Sports Announcers I Grew Up With: Joe Garagiola

There is a special place in my heart for the radio and TV sports announcers I grew up with. From ABC's Wide World of Sports to roller derby and wrestling, and everything in between, sports was a big part of my life growing up. At my house, we watched on TV whatever sport was 'in season,' especially on Saturday's. If there was a sports event on radio, we listened to it. I was very blessed to grow up with many now- legendary voices and characters. Today, I want to pay tribute to Joe Garagiola.

Joseph Henry Garagiola, Sr. was born February 12, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri. He grew up across the street from his childhood friend, Yogi Berra. When Berra and Garagiola were both teenagers, almost all pro scouts rated Garagiola as the better baseball prospect, although Berra had a Hall of Fame career. About growing up living next to Berra, Garagiola once said, "Not only was I not the best catcher in the Major Leagues, I wasn't even the best catcher on my street!"

Garagiola was signed at age 16 by the St. Louis Cardinals organization. As a rookie in 1946, in his only World Series appearance, Garagiola batted a 6-for-19 in five games, including a Game 4 where he went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs. But, Garagiola never quite lived up to the promise of his youth, appearing in only 676 games over 9 seasons for St. Louis, the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and New York Giants. Garagiola observed, "It's not a record, but being traded four times when there are only eight teams in the league tells you something. I thought I was modeling uniforms for the National League."

Garagiola turned to broadcasting following his retirement as a player, first calling Cardinals radio broadcasts on KMOX from 1955 to 1962. He began doing national baseball broadcasts for NBC in 1961. His association with that network lasted almost 30-years. Garagiola called several World Series on NBC Radio in the 1960s. After a stint doing New York Yankees games from 1965 to 1967 that saw him call Mickey Mantle's 500th home run, Garagiola returned to broadcasting NBC baseball, initially as the host of the pre-game show The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola and then as a play-by-play announcer beginning in 1974.

Garagiola alternated play-by-play duties with Curt Gowdy on NBC until 1976, when he assumed the role full-time. He teamed with color commentator Tony Kubek from 1976 to 1982; in 1983, he shifted to color commentary as Vin Scully joined the network as lead play-by-play announcer. Besides working on the Saturday Game of the Week for NBC, the team of Scully and Garagiola would call three All-Star Games (1983, 1985, and 1987), three National League Championship Series (1983, 1985, and 1987) and three World Series (1984, 1986, and 1988). After calling the 1988 World Series with Scully, Garagiola resigned from NBC Sports, which was on the verge of losing the television rights to cover Major League Baseball to CBS.

After leaving NBC Sports, Garagiola spent one season as commentator for the California Angels. From 1998 to 2012, he performed part-time color commentary duties for the Arizona Diamondbacks, where his son, Joe Garagiola, Jr., served as general manager. Garagiola officially announced his retirement from broadcasting on February 22, 2013.

Besides calling baseball games for NBC, Garagiola served as a panelist on The Today Show from 1967 to 1973 and again from 1990 to 1992. He also occasionally guest-hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, including the only live appearances of any members of The Beatles on the program while still a group.

Sports Announcers I Grew Up With: Curt Gowdy

There is a special place in my heart for the radio and TV sports announcers I grew up with. From ABC's Wide World of Sports to roller derby and wrestling, and everything in between, sports was a big part of my life growing up. At my house, we watched on TV whatever sport was 'in season,' especially on Saturday's. If there was a sports event on radio, we listened to it. I was very blessed to grow up with many now- legendary voices and characters. Today, I want to pay tribute to Curt Gowdy.

Curt Gowdy made his broadcasting debut in 1943 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, calling a 'six-man' high school football game from atop a wooden grocery crate in subzero weather with 15 people present. He later worked at the radio station and newspaper there. In 1946, he accepted an offer from KOMA radio in Oklahoma City to broadcast Oklahoma college football and Oklahoma State college basketball games.

Gowdy's distinctive play-by-play style earned him a national audition and then an opportunity with the New York Yankees in 1949, working with (and learning from) the legendary Mel Allen for two seasons.

Gowdy began his Major League Baseball broadcasting career working as the No. 2 announcer to Mel Allen for New York Yankees games on radio and television in 1949–50. In 1951, he became the voice of the Boston Red Sox for 15 seasons. It was there that he became America's premier sportscaster. He spent most of his career at NBC, but also broadcast for ABC and CBS Radio. The winner of 13 Emmy Awards, Gowdy was the first sportscaster to win a Peabody Award, a prestigious honor in broadcasting. He broadcast 16 World Series, nine Super Bowls, eight Olympics, 12 Rose Bowls and 24 NCAA Final Fours. He hosted ''The American Sportsman" on ABC for two decades.

Gowdy was present for some of American sports' storied moments, including Ted Williams' home run in his final at-bat in 1960, Super Bowl I and Hank Aaron's 715th home run in 1974.

Curt Gowdy died on February 20, 2006 at the age of aged 86.

Sports Announcers I Grew Up With: Jim McKay

There is a special place in my heart for the radio and TV sports announcers I grew up with. From ABC's Wide World of Sports to roller derby and wrestling, and everything in between, sports was a big part of my life growing up. At my house, we watched on TV whatever sport was 'in season,' especially on Saturday's. If there was a sports event on radio, we listened to it. I was very blessed to grow up with many now- legendary voices and characters. Today, I want to pay tribute to Jim McKay.

Growing up, one of my favorite things to watch on Saturday afternoon was ABC's Wide World of Sports. Jim McKay was the host of that program for 37 years, from 1961 until 1998. ABC's Wide World of Sports had other hosts but no one ever matched McKay's long tenure. Several well-known play by play announcers worked on the program, including Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, Curt Gowdy, Keith Jackson and Brent Musburger, as well as McKay. Reporters included David Letterman and O. J. Simpson. Analysts included Mickey Mantle and Bill Russell. In 2007, ABC's Wide World of Sports was named by Time Magazine on its list of the 100 best television programs of all-time.

"Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport... the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of athletic competition... This is ABC's Wide World of Sports! ” (Jim McKay)

ABC's Wide World of Sports'melodramatic introduction, voiced by McKay, became a national catchphrase that is often heard to this day. While "the thrill of victory" had several symbols over the decades, ski jumper Vinko Bogataj, whose dreadful misjump and crash during a competition on March 21, 1970 was featured from the early 1970s onward heard over the sentence "...and the agony of defeat", became a hard-luck hero of sorts, and an affectionate icon for stunning failure. Previously, the footage played with that phrase was that of another ski jumper who made a long, almost successful jump, but whose skis lost vertical alignment shortly before landing, leading to a crash.

The Munich Massacre
McKay did other things for ABC outside of Wide World of Sports, including the Kentucky Derby, the British Open and the Indianapolis 500. Who can forget his memorable reporting on the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics? While covering the 1972 Summer Olympics for ABC, McKay took on the job of reporting the events leading up to the massacre live on his only scheduled day off. He was on air for fourteen hours without a break, during a sixteen hour broadcast. When the rescue of the athletes held hostage failed, McKay came on the air with this statement:

"When I was a kid my father used to say "Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized." Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They have now said there were 11 hostages; two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They're all gone."
- Jim McKay, 1972.

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McKay was born into an Irish American Roman Catholic family in Philadelphia in 1921. When he was 14, his family moved to Baltimore. Later, he received a bachelor's degree from Loyola College. During World War II, McKay served in the United States Navy as the captain of a minesweeper.

In 1947, McKay gave up his job as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun newspapers to join that same organization's new TV station. He joined CBS in New York in 1950 as host of a variety show, called The Real McKay. Through the 1950s, sports commentary became more and more his primary assignment. He moved on to ABC and in 1961, became host of ABC's influential Wide World of Sports for 37 years.

Jim McKay died in 2008 at the age of 86.

Sports Announcers I Grew Up With: Jim Nantz

There is a special place in my heart for the radio and TV sports announcers I grew up with. From ABC's Wide World of Sports to roller derby and wrestling, and everything in between, sports was a big part of my life growing up. At my house, we watched on TV whatever sport was 'in season,' especially on Saturday's. If there was a sports event on radio, we listened to it. I was very blessed to grow up with many now- legendary voices and characters. Today, I want to pay tribute to Jim Nantz.

You could say Jim Nantz and I have grown up together. He is my age. Nantz joined CBS in 1985 and has been an announcer for college football, NFL football and, since 1989, the Masters golf tournament. He began calling the NCAA Final Four men's basketball finals in 1991, working the first 17 years with Billy Packer. He has been the NFL announcer on CBS's top play-by-play since 2004. He has done NBA games, the US Open, Winter Olympics and even the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Nantz, Curt Gowdy, Kevin Harlan and Dick Enberg are the only play-by-play announcers to ever call both a Super Bowl and an NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game. Nantz is also one of two men to host a Super Bowl, announce an NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game and host coverage of The Masters, with Brent Musburger being the other.

Nantz has twice won an Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play. He has been honored with the NSSA's National Sportscaster of the Year award five times. In 2011, he was named as a recipient of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He also is one of the youngest recipients of the Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy award for broadcasting.

Nantz, Grant Hill and Bill Raftery will call the 2015 Final Four with Jim Nantz, CBS and Turner Sports announced on Tuesday. Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson will return from last season's broadcast team. Hill and Raftery replace last year's duo of Steve Kerr and Greg Anthony. The 2015 Final Four will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday, April 4, and Monday, April 6.