In Syracuse, iconic Durkin can sell it all

After passing through the turnstiles at the Syracuse Chiefs' home of NBT Bank Stadium, fans proceed to a staircase that leads up to the main concourse. At the beginning of this ascent, Jim Durkin cannot yet be seen. But, rest assured, he can certainly be heard.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!"

These monosyllabic exhortations ring out at a crisp, staccato clip, easily overpowering all other aural stimulation in the immediate vicinity. And there, at the top of the stairs, stands Durkin. His eyes are fixated upon the newly-arriving fans, his pitch imbued with a newfound sense of urgency.

"Hey! We got programs here! They're only two dollars right now! Hey! They're only two dollars!"

Here he gestures toward the playing field, where a motley collection of Chiefs players are engaged in desultory pregame warmups.

"Hey! I think they're autographing 'em right now! Two dollars!"

Durkin, 79, has worked as a vendor at Chiefs games since Dwight Eisenhower occupied the oval office. Nine presidential administrations later, he remains unceasing in his efforts to get you, the fan, to part with your small bills in exchange for a snack, drink or souvenir.

"You have to please the fans, each and every one of them," said Durkin. "I have been blessed. I can do that most of the time."

Durkin, a Syracuse native, made his vending debut at the Chiefs' previous home of MacArthur Stadium.

"Well, I used to come to ballgames all the time, and at that time I'd have a drink or two," said Durkin, speaking to me during Aug. 26's game against the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. "And I didn't think that the beer vendor was selling fast enough. So, somehow or other, we bet $20 -- and that was a lot of money at the time -- that I would outsell him."

But when Durkin reported for vending duty at the ballpark, he was assigned the less lucrative task of selling popcorn.

"There was about 12 or 15 people watching batting practice, so what I did is I went out there and I walked up to each and every person and tried to sell a box of popcorn. I didn't have very good luck," he said. "But then, at about 7:30, all of these school buses came in. It was 'Safety Patrol Night' and we had a sellout crowd. And I'm selling popcorn. 'Hey, I got popcorn. It's r-e-e-e-e-e-e-d hot and it's only a quarter!' Well, I ended up making $45 and I thought that was awful good money. And then over the years, I sold a little bit of everything."

And with each item came a new, customized tagline.

"I used to sell soda. They gave me Coke, and I couldn't sell a lot of it. So I came up with the idea that I had to make noise to get their attention," he said. "I'd say 'I've got lemon-lime, grape and rooooooooot beer!' I'd shake all over. They'd say 'Give me a root beer,' and I'd say 'I'm sorry I just sold the last one.' I ended up selling a lot of Coke that way."

Durkin's success with the Chiefs motivated him to ply his trade at other Syracuse locations as well.

"I worked the [Carrier] Dome at Syracuse University and worked at the War Memorial [Arena] for a lot of concerts and country shows," he said. "When I was younger, I sat next to Dolly Parton when she came to Syracuse. I went onstage with Loretta Lynn, stood next to her and sold programs onstage. I worked for Elvis Presley twice. I worked for Liberace. I've been working the [New York State] Fair for 50-some years. And I worked at a factory in Syracuse called Crouse-Hinds for 43 years. I've always had one or two or three jobs, but I love the people and, of course, sometimes the money was good."

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Good money or not, Durkin quit working for the Chiefs after the 2011 season because, as he succinctly put it, "I had enough of it." But when Jason Smorol took over as the team's general manager prior to the 2014 campaign, he urged Durkin to reconsider.

"Jason called me and asked me to work for him, so I came down and had a meeting with him," said Durkin. "I said, 'You've got a nice, young organization. You don't need a guy who's 79 years old. You want to have young blood, so you can build something together. He brings me into his office and shows me about 250 emails that people sent, that say 'Bring back Durkin.' It's a great compliment."

And so Durkin is back, selling programs at the top of the stairs and doing his part to raise the energy levels at the ballpark.

"I'm kind of loud. I go into the seats during the game and start clapping and get the crowd yelling. 'We want a hit! We want a hit!' I just love the baseball and the crowds, and over these 50-some years, I've made thousands of friends. It's just something that it's in my blood, and I don't know how it ever got there."