Old Friends Meet Again as New Dads

Two old friends from New York wanted more than anything to see each other after 17 years apart.

But even after one joined the other in Los Angeles three months ago, their busy schedules prevented a reunion.

Until last week, that is.

Tommy Edwards and Walt “Baby” Love met unexpectedly outside the delivery room at Tarzana Regional Medical Center, where both their wives were scheduled to give birth by Cesarean sections.

“This is unbelievable,” Love said Monday as he stood in the hospital’s maternity wing reminiscing with Edwards. “If we planned it, we couldn’t have done it.”

Edwards and Love became friends when they were disc jockeys with back-to-back shows at a New York radio station in the early 1970s. Through the years, as their careers took them to different areas of the country, they managed to keep in touch by phone.

They counted on renewing ties when Edwards moved to Calabasas three months ago to become programming director of KCBS-FM. Love, who is an editor for an industry newspaper and hosts a syndicated radio program, had been living in Agoura Hills since 1978.

But they had never counted on bumping into each other on Friday in the hospital hall. “We’re looking at each other, going, ‘Walter?’ ‘Tommy?’ ” Edwards said.

Of course, their meeting wasn’t the only good news that day.

At 12:47, Love’s wife gave birth to Stephan Stewart. And, shortly after 2 p.m., Thomas Michael Edwards was ushered into the world.

And, wasting no time, Edwards and Love are planning on the future friendship of the two boys.

“I figure we’ll be doing Disneyland,” Love said. “And we’re going to see if we can get them on the same T-ball team.”