Gowdy was the voice of NBC sports seemingly forever when I was young and he called baseball, football, and college basketball. He was the voice of the Red Sox from 1951 through 1965. In addition to winning the Ford Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Basketball Hall of Fame names the award it gives out to members of the media The Curt Gowdy Award. Gowdy also won the Pro Football Hall of Fame's honor for the media, the Pete Rozelle Award in 1993.
Most recently, Gowdy was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame. (He announced 12 of them.)
During the 1970's, I thought Curt Gowdy was the only play-by-play man working; every Super Bowl, every World Series... I thought it was just a network agreement that no matter what, Gowdy's going to call the title game.
What I heard about Curt Gowdy was that he could work with anybody and anybody could work with him. He was the ultimate low-maintenance guy. I was gossiping with an Associate Producer and we were exchanging stories about some of the peculiar habits of our favorite announcers and I asked him if there was anyone out there who never gave anybody any trouble... it was something like that. The guy didn't hesitate: "Curt Gowdy," he said. "When he showed up, we knew there wasn't anything to worry about because he was always prepared and just wanted to know what the cues were. Just a great, great guy to have in the booth."
Take it for what it's worth, guys. For my part, I have vivid memories of his voice, all of them good.
When I was a kid I loved "American Sportsman" but I never thought he was that good doing baseball and football. Having recently watched old tapes of Curt Gowdy and Al DeRogatis doing football confirmed that.
Hearn is the only announcer in the Basketball Hall of Fame so I think it should have been Curt Gowdy who won a Chick Hearn Award instead of the other way around.
BTW, Curt Gowdy has also won a Curt Gowdy Award.
Vitale would be the second announcer in the Hall. Which tells you about the state of basketball announcing.
Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.
What I heard about Curt Gowdy was that he could work with anybody and anybody could work with him. He was the ultimate low-maintenance guy. I was gossiping with an Associate Producer and we were exchanging stories about some of the peculiar habits of our favorite announcers and I asked him if there was anyone out there who never gave anybody any trouble... it was something like that. The guy didn't hesitate: "Curt Gowdy," he said. "When he showed up, we knew there wasn't anything to worry about because he was always prepared and just wanted to know what the cues were. Just a great, great guy to have in the booth."
Take it for what it's worth, guys. For my part, I have vivid memories of his voice, all of them good.
Chick Hearn is in the Hall of Fame as an announcer and won the Curt Gowdy Award.
Vitale is trying to match that.
BTW, Curt Gowdy has also won a Curt Gowdy Award.
Vitale would be the second announcer in the Hall. Which tells you about the state of basketball announcing.
Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.