more time with him. Haven’t been able to do that much in 40 years and I’m really looking forward to seeing him slow down, relax, enjoy life, but I’ll sure miss watching it on TV. Good job. And we’re gonna miss having you here on TV. Hard to believe that this is our final 10 show today. I don’t like to think about it, to be honest with you even doing that story. I kept, it doesn’t seem real. And then tonight, when you said, well, here we go. I was like, here we go. We do have tomorrow at six where Randy is gonna share some of his, he’s gonna juggle, just juggle other things, right? No. Are you? OK? I’m fine. You know what? This is our last show together because you’re not here tomorrow. I love you. 31 years, man. You tell me what to do. Every day somebody needed to. We all went to dinner tonight just to get a chance to listen to the two of us. What a treat that was, by the way is that like, I haven’t gotten enough of that over the last few decades, but in all sincerity, you truly are the gold standard, Randy. So every story that you report every time I’ve been on air with you, I have felt totally comfortable and confident because you’re such a pro and such a good man. And I just appreciate all that I’ve learned standing next to you. I appreciate. Thank you. It’s been my honor to be here. Who is going to say bundle up buttercup. I’m, I’m better. I’m gifting that line to you. This bundle bundle up buttercup. Well, I do have a really favorite thing of yours to come out of this because obviously we do need to switch gears because I’ve got the, I know, I know let’s talk about, let’s cue the loons, people cue the loons.