When I was in elementary school I would fake being sick for him.

During the summers I wouldn’t go outside and play until his show was over.

And now he’s leaving television forever.

Bob Barker has been a cultural icon since our parents were in their teens, and now, after almost 35 years of hosting ‘The Price is Right,’ fighting for animal rights and sleeping with his show’s prize models, he’s retiring. It’s the end of an era for television.

Barker started a revolution when he became the first game show host to stop dying his hair and let it gray naturally. Yet his spray-on, golden-orange tan, blinding white teeth and the fact that he can still stand upright at 82 years old somehow manages to defy his true age. Take that, Mother Nature.

His charisma was mesmerizing to my young, fragile mind, and his priceless mini games such as ‘Plinko’ and ‘What’s in the Bag?’ helped me become a wizard in the world of retail. When I got my first job in high school as a cashier at my local Target, I didn’t even need to use the register to price items. Remember, the Colgate toothpaste is always more expensive than the package of Green Giant frozen peas. And the chances of guessing the exact price of a 1994 Dodge Neon are about 400 to one. Good luck.

Since he began hosting ‘The Price is Right’ in 1972, Barker became a household name, a name synonymous with sexual harassment lawsuits and neutered dogs. But that’s not all for which he’s famous. Barker used to host the Miss Universe Pageant until he quit in protest because the winners received fur coats as a prize. True story. He has also played himself in several television shows and movies, including ‘The Simpsons,’ ‘Futurama,’ and ‘Happy Gilmore,’ where he had the infamous fight scene with Adam Sandler.

My only regret that Barker is leaving now is that I will never get to fulfill my dream of being one of those screaming college kids to come on down to see Barker in the ‘Price is Right’ audience. With five of my friends, a Syracuse University T-shirt and a little luck, I so would have been picked.

Barker is one of those people who can never be replaced. When he retires this June, an emotional void will be left in daytime television, a void that will most likely be filled with another soap opera or commercials with Alex Trebek hocking medical insurance to senior citizens. Bob, you will be missed.

Steven Kovach is a featured columnist whose columns appear Friday in The Daily Orange. E-mail him at sjkovach@gmail.com.

Published on November 9, 2006 at 12:00 pm