Curt Gowdy, lead announcer for the Boston Red Sox between 1951 and 1966, has passed away at the age of 86.
For readers of a certain vintage, Gowdy was synonymous with big time sports broadcasting ; a member of the Baseball Hall Of Fame, given the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Award, NBC’s Baseball Game Of The Week voice from ’66 to ’76, tenures with ABC, NBC and CBS, innumerable major assignments (Olympics, Final Four, Super Bowl, Rose Bowl, etc.) with all of the above, etc. Gowdy was also the host of ABC’s “The American Sportsman Series”.
(Tuesday addendum : Richard Sandomir’s obituary And another, from The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman.)
For many folks my age, Saturday meant you went out and played your Little League game, ate pizza with the team afterwards and beat it home in time to tune in NBCs Game of The Week. Every time I have to sit through Buck and McCarver in October, I longed for Gowdy, Tony Kubek and Joe Garagiola. RIP.
he also owned wcgy in lawrence, ma which had a very brief tenure as a decent radio station in my sophomore year in college. then it became a weird classic rock/cock rock station.