''Tank McNamara'' is a daily syndicated comic strip written and illustrated by

Bill Hinds Bill Hinds (born April 21, 1950, in Houston, Texas) is an American sports cartoonist, whose work includes the sports cartoon feature ''Buzz Beamer'', and the syndicated comic strips ''Cleats'' and ''Tank McNamara''.Parks, Louis B"The man behind ...

. The strip debuted on August 5, 1974, with

Jeff Millar Jeffery Lynn Millar (July 10, 1942 – November 30, 2012) was an American comic strip writer and film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categ ...

as writer and Hinds as illustrator. Hinds took over writing after the death of Millar in late November 2012 due to bile duct cancer. The title character is a local sports television reporter who used to be a defensive lineman in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

, hence his name (whether nickname or given name is unclear). The strip focuses primarily on contemporary American athletics, which allows it to remain topical and also to dabble in related subjects such as politics and social issues.

Characters and story

Before becoming a multi-sport broadcaster and reporter, Tank McNamara played college football for "Enormous State University" (team name: the Sandcrabs), which serves the role of a generic

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

university with problem-plagued athletic programs. The local professional teams are fictional American major-league franchises (baseball's "Bashers"; football's "Smashers";

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

's "Igloos"; basketball's "Stuffers"). The strip also portrays fictional sponsors, including "Heavy Beer", spoofing the

light beer Light beer is a beer, usually a pale lager, that is reduced in alcohol content or in calories compared to regular beers. The first use of the term in marketing was in the 1940s when the Coors Brewing Company sold Coors Light, for a short period ...

ads that are so common in American sports broadcasts. It also features caricatures of many real figures from sports. A scientist named Dr. Tszap (also spelled Tzap) develops strange products intended to help sports teams. In earlier years, Tank was portrayed as a buffoon ex-professional athlete (an NFL defensive

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

, jersey number 55) unqualified to do his journalistic job. Recurring gags focused on Tank's "fumble-mouth" mistakes (such as presenting the "Norts Spews"), and on his tendency to jump on anything loose on the floor as if it were a fumbled football. An annual feature was a Christmas tale of Tank's last minute quest to obtain that year's "must have" toy for his nephew. Tanks' overprotective mother and his father Ed make occasional appearances. Tank has matured with the strip, which has gone on to highlight his loyalty, inherently gentle nature, and good heart. Recent years have seen several sequences dealing with Tank's youthful indiscretions. His behavior is never as damning as he believes it to have been, and he is always deeply sorry for his actions. While these sequences flesh out the background of Tank's character, they show the reader that he has always been a decent human being. Tank, who is a bachelor portrayed as being vulnerable to romantic injury, began seriously dating a woman named Angela in 2005. Angela works at his TV station, and the two met after she beat him in the station's 2005 NCAA tournament pool, despite choosing teams based on their uniform colors. Angela was the single mother of an athletically gifted son to whom Tank served as a father figure, and she eschewed competing in sports since a youthful tennis talent took over her life. She accompanied Tank to many work assignments, often assisting him in undercover reporting. In November 2012, Tank agreed to escort a producer named Natalie to the Women in Media Ball. He explained that he and Angela were "taking time off from each other." Angela also confirmed that she was seeing someone else. Tank is still friends with Buck Baker, a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

he protected as a lineman. As of 2019, Tank's "main squeeze" is Barb. On May 23, 2020, as Tank is about to ask Barb to marry him, Barb proposes to Tank. The wedding takes place December 4, 2022. Tank's neighbors Nick and Kate had their own comic strip, ''Second Chances'', from 1996 to 2000.

Social issues

The strip consistently addresses contemporary social problems related to sports, including gambling addiction, steroids, the arrests of pro athletes, and athlete salaries. Sometimes these issues are portrayed fictionally, as when Tank's Little Brother battles an online gambling problem, but sometimes the strip treats specific controversies by naming names. One popular example is its Sports Jerk of the Year award, which allows readers to nominate the figure they have found most objectionable and then vote on who is the worst. Previous "winners" include

Terrell Owens Terrell Eldorado Owens (; born December 7, 1973), nicknamed T.O., is an American football wide receiver for the Knights of Degen of Fan Controlled Football (FCF). He previously played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. Regar ...

(2x),

Bud Selig Allan Huber "Bud" Selig (; born July 30, 1934) is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball. Previously, he served as the ninth Commissioner of Baseball from 1998 to 2015. He initially served as ...

(2x),

Daniel Snyder Daniel Marc Snyder (born November 23, 1964) is an American businessman and owner of the Washington Commanders, an American football team belonging to the National Football League (NFL). He bought the team, then known as the Washington Redskins, ...

John Rocker John Loy Rocker (born October 17, 1974) is a former American relief pitcher who played six seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Atlanta Braves. Making his major league debut in 1998 as a member of the Braves, with whom he p ...

Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...

Latrell Sprewell Latrell Fontaine Sprewell (born September 8, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Golden State Warriors, the New York Knicks, and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Du ...

Ronald Curry Ronald Antonio Curry (born May 28, 1979) is an American football coach and former wide receiver who is the quarterbacks coach for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the S ...

and

Roberto Alomar Roberto "Robbie" Alomar Velázquez (; ; born February 5, 1968) is a Puerto Rican former Major League Baseball player for the San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, and Arizon ...

. Marking the strip's fortieth anniversary in 2014, readers were invited to submit nominations for the Sports Jerk of the last 40 years, which was "won" by

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong ('' né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 after recovering fr ...

, with

Dennis Rodman Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best reboundin ...

and

Pete Rose Peter Edward Rose Sr. (born April 14, 1941), also known by his nickname "Charlie Hustle", is an American former professional baseball player and manager. Rose played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1963 to 1986, most prominently as a membe ...

as runners-up. For 2020, because of the

impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the most significant disruption to the worldwide sporting calendar since World War II. Across the world and to varying degrees, sports events have been cancelled or postponed. The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo w ...

, there were no nominations for Sports Jerk of the Year. Instead, Tank named " the coronavirus" as SJOY for 2020.

Cartoonists

Jeff Millar

Jeffrey Lynn Millar was born July 10, 1942 in

Pasadena, Texas Pasadena () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 151,950, making it the twentieth most populous city in the state of Texas, as well as the second-largest cit ...

. He graduated from

The University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

reviewed movies for the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'', the newspaper where he worked from 1965 until his retirement in 2000. In addition to writing ''Tank McNamara'', he wrote a humor column for the paper. His autobiographical comic strip ''Second Chances'' ran from 1996 to 2000. Other works included the novel ''Private Sector'' and three plays, including ''The Rice''. Millar died after a four-year battle with biliary cancer November 30, 2012.

Bill Hinds

(born April 21, 1950, Houston, Texas) is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin University. Hinds illustrated ''Tank McNamara'' with co-creator and writer Jeff Millar from 1974 to 2012, when he also took over writing due to Millar's failing health. In addition to ''Tank McNamara'', Bill created, writes and draws the feature ''Buzz Beamer'' in the monthly ''Sports Illustrated Kids''. His ''Buzz'' work can be found online at sikids.co
Buzz animation
Hinds created a parent/kids/sports strip, ''

Cleats Cleat may refer to: * Cleat (nautical), a fitting on ships, boats, and docks to which ropes are tied * Cleat, Orkney, a place in Scotland * Cleat (shoe), a type or part of a shoe * ''Cleats'' (comic strip), a comic strip by Bill Hinds * Grouser ...

'', which ran from 2001 to 2010. ''Cleats'
reruns
can be found on GoComics.com. He also illustrated the feature ''According to Guinness'' for ten years, and created two experimental short-lived comic strips ''Clown Alley'' and ''Longshots'' for ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' Sunday page. Hinds collaborated with writing partner Millar on the ''Second Chances'' strip. Bill Hinds received the National Cartoonists Society divisional award for Sports Cartoons in 1986 and their New Media Award in 2000. He received an additional nomination for the New Media Award in 2002. Hinds has held seats on the board of the National Cartoonists Society and the Newspaper Features Council. He lives with his wife, Lisa, in Spring, Texas. They have three children.

Distribution

Tank McNamara has run in as many as 350 newspapers.Dan M.,
The Sports Page
', August 8, 2014 . Retrieved July 30, 2019.

References

* Strickler, Dave. ''Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924–1995: The Complete Index''. Cambria, California: Comics Access, 1995.

External links

Tank McNamara at gocomics.com
{{Universal Press Syndicate 1974 comics debuts McNamara, Tank American comic strips American football comics Baseball comics Basketball comics Comic strips set in the United States McNamara, Tank McNamara, Tank Humor comics McNamara, Tank Sports comics