tv 60 Minutes CBS March 25, 2012 7:00pm-8:00pm PDT
7:00 pm
captioning funded by cbs and ford-- built for the road ahead. >> kroft: one of the most encouraging signs of the u.s. economy over the past year has been the striking turnaround of chrysler. in 2009, the company was headed towards the junkyard. but last year, chrysler made $183 million and paid back its $6 billion federal bailout six years ahead of schedule. none of it would have happened without its italian-born, canadian-raised boss, sergio marchionne. sorry to barge in on you like this. does he walk in all the time? >> occasionally, yeah.
7:01 pm
>> they literally pulled my son out of my arms because he was screaming for me. the little hand is out. he's being pulled away. >> logan: michael morton spent almost 25 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of his wife's murder. the astonishing story of how he was released is our story tonight. >> the sun felt so good on my face. >> logan: had you felt it in 25 years? >> i had felt the sun. but i hadn't felt free sun. ( laughs ) >> simon: novak djokovic captured the u.s. open last september. that was after winning his first 41 matches, one of the best starts ever. >> it was incredible, historical, and it will be in the history books, but i remember it as the best six months that i ever had. >> simon: the serbian idol is only 24, and his future may have
7:02 pm
just begun. this season he's already won the australian open. unlike the other tennis royals, nadal and federer, he seems to be having a really good time. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm bob simon. >> i'm lara logan. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 minutes." achoo! nasal allergy symptoms like congestion, runny nose, itchy nose and sneezing can hit you year-round, indoors or out. prescription nasonex is clinically proven to help relieve nasal allergy symptoms any time of year. [ female announcer ] infections of the nose and throat and slow wound healing may occur. do not use nasonex until your nose has healed from any sore, surgery or injury. eye problems, including glaucoma or cataracts may occur. have regular eye exams. nasonex can increase your risk of getting infections.
7:03 pm
avoid contact with infections like chicken pox or measles while using nasonex. side effects may include headache, viral infection, sore throat, nosebleeds, and coughing. nasonex is there for you, anytime of year. ask your doctor if nasonex is right for you. -three. -one. two. three. one. -two. -three. -one. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% back on groceries. and 3% back on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. -it's as easy as...1. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] 1, 2, 3 percent cash back for the things you buy most. the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. my name is carol ncer ] and this is my aha moment.
7:04 pm
when my dad died about thirteen years ago, i was in corporate sales. he had just retired, and i had a long list of things i was going to do when i retired. i finally got the message that life is short. i left corporate sales and did the art that i planned to do. it's real easy to put things off. you know, we're waiting for the right moment to do something, and the right moment is now. mutual of omaha. insure your possibilities. insurance. retirement. banking. investments. mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪
7:05 pm
do about medicare and social security... security. that's what matters to me... me? i've been paying in all these years... years washington's been talking at us, but they never really listen... listen...it's not just some line item on a budget; it's what i'll have to live on... i live on branson street, and i have something to say... [ male announcer ] aarp is bringing the conversation on medicare and social security out from behind closed doors in washington. because you've earned a say. >> kroft: one of the most encouraging signs in the u.s. economy over the past year has
7:06 pm
been the resuscitation of the american automobile industry from a near-death experience. and in many ways, the most dramatic recovery has been chrysler's. three years ago, the company was headed for the junkyard crusher, leaking cash and about to be scrapped, unloved and unwanted. but last year, chrysler turned a $183 million profit, and would have made a lot more if it hadn't decided to repay its $6 billion federal bailout six years ahead of schedule. much of the credit goes to u.s. taxpayers, and to chrysler workers who accepted wage and benefit cuts. but none of it would have happened without the efforts of a 59-year-old italian-born and canadian-raised auto executive named sergio marchionne, who engineered a last-minute partnership with fiat, and an american-style success story. with his gray stubble, longish hair, relaxed demeanor, and trademark black sweaters, sergio marchionne looks more like a film director than an auto executive, but he is now the industry's biggest star.
7:07 pm
>> sergio marchionne... ( cheers and applause ) >> kroft: the c.e.o. of fiat had already rescued that company from financial ruin, and in chrysler, marchionne saw at least one similarity-- both companies had been through hell. >> sergio marchionne: i remember, when i came here in 2009, there's not a thing worse for a leader than to see fear in people's faces. it's been a long, rocky road, but the fear has gone. >> kroft: what were they afraid of? >> marchionne: of not being here, all right? it's that simple-- this was really a question of existence. there's nothing worse in life than to sit there and be the victim of a process that's outside your control. >> kroft: and that was exactly the situation at chrysler in early 2009 when marchionne began negotiating with the federal government over a controlled bankruptcy of chrysler that would allow fiat to take over the failing auto company. it was the last hope for chrysler and its 54,000 employees.
7:08 pm
>> marchionne: there wasn't a c.e.o. in the world, from the car side, that would have touched this with a ten-foot pole. >> kroft: gave you a little leverage? >> marchionne: it gave me some leverage and a whole pile of downside risk. you can't... you know, for you to be the only guy at the bar, there's got to be a reason, right? >> kroft: did you think it was a long shot? >> marchionne: all these things are long shots, all. if it was that easy, then everybody would do it. >> steve rattner: if sergio had not appeared, i think it's very likely chrysler would have been allowed to liquidate. >> kroft: steve rattner, who was head of the presidential task force on the auto industry, sat across from marchionne at the bargaining table during the height of the economic crisis. rattner believes that chrysler's demise could have cost 300,000 american jobs up and down the industrial supply chain. was he a tough negotiator? >> rattner: brutally tough, yeah. he... but that's part of why he's successful.
7:09 pm
>> kroft: in the end, marchionne and fiat got a 20% stake in the brand-new, slimmed-down, debt- free chrysler, plus a $6 billion high-interest loan from the u.s. treasury, just for taking the auto company off the government's hands and running it. he used the $6 billion to modernize chrysler plants with state-of-the-art equipment to improve quality, upgraded 16 existing models in just 18 months, and began integrating chrysler and fiat's operations. obviously, you saw something in chrysler that you thought would fit well with fiat? >> marchionne: yeah, from a product standpoint, they were the other half of the coin. when you put the two together, we were going to come out with a product portfolio that was absolutely complete. >> kroft: chrysler's best assets were its jeeps, minivans, and light trucks. fiat's expertise was in small car technology and fuel efficient engines, the very thing that chrysler lacked.
7:10 pm
and next month, the first product of that collaboration will begin rolling off the assembly line in belvidere, illinois. >> marchionne: this car didn't even exist on paper in june of 2009. >> kroft: it's the dodge dart, the first new compact sedan that chrysler has produced in more than a decade. it's a slightly longer and wider version of the alfa romeo guiletta, re-engineered and built in the u.s.a.-- base price, just under $16,000, with 40 miles to the gallon. how important is this car to chrysler? >> marchionne: if you are a serious car maker and you can't make it into a segment, it... you're doomed. >> kroft: it's got a little italian flair? >> marchionne: yeah. just enough to make it interesting, and it avoids all the pitfalls of being italian, yeah? ( laughs ) >> kroft: mechanically, it's good? >> marchionne: mechanically, it's outstanding. >> kroft: under marchionne the quality of both fiat and chrysler products both have improved dramatically, according to "consumer reports." now, marchionne needs to convince the public.
7:11 pm
>> marchionne: we got it. we fixed it. this car has nothing to apologize to.... for an... i mean, for anything. >> kroft: the darts produced at the belvidere plant are not just for u.s. consumption; marchionne plans to begin exporting them to more than 60 countries. when he took over chrysler in 2009, this plant had 200 workers; by the end of the summer, there will be 4,500. >> kroft: what do you think of american workers? >> marchionne: i think the world of american workers. what happened here at chrysler would have been impossible without the commitment that they've shown, absolutely impossible. when i was looking at this deal back in 2009, i snuck into jefferson, our plant that now makes the grand cherokee. and i thought, if i had any reservations about doing this deal, it was after i saw the state of that plant. and the people that fixed that plant are the people in the plant. >> kroft: like most of detroit's auto makers, chrysler was
7:12 pm
saddled with a stifling bureaucracy, which marchionne quickly culled. to change the management structure, he combed through the company and found 26 young leaders who would report directly to him. were they on the management fast track? >> marchionne: no. some of these people were buried inside an incredibly hierarchical organization that, you know, all pointed to the top. this place was run by a chairman's office. that's the tower, right? >> kroft: uh-huh. >> marchionne: and the chairman's office is the top floor. it's empty now. we use it as a tourist trap. we bring people up there. >> kroft: why did you leave? >> marchionne: because nothing happens there. i'm on the floor here with all the engineers. >> kroft: with the engineers? >> marchionne: yeah. i can build a car with all the guys on this floor. that's all i care about. >> kroft: how do they feel about you having... >> marchionne: they love it. >> kroft: ...on the floor? >> marchionne: ( laughs ) the official view is that they love
7:13 pm
it. >> kroft: whether they like it or not, everyone on the floor seems to have gotten used to his presence. sorry to barge in on you like this. this does he walk in all the time? >> occasionally, yeah. >> kroft: 42-year-old ralph gilles is in charge of product design at chrysler and one of the rare holdovers from the old regime. the chrysler 300 and the dodge dart are his babies. he says the company has always had good talent, but a lack of resources and execution produced cheap interiors and poor fit and finish. >> ralph gilles: everyone knew what was wrong with the cars. you asked any employee in the company, they could list ten things that they would do better. and when you're given the chance to do those kind of things better, you end up with a product that exceeds the sum of its parts. >> kroft: the company has also made strides in reshaping its image. chrysler's dramatic "imported from detroit campaign" with eminem was hugely successful. and this year's two-minute, $8
7:14 pm
million super bowl ad with clint eastwood, extolling the resiliency of america and its automobile industry, caused a major stir and briefly became part of the presidential campaign. republicans said that this was... was a campaign commercial for president obama, a payback. did you anticipate that criticism? >> marchionne: just to rectify the record here, i paid back the loans and 19.7% interest. i don't think that i committed to do a commercial on top of that. i thought that the republicans' reactions to this was unnecessary and out of place. >> kroft: that's very restrained from you for you. >> marchionne: it is. i'm on camera. you put me here. you turn these things off, i'll give you my own assessment. >> kroft: marchionne splits his time between the fiat headquarters in turin, italy, and chrysler headquarters in auburn hills, michigan, but he
7:15 pm
is fully engaged on both continents at all times. when you're here, do you get calls... do you have to deal with fiat? >> marchionne: yeah. that's why i get up at 3:30 in the morning, so i can deal with the european side and be fine here by the time i get in. i mean, the other things that helps is the... our time zones. >> kroft: when do you go to sleep? >> marchionne: 10:00. i'm not really a late-night guy. i used to be when i was younger. >> kroft: besides being c.e.o. of the chrysler group and fiat automotive, which has nearly 200,000 employees at 166 plants worldwide, marchionne is also chairman of the fiat industrial group, which makes heavy equipment, and sgs, the world's largest standards and instruments company, based in geneva. he manages all this with five different cell phones he totes around in his knapsack. you've got a lot of jobs. >> marchionne: hmm. i have some, yes. >> kroft: do you remember them all?
7:16 pm
>> marchionne: yeah. but i... yeah, i don't get confused, since i do them all, yes? >> rattner: you and i have lived among workaholics in our day. i have never seen anything like sergio. when it was a holiday in italy, he'd come to america to work. when it's a holiday in america, he goes to italy to work. saturdays and sundays were just workdays to him and for his whole team, and anybody who signed up with sergio signed up for the program. >> kroft: marchionne does have passions besides work. he loves opera and jazz and very fast cars. in turin, he showed us the high end of the fiat automotive line which includes maserati and ferrari. these are great looking cars. is anything here for less than half a million dollars? >> marchionne: all of them >> kroft: sergio owns a couple of these, but he has no opportunity to drive them. as the head of italy's largest industrial empire, his life is much different here. he's required by the government to travel in bulletproof cars with police escorts, and is always surrounded by state security. sergio seemed more than happy to take us to the old test track that still sits atop an old
7:17 pm
factory for a short spin in this limited edition alfa romeo, a legendary brand that he will reintroduce to the u.s. market in 2014. but even here, he was unable to escape his security detail. >> marchionne: it has a severe impact on your private life, because you're always with them when you're there. it's part of life. it's part of what i do. >> kroft: do you have a private life? >> marchionne: sure, i do. and it's private. it's private. >> kroft: what he likes to discuss is business, which is worse right now in europe than in the u.s. what promises to be a serious recession is beginning to affect the economy there, and fiat and other european car makers are struggling. but it should not affect the future of chrysler. do you think they're out of the woods?
7:18 pm
>> rattner: i think the question of whether chrysler will survive or not is largely behind us. i think the question at this point is how big a market share can they have? how good can their products be? >> kroft: there are plenty of new products in the pipeline. a brand new viper will debut next month, and a high-end maserati s.u.v. built in detroit will debut next year, along with a whole range of new models. with sales up 40% early this year, the company is projecting its best first quarter in four years. but marchionne, who is right now obsessed with quality, is taking nothing for granted. what's the biggest challenge facing chrysler right now? >> marchionne: that we're going to slip on execution, we're going to get something wrong, big. >> kroft: like what? >> marchionne: we're going to screw up on a car. it won't sell. it's possible. >> kroft: can you afford that? >> marchionne: one car, yes. ( laughs ) now, i can afford a car.
7:19 pm
12 months ago, it would have been a... it would have been a disaster, but now i can take the pain-- one... one car. >> cbs money watch update sponsored by: >> good evening. three days of arguments over the president's health care reform act begin tomorrow at the supreme court. gas prices have raise on the $3.89 a gallon, up 25 cents in a month. and "the hunger games" served up the highest non--opening seek real ever at the works office, $155 million. i'm jeff glor, cbs news. [ male announcer ] have you heard?
7:21 pm
it's bring your happiness to work day. campbell's microwavable soups. in three minutes -- the deliciousness that brings a smile to any monday. campbell's -- it's amazing what soup can do. laces? really? slip-on's the way to go. more people do that, security would be like -- there's no charge for the bag. thanks. i know a quiet little place where we can get some work done.
7:22 pm
there's a three-prong plug. i have club passes. [ male announcer ] get the mileage card with special perks on united, like a free checked bag, united club passes, and priority boarding. thanks. ♪ okay. what's your secret? [ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in. explorer card. ? do you have a secret fantasy? yes. i'd like to fly to new york for a colonoscopy. enter the cbs cares colonoscopy sweepstakes. you could be our winner! >> logan: it's not every day that a convicted murderer clears
7:23 pm
his name and then returns to court to argue that his prosecutor should be prosecuted. but that's what happened recently in a high-profile case in texas that raises broader questions about the power prosecutors have and what happens when they're accused of misusing it. at the center of this story is a man named michael morton. he was once an ordinary citizen with a wife, a child, a job, and no criminal record whatsoever. but then, he was sent to prison for life. in 1987, in a very public trial, michael morton was convicted of brutally murdering his wife. as he was led away to prison, he insisted he was innocent. >> michael morton: i did not do this. >> i'm sorry, what? >> morton: i did not do this. >> logan: hardly anyone believed him, until last year... ( applause ) ...when he was exonerated by d.n.a. testing. by then, he had spent nearly 25 years of his life behind bars. what was it like for you to walk
7:24 pm
from the court a free man? >> morton: it was so alien, at first. it wasn't quite real. we stepped out of the courtroom and it was a beautiful sunny day. the sun felt so good on my face, on my skin. i can just feel like i was just drinking in the sunshine. >> logan: had you felt it in 25 years? >> morton: i'd felt the sun, but i hadn't felt free sun. ( laughs ) >> logan: and free sun feels different? >> morton: it does. it sounds stupid, but it feels different. >> logan: his nightmare began on a summer afternoon in 1986 when he came home from work in austin, texas, and found the sheriff at his house. a neighbor had discovered his three-year-old son eric alone in the yard, and his wife christine bludgeoned to death in the bedroom. >> morton: i didn't really have the opportunity to grieve for her, because it... everything changed so rapidly away from her
7:25 pm
to me. >> logan: so, were you a suspect from the very first moment? >> morton: yeah, if... all the questions were adversarial, accusatory. it became clear to me that the sheriff showed up, looked around, and "okay, husband did this." >> logan: and not long after that, you were arrested. >> morton: about six weeks, yeah. they literally pulled my son out of my arms, because he was screaming for me. and, you know, the... the little hand is out. and they're be... he's being pulled away. and that was one of the worst parts. >> logan: williamson county district attorney ken anderson prosecuted michael morton. he told the jury morton killed his wife because she wouldn't have sex with him. there was no murder weapon or direct evidence linking morton to the crime, but anderson argued persuasively that morton was violent and unremorseful. >> ken anderson: it got sickening after a while to watch
7:26 pm
him cry at the wrong times, and he seemed only to cry for himself. >> logan: morton and his original trial lawyers always suspected there was evidence that would have helped establish his innocence that anderson wasn't telling them about. but they were never given full access to the police reports in the prosecutor's file. it wasn't until recently, after years of legal wrangling, that lawyers barry scheck and nina morrison of the innocence project, and john raley, a private attorney in houston, finally got a look at anderson's file from the original trial. >> john raley: it was one of those moments where you almost... you almost faint, to hold in my hand a copy of a document that the district attorney at the time had and didn't tell anybody about it on the defense side... >> logan: that document would've proved what? >> raley: would've proved that michael morton is innocent. >> logan: he's talking about this police report, in which christine's mother told investigators that her three-
7:27 pm
year-old grandson eric had witnessed the murder and described to her in detail how he saw a "monster" with a "big moustache" kill his mother. "he hit mommy," eric says in the report. "was daddy there?" his grandmother asks. "no, mommy and eric was there." there was also this report in which a neighbor described seeing a suspicious man "park a green van on the street" and "walk into the wooded area" behind the morton home. barry scheck says this is precisely the kind of information a prosecutor is legally and ethically obligated to disclose. >> barry scheck: sitting in the prosecutor's file and sitting in the sheriff's file, there was a set of documents which, if they had been revealed and the defense had seen them, michael morton would have been acquitted. >> logan: ken anderson went on to be named prosecutor of the year in texas, and since 2002, he's been a district judge in the same court where michael
7:28 pm
morton was convicted. all those years, morton languished in prison. >> morton: my first cell, i could stretch out my arms and before my elbows locked, i was touching both walls. and you got two grown men in there. the food's abysmal. you're never alone. the system controls every part of your life. >> logan: it's soul-destroying? >> morton: yeah. it... it eats at you kind of like a rust. >> logan: the one thing he told us that sustained him was the thought of his son. he was allowed to see eric for two hours once every six months. when he was about 12 or 13 years old, he wrote to you and said he didn't want to come and see you anymore. was your heart broken? >> morton: can't really limit to your heart. >> logan: everything? >> morton: it's just... when your child says they no longer want to come see you... >> logan: and then, when he turned 18, what did he do?
7:29 pm
>> morton: i got notice in the mail that he was going to be adopted by my sister-in-law and her husband, both good folks. and he was going to change his name. >> logan: and what did that do to you? >> morton: that was when i hit rock bottom. that was the end of it. that's when i had nothing left. >> logan: what finally gave him back his freedom last fall was d.n.a. evidence. after fighting the district attorney's office for five years, the innocence project won permission to do d.n.a. testing on a bloody bandana found near the crime scene. on it, the lab found christine morton's blood and the d.n.a. of a known felon, mark alan norwood, who's since been arrested for her murder. his dna has also been matched to the crime scene of another young woman who was murdered after christine. it's not just that an innocent man was put in jail.
7:30 pm
it was that a killer went free. >> raley: yes. i think eric described him well as a monster. they... they never looked for the monster. >> logan: so just to be clear, from both of you, you believe that ken anderson, the prosecutor in michael's case, willfully, deliberately withheld evidence. >> scheck: we believe that there's probable cause to believe that he violated a court order, withheld exculpatory evidence, and violated other laws of the state of texas. >> logan: so the first thing that anybody wants to know hearing that is why? why would he do that? >> scheck: you know, i've seen a lot of these cases, and i cannot get inside of his mind. i can just talk generally, that, you know, sometimes people break rules because they want to win. >> anderson: i want to formally apologize for the system's failure to mr. morton... >> logan: in his only public statement, late last year, judge anderson told reporters a mistake had been made, but he also said this.
7:31 pm
>> anderson: in my heart, i know there was no misconduct whatsoever. >> logan: under oath, anderson has said there's no way he wouldn't have told the defense about those police reports in his file, but he couldn't specifically remember doing so. he wouldn't speak with us, but his lawyer, eric nichols, a former deputy attorney general of texas, told us those reports in his client's file would not have been enough to acquit michael morton. >> eric nichols: to suggest that my client did something wrong or committed a criminal law violation or violated the rules of ethics of the state of texas or elsewhere is completely unwarranted. >> logan: well, let me read to you what one of michael morton's original defense attorneys says on this subject, bill white, in his sworn affidavit. he says, "i had absolutely no idea at the time that eric had made a very specific statement about witnessing the murder in progress. it is clear to me that conscious decisions were made to conceal evidence and/or ignore the truth."
7:32 pm
in spite of the 25 years, that seems to be very clear to me. is it to you? >> nichols: and it's also clear to my client that he would've had some discussions with the defense counsel about eric morton. the precise details, unfortunately, are lost to the sands of time. >> logan: take him at his word? that's all you have to offer? >> nichols: what you're talking about, lara... we are engaging in speculation about matters that occurred 25 years ago. >> logan: in february, a texas judge agreed with michael morton's legal team that there was probable cause to believe ken anderson violated the law, and anderson is now the subject of a special criminal inquiry. that's extremely rare. studies have shown prosecutors are hardly ever criminally charged or disciplined for serious error or misconduct. and one thing ken anderson doesn't have to worry about is
7:33 pm
being sued for damages by michael morton, because the supreme court has ruled that prosecutors have "absolute immunity" from civil lawsuits for their legal work. doctors, lawyers, policemen-- there are all kinds of people who do their job with limited immunity or no immunity. it just seems hard to understand why prosecutors have to have a different standard to everybody else. >> nichols: seeing that justice is done, in many instances, requires very difficult judgments, and to come back behind those prosecutors and second-guess them or sue them would throw a wrench into that system of prosecutors seeking justice. >> logan: i have to say, there's a certain irony in hearing you say it's the job of a prosecutor to seek justice, right? because in this particular case, that's exactly what michael morton did not get. >> nichols: with the benefit of hindsight, with the benefit of d.n.a. test results that came available in 2011, you're absolutely correct.
7:34 pm
but the legacy of this case, the morton case, should not be an effort to vilify prosecutors, either my client individually or all prosecutors in general. >> scheck: now, i want to make it very, very clear that i don't believe that there's an epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct in this country. on the other hand, it does happen. and this is a very important moment. we've had a whole series of cases in this country that have focused attention on this issue. >> logan: cases like the corruption trial of former alaska senator ted stevens. a special investigator found "systemic concealment" of evidence that would have helped the senator's case. in north carolina, this man spent eight years in prison even though someone else had confessed to the crime. his lawyers say the prosecutor never told them. in louisiana, this man discovered a few weeks before his scheduled execution that prosecutors hadn't disclosed a blood test that exonerated him.
7:35 pm
>> morton: if you did those things, if you did the sort of stuff where you were hiding evidence from a homicide investigation, they'd lock you up in a minute. >> logan: that's the first time i've sensed any kind of anger in you. >> morton: i try to be very forgiving. but i'll be honest-- not only the actual murderer responsible for this, but the people who put me there, i wanted to get back at them. and when i finally let that go and put it away, it's like i dropped 25 pounds. i just felt... ahh! >> logan: michael morton was recently reunited with his son. he's received nearly $2 million under a texas law that provides compensation for people who are wrongfully convicted. >> morton: i don't have a lot of things really driving me. but one of the things is, i don't want this to happen to anybody else. revenge isn't the issue here.
7:36 pm
revenge, i know, doesn't work. but accountability works. it's what balances out. it's the equilibrium. it's the... it's the social glue, in a way. because if you're not count... accountable, then you can do anything. >> hi, everyone. i'm greg gumbel. welcome to the cbs sports update presented by lou necessary tamp wrapping up this weekend's elite 8, top seed kentucky continues to dominate while kansas beats north carolina. louisville advanced yesterday along with ohio state. the final four is set. louisville plays kentucky, tipping next saturday at 6:09 eastern. ohio state and kansas tip at about 8:49 inch golf, tiger woods claims his first pga tour win since september of '09. for more sports news and information, go to cbssports.com. ay to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep.
7:37 pm
and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue or throat swelling, occur rarely and may be fatal. side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, dizziness and morning drowsiness. ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you. then get lunesta for $0 at lunesta.com. there's a land of restful sleep. we can help you go there on the wings of lunesta. hi, i just switched jobs, and i want to roll over my old 401(k) into a fidelity ira. man: okay, no problem.
7:38 pm
it's easy to get started; i can help you with the paperwork. um...this green line just appeared on my floor. yeah, that's fidelity helping you reach your financial goals. could you hold on a second? it's your money. roll over your old 401(k) into a fidelity ira and take control of your personal economy. this is going to be helpful. call or come in today. fidelity investments. turn here. nighttime is the worst. i can't breathe and forget sleeping. good mornings? not likely! i've tried the pills the sprays even some home remedies. then i tried something new. [ male announcer ] drug-free breathe right nasal strips. [ woman ] you just put it on and ... amazing! instant relief. i breathed better slept better. and woke up ready to face a fresh new day. [ male announcer ] get 2 free strips at breatheright.com. it's my right.... to breathe right! the passat is one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick.
7:39 pm
not that we'd ever brag about it. turn right. come on, nine. turn left. hit the brakes. huh? how'd that get there? [ male announcer ] we can't hide how proud we are to have nine 2012 iihs top safety picks. so we're celebrating with our "safety in numbers" event. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the 2012 passat for $219 a month. lease the 2012 passat like in a special ops mission?
7:40 pm
you'd spot movement, gather intelligence with minimal collateral damage. but rather than neutralizing enemies in their sleep, you'd be targeting stocks to trade. well, that's what trade architect's heat maps do. they make you a trading assassin. trade architect. td ameritrade's empowering, web-based trading platform. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. >> simon: we want our athletes to amaze us, our entertainers to amuse us. but one guy who can do both? doesn't happen very often.
7:41 pm
novak djokovic kicked off the new tennis season in january by winning an epic final in the australian open against rafael nadal. it took djokovic five hours and 53 minutes to do it. last year, he won three grand slam tournaments-- seasons don't get much better than that. from his earliest days on the circuit, he not only wowed the crowds with his ground strokes, he had them howling over his on- court impersonations of other tennis stars. but not everyone was laughing. some of those champions were asking, where did this clown come from? the answer-- serbia, a small balkan country whose only claim to fame, or infamy, in recent decades has been the brutal role it played in the wars that broke up the former yugoslavia. so when novak djokovic won the wimbledon title last july, it was a gift to the nation. ( cheers and applause ) and the nation took to the
7:42 pm
streets to greet novak djokovic when he brought the trophy back to belgrade. it seemed all of serbia emerged from years of darkness to salute someone who made them proud. >> novak djokovic: it was amazing. i felt that all the city was on the streets. it was incredible, incredible. >> simon: you know why you felt that? because all the city was. >> djokovic: because it was. ( laughs ) >> simon: there were multitudes on the bridges. on the ground, there was brandy. ( cheers and applause ) >> djokovic: this is the city. >> simon: the central square of the city was teeming with joy, a hundred thousand people. novak was hailed as the most glorious serbian hero since... well, since a very long time... >> djokovic! >> djokovic: it was a paradise. it was like a dream, you know. your people are waiting for you in the square. you realize your two biggest goals in life, your dreams to win wimbledon, to become number one in a couple days' time. i mean, i could not ask for more. ( cheers and applause )
7:43 pm
>> simon: novak couldn't have asked for more from his 2011 season. he captured the u.s. open last september to accompany titles at wimbledon and the australian open. to begin the year, he won his first 41 matches, one of the best starts ever recorded. >> djokovic: it was incredible. it was historical. it will be in the history books. but i'll remember it as the best six months that i ever had. >> simon: he rocked the sport's royalty, rafael nadal and roger federer. and unlike them, he seemed to be having fun. that a player from a small, war- torn country with little tennis tradition could become the game's superstar? who could have seen it coming? >> djokovic: in my case, i can sincerely say that nothing is impossible. i started at a times when they
7:44 pm
were really critical times for our country, and when i was saying i want to become number one of the world and i was seven, eight years old, most of the people were laughing to me. because you know, it seemed like i have 1% of chances to do that. and i've done it. >> simon: novak's dreams began on a mountain top. it was here at this modest ski resort that a tennis court was built one summer across from the pizzeria his family ran. jelena gencic was running a tennis camp there and spotted this kid watching from the fence. she handed him a racket and, within a few days, she knew. did you think he could be a champion? >> jelena gencic: yes. >> simon: right away? >> gencic: right. and i told to parents, "your child is a golden child." >> simon: a golden child? >> gencic: he will be the best in the world. >> simon: and he was six and a half then? >> gencic: five and a half. they couldn't believe. they were in shock.
7:45 pm
>> simon: young novak became a phenomenon, so much so that, at age seven, he was invited on serbian national tv. >> djokovic: ( speaking serbian ) >> simon: he said his goal was to be number one in the world. he was dead serious. on visits to his coach's house, novak admired the national trophies she had won as a player. but his visions had already gone far beyond her trophies, all the way to wimbledon. >> djokovic: i was dreaming about wimbledon. i was visualizing wimbledon. and as a kid, i remember i took a little improvised trophy that i think i made from a little piece of plastic. i kind of lift that trophy and i said on english, "hello. my name is novak djokovic and i'm a wimbledon winner." >> simon: jelena spent hours and hours working with novak on the court. but she wanted her prodigy to have more than a forehand and a backhand. you also played classical music for him. >> gencic: yeah, of course. >> simon: and read him poems... >> gencic: of course. >> simon: ...by pushkin.
7:46 pm
>> gencic: of course. >> simon: was this going to help his tennis or just make him a better human being? >> gencic: a better human being. >> djokovic: i had to know at least two languages. i had to listen to classical music because it calms me down, calms my nerves down. i can be more... >> simon: did you enjoy it then? >> djokovic: i did. and i still do. >> simon: the tennis court served as a haven for novak because the country he had been born into, yugoslavia, was coming apart, quickly and violently. did you realize that, when you started climbing the tennis ladder, that your country was falling down? >> djokovic: yes, yes, that was the period that nobody likes to remember. >> simon: yugoslavia split into separate countries. the world blamed serbia for the bloodshed. the country's leaders were accused of war crimes. in 1999, as the conflict spread to the province of kosovo, the
7:47 pm
americans and other nato countries bombed serbia for 78 days and nights. the djokovic family took shelter in belgrade. >> djokovic: we were very scared. everybody was very afraid because the whole city was under attack. >> simon: they sought refuge here, in his grandfather's apartment. novak took us there. novak, his grandfather, parents, two younger brothers, aunts and uncles all lived in this two- bedroom flat during the blitz. the building had a basement. when the air raid sirens sounded, they retreated there, which was as close as they could get to safety. >> djokovic: this is where practically we stayed right, right here, right inside. >> simon: how many of you? >> djokovic: many, many... everybody who could fit here, they came. you know, and there was no really limitation. >> simon: novak says the family spent every night in the basement for the first two weeks of the bombing.
7:48 pm
but you continued playing tennis. >> djokovic: i continued playing tennis every day. >> simon: and did you lose your focus at all? >> djokovic: at the first couple of weeks, i did. ( laughs ) i did, yes, i have to say. because we were waking up every single night, more or less, at 2:00, 3:00 a.m. for two and a half months, every single... >> simon: because of the bombing... >> djokovic: every single night, yes. but, you know, i always try to remember those days in... in a positive, in a very bright way. let's say i... we didn't need to go to school and we played more tennis. >> simon: so, in a way... >> djokovic: yes... >> simon: ...the war helped you become a champion. >> djokovic: in a way. >> simon: it made you tougher. >> djokovic: yeah, it made us tougher. it made us more hungry, more hungry for the success. >> simon: there are still some scarred buildings in belgrade, but for today's serbs, they could be ancient ruins. they want to reinvent themselves as trendy, friendly europeans. and this is the nation's new face. wherever you go in belgrade, you can't avoid him, which is exactly the way serbs want it to be. the president of serbia has said
7:49 pm
that you are the best public relations the country has ever had. >> djokovic: that's a lot of responsibility. ( laughs ) >> simon: do you feel the pressure? >> djokovic: i feel the pressure. >> simon: you know, i don't think federer feels that he is carrying the prestige of switzerland on his shoulders. but serbia's counting on you. you're carrying serbia on your shoulders. >> djokovic: but it's because we have a harder way to succeed in life as serbs because of the past that we had and because of the history that we had. we have to dig deeper, and we have to do much more in order to be seen and to be spotted. >> simon: novak made sure he was spotted at the 2007 u.s. open. after his quarterfinal victory, he impersonated some of tennis's top stars in front of 20,000 people, a comedian's dream. ( cheers and applause ) his impersonation of tennis ace and beauty queen maria sharapova
7:50 pm
was a hit. ( laughter ) new yorkers ate it up. how did sharapova react after you impersonated her? >> djokovic: she was laughing. ( laughter ) >> simon: but he really brought the house down with his imitation of spanish star rafael nadal's pre-match gyrations... and a habit he has with his shorts. ( laughter ) did nadal think it was funny? >> djokovic: at the start, not so much. >> simon: but after awhile, people became more fascinated by novak's antics than by his tennis. >> djokovic: i mean, i'm serving four-all, 30-all, important match. and a guy goes, "hey, novak, do the impersonation of sharapova. we like that. this is too boring," you know? so, make me laugh. i haven't done it lately. i haven't done it. >> simon: why not? >> djokovic: i don't want to get anybody offended.
7:51 pm
that's, you know, in the end... >> simon: you don't want to get anybody offended. >> djokovic: no, i don't. >> simon: hang on, now... ( laughs ) >> djokovic: i know, i know. >> simon: you're impersonating nadal taking his tennis shorts out of his butt and you don't think that's going to offend him? >> djokovic: i didn't want to get him offended twice. ( laughter ) >> simon: i see. >> simon: novak is having a love affair with the camera, and will do anything for it... like standing on the wing of a plane as it takes off. yes, that is novak wing-walking in a commercial for head, his racket maker and sponsor. why did you do that? >> djokovic: my mother asked me the same thing. >> simon: i bet she did. >> djokovic: it was crazy. it's one of the craziest things i've done in my life, for sure. >> simon: we followed novak to bulgaria, where hollywood was waiting, a small but killer role in this summer's "the expendables 2." his ground strokes were
7:52 pm
literally lethal now against terrorists. ( applause ) >> when you finish with the tennis career, you know where to come. >> simon: the offers have poured in since novak became number one. to get there, he had to vanquish two legends, nadal and federer. for four years, he just couldn't beat the guys who had dominated the sport. >> djokovic: there was no self belief on the court... >> simon: lost your confidence. >> djokovic: ...when i played against them. >> simon: what was it? >> djokovic: i get afraid from winning. you know, i just... >> simon: get afraid from winning? >> djokovic: let's put in a simple way. i had too much respect for them. >> simon: that stopped last year. he beat nadal and federer ten out of 11 times. all season, everything clicked. his first serve was not easy to return. his returns were even more remarkable. he got to balls no one thought
7:53 pm
possible, sliding on hard courts and contorting his body like a yoga master. ( cheers and applause ) >> simon: when he beat nadal for the wimbledon championship, he had achieved what so few humans ever achieve-- he had fulfilled his childhood fantasy. did you think about that child when you won wimbledon? >> djokovic: i did. when i finished the match, when i ate the piece of grass, i had the flashback of my whole childhood, what i've been through-- memories, first tennis courts that i grew up on, the days spent in belgrade. it was beautiful. >> simon: a couple of months ago, novak revisited one of those memories to meet someone he hadn't seen in years, his first coach, jelena gencic. >> gencic: we dream so long time... >> simon: he was with the woman who'd first seen who he was. and he wanted to share something with her, that wimbledon trophy.
7:54 pm
( laughter ) >> djokovic: this was... >> gencic: our dream. >> djokovic: the trophy, the trophy which we were standing in front of the mirror and lifting up the improvised trophies and dreaming of holding this one, one day. >> gencic: come in, come in. >> djokovic: i always wanted to do this-- her trophies... >> gencic: and your trophy... >> djokovic: but not any trophy- - the one. the one is here. ( laughs ) >> go to 60minutesovertime.com to see if bob simon can win a single point against novak djokovic. sponsored by viagra. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you've learned a thing or two. this is the age of knowing what needs to be done. so, why would you let something like erectile dysfunction
7:55 pm
get in your way? isn't it time you talked to your doctor about viagra? 20 million men already have. with every age comes responsibility. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects may include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor. see if america's most prescribed ed treatment is right for you.
7:58 pm
>> kroft: i'm steve kroft. we'll be back next week with another edition of "60 minutes." captioning funded by cbs, and ford-- built for the road ahead. [ nadine ] buzzzz, bzzzz, bzzzz, bzzzz, you know, typical alarm clock. i am so glad to get rid of it. just to be able to wake up in the morning on your own. that's a big accomplishment to me. i don't know how much money i need. but i know that whatever i have that's what i'm going to live within. ♪ ♪ introducing gold choice. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.
7:59 pm
255 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
KPIX (CBS) Television Archive The Chin Grimes TV News Archive Television Archive News Search ServiceUploaded by TV Archive on