Simple. Two ways: First, grow up in Detroit with a father who was an executive in the hierarchy of Ford; and second, get a degree in speech, radio and television from the University of Missouri. Everything will fall into place — in time.

Bob Pollock today is a sales representative for Machens Toyota in Columbia and enjoys every minute of it. ’Tis interesting how he came upon that role in life.

Many Columbians — sports fans in particular — remember Bob as the sports director of KFRU radio. He joined the staff as an MU student in 1978 and became sports director in 1981, filling the role until 1992.

Ol’ Clark enjoyed working with Bob when I ran annual baseball tryouts for the Cincinnati Reds at MU’s Simmons Field. Bob was like a staff member, publicizing the tryouts and helping greatly when rain interfered.

Then one day I came home from a road trip, and Bob Pollock was no more. He came back into my life recently when a birding friend said she had purchased a Toyota at Machens and the salesperson asked whether she knew a birder named Clark — an old acquaintance? It was Bob. Lunch soon followed.

KFRU had a great run of sports directors during the Mahlon Aldridge era — Larry Zimmer, Chris Lincoln, Bob Pollock and others an aging mind fails to recall. Bob was the last of the old gang.

He had grown up in Detroit in the household of a Ford executive, but from the time he was a little guy, he thrilled to Ernie Harwell, the voice of the Detroit Tigers. He wanted to be another Ernie Harwell. His other heroes were Al Kaline, Gordie Howe, Dave Bing and, would you believe, George Blanda. He loved the Oakland Raiders.

Being a major league play-by-play guy was his sole ambition. He did a morning sports show during his last two years in high school and came to MU with the big leagues in his sights.

After graduating from MU in 1979, he worked for five months in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and was happy to leave the ice and snow when KFRU called as winter was settling in.

Bob did all the things a sports director does. He helped with MU football, did “Football Saturday,” announced Hickman and Rock Bridge high school sports around the St. Louis Cardinals baseball broadcasts, did MU women’s basketball for eight years and baseball for two. Then, in 1992, when station ownership changed, Bob Pollock was gone.

Branson, then exploding as an entertainment destination, was looking for a marketing director for its chamber of commerce. Bob used a major campaign to get an interview and was hired, and for six years he was a leader in community development — new highways, water treatment upgrades, a youth leadership program.

Three years with the area board of Realtors led to a job with the Columbia Board of Realtors in 2001. Sportscasting was no longer an issue.

“In 2004, I started what I call my ‘wandering’ period,” Bob says. “I spent a year in the mortgage business, then sold cars for Mike Kehoe Motors before moving to Riley Toyota in Jefferson City. A year later, I transferred to Machens Toyota in Columbia.

“I truly love what I’m doing. I love working with people. What I learned interviewing people in radio helps me every day in the car business.”

He and his wife, Carla, have two sons. Bob lives in Columbia, and Greg, an MU biology grad, spent last year in Japan and is working on a career as a translator.

Bob still pulls for the Detroit Tigers but long ago became a Cardinals fan, and his favorite Tigers today are the MU Tigers.

His favorite Columbians? Don Faurot: “He took time to teach me how to read film and learn football inside and out.” Gene McArtor: “He always showed dignity and class.” Phil Bradley: “A little prickly, but a great athlete and an honest man.” Dan Devine: “I came to know him when my parents moved to Phoenix. When he returned to MU as the athletic director, I got to break the story.”

A return to sportscasting? “I have no urge to do it again. It was fun, and I met great folks, but I’ve moved on.”

Now you know how a kid in love with baseball, who grew up in a Ford family, became a devoted Toyota owner and ambassador. And Ernie Harwell is still his all-time hero.