NBC Sports, Red Sox announcer, 'American Sportsman' host Curt Gowdy dies

[bossradio93]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060220/...e/obit_gowdy_9

NBC Sports/Red Sox announcer Curt Gowdy, dies

By HOWARD ULMAN, AP Sports Writer

Mon Feb 20, 2:53 PM ET

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Curt Gowdy, one of the signature voices of sports for a generation and a longtime broadcaster for the Boston Red Sox, died Monday at 86.

He died at his winter home in Palm Beach after a long battle with leukemia.

Gowdy made his broadcasting debut in 1944 and went on to call the first Super Bowl in 1967 as well as 13 World Series and 16 All-Star games. He also called the famous "Heidi" pro football game in 1968.

In 1951, Gowdy became the main play-by-play voice on the Red Sox broadcast team. He left in 1966 for a 10-year stint as "Game of the Week" announcer for NBC. He also was the host of the "American Sportsman" series.

"He's certainly the greatest play-by-play person up to this point that NBC sports has ever had," NBC Universal Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said from the Turin Olympics. "He literally carried the sports division at NBC for so many years on his back. ... He was a remarkable talent and he was an even more remarkable human being."

Born in Green River, Wyo., Gowdy brought a warm feel to the broadcast booth, his commentary always full of good humor and enthusiasm. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig called Gowdy "one of the legendary broadcasters of our game."

"His distinct voice was a comfort to a generation of baseball fans in New England and throughout the country," Selig said.

In his 1960 essay "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu," published in The New Yorker, John Upd**e said Gowdy sounded like "everybody's brother-in-law."

Veteran NBC broadcaster dick Enberg said that if Gowdy were calling a game, "you knew it was a major event."

"He was the first superstar of sports television because he did all of the big events — the World Series, the Super Bowl, NCAA basketball, the Olympics and his outdoor sportsman show," Enberg added. "He's the last of the dinosaurs. No one will ever be the voice of so many major events at the same time ever again."

George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports, said Gowdy's contributions were "indelible." He said Gowdy was a "pioneer in our business and set the highest of standards for everyone in sports broadcasting."

College basketball broadcaster dick Vitale of ESPN said he heard of Gowdy's death in a phone call from Texas Tech coach Bob Knight.

"Gowdy had a love affair with the microphone and the fans had a love affair with him," Vitale said. "American sports fans truly lost an icon, a legend who never felt he was bigger than anyone else. He had that humility that made him special, and he made everyone feel like they were so important."

Former Red Sox star John Pesky, speaking from Boston's spring training camp in Fort Myers, remembered Gowdy as "a peach of a guy." Pesky, 86, said Gowdy was always in the clubhouse before games and always eager to talk.

"He was really easy to speak to," Pesky said.

The award-winning broadcaster began his career in Cheyenne, Wyo., in 1944 standing on a crate, giving a football play-by-play in subzero temperatures. He moved on to minor league baseball broadcasts and recreations of major league games on KOMA radio in Oklahoma City.

In 1949, he joined Mel Allen to broadcast games of the New York Yankees and, two years, later, he became the No. 1 broadcaster for the Boston Red Sox, leaving in 1966 to spend 10 years as NBA's announcer for its game of the week.

"To fans in New England in the 1950s and '60s, his was the voice that told the stories of the Red Sox to a generation of fans," said Dr. Charles Steinberg, the Red Sox' executive vice president for public affairs. "He was the voice under the pillow."

On Nov. 17, 1968, Gowdy broadcast Oakland's 43-32 win over the New York Jets in which the Raiders won with two touchdowns in the last minute. Viewers didn't see those touchdowns because NBC cut away from the final minute to fulfill a contractual obligation to show "Heidi," the classic children's story.

Gowdy has been honored with dozens of awards. He was inducted into the broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the American Sportscaster's Hall of Fame in 1985. The Curt Gowdy State Park was established in Wyoming in 1971.

He once said, "I tried to pretend that I was sitting in the stands with a buddy watching the game poking him in the ribs when something exciting happened. I never took myself too seriously. An announcer is only as good as yesterday's performance."

Gowdy is survived by his wife, Jerre, three children — Cheryl Ann of Palm Beach; Curt Jr. of New York, the vice president of production and executive producer of SportsNet New York; and Trevor of Boston — and five grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

Yahoo! News/AP-February 20, 2006

[Janice]

The man was a legend in Massachusetts.

[Brad Russ]

That's too bad to hear. I didn't really know much about him, but I watched a little biography on him last night, and it's obvious that he did alot of great things in his life, and was loved by many!! Rest In Peace Curt Gowdy!!