Kurt Browning on CityTV CityPulse
June 1, 2001
Liz West: Anybody else who's also being inducted that you're kind
of like..ohh...I'd love to meet them
Kurt Browning: Leslie Nielsen. You know, I'm an ice skater but on
occasion I try to get out there and make people laugh, so I really
look forward to just five minutes with Leslie Nielsen just to pick his
brain a little bit and find out what he's really like or..yeah you
know, I'm excited about that.
LW: And uh is there, could you think of, was there a moment in your
career that sort of popped you up into the Walk of Fame category (Kurt
laughs). Do you know what I mean? Like you know, there's a certain level
of accomplishment, or do you think it was just...
KB: Longevity. I think one of the things that people do respect in
a career is longevity and um...
LW: And you got it!
KB: (running his hand over his head) and I'm showing that now, my
longevity. And I think that of course, winning Worlds and all those
accomplishments that I had in my amateur career as a figure skater are
wonderful but one of the ones I'm proud of is my professional career
and you know, providing entertainment for people for over a decade
now. It's starting to add up! But I think that that's one of the
reasons why I'm here is longevity.
LW: It can be depressing too, like "oh my God I've been doing this
for so long, I can actually..."
KB: (over her) it is! But at the same time, you know, you take the
people that walk up to you, they're 14 years old and they say you
know, like "I don't really remember when you won Worlds, I was too
young" and you go (sagging at the knees)... "oh my knees just started
to hurt!" But everything's been good, my career's been wonderful to
me, and a day like this...you know, when you get older, you hold onto
these nice days a little more. So, I'm very happy to have this happen
to me.
LW: Now the 14th inductee today, which a lot of people don't know
about, is Alexander Graham Bell. Now what do you think of that?
KB: (with surprised wide-eyed look on his face) I did not know
that!
LW: yeah
KB: Um...well..if it wasn't for...
LW: Do you own a phone?
KB: (with a kind of yeah, I'm cool, I'm with it expression) well
you know, yeah, absolutely. I've got a phone! I'm with it (straightens
his tie, adjusts his cuffs). I even got a cell phone! So I just think
that it's another like James Naismith, you know those names, that's one of
the things that Stars Walk of Fame does is educates Canadians about
great Canadians, and you might see the list of inductees and not even
realize that (with expression of disbelief) "that person's Canadian?".
So that's one of the aftereffects of this wonderful award is that it's
educating us about who we are as Canadians. For example, you know you
look back in history and see what great Canadians have done. It's a
good idea.
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