Dear Member:
The following is some of the sportscasting news that has been making headlines recently.
Please continue to send any news, comments, updates, etc., that you would like us to include in a future Sportsbeat column.
You can email us at LSchwa8918@aol.com.
Regards and best wishes,
Lou Schwartz
President
Joe Buck, Fox’s lead NFL and MLB play-by-play announcer, has been named the 2020 recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-TV Award.
The Lifetime ASA Member received the good news live on air during last
week’s Thursday Night football telecast. Buck will be joining his
father, ASA Hall of Famer Jack Buck, as the only father-son duo to win the award. Jack was a dear friend and one of the greatest sportscasters of all-time.
Tommy Lasorda, legendary Los Angeles Dodgers manager who served as the Master of Ceremonies for several ASA Hall of Fame Dinners, celebrated his 93rd birthday on September 22nd.
Monday Night Football celebrated its birthday this week as well. It was 50 years ago this past Monday night, September 21st, that ASA Hall of Famers Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell, along with Don Meredith introduced the world to sports in prime time.
Belated best wishes to Lifetime ASA Member Bert Blyleven, who called his last Minnesota Twins game on September 2nd after 25 years in the broadcast booth. Blyleven will be taking a special assistant position with the team.
TBS has added former Met and Yankee Curtis Granderson to their MLB post-season studio show lineup. Ernie Johnson, who has been doing play-by-play in recent years, will also move back to his familiar role in the studio. They will be joined by Pedro Martinez and Jimmy Rollins. Making their exits from last year are Casey Stern and Gary Sheffield.
Mike Tirico will call his first of several Sunday Night Football games this weekend in place of Hall of Fame announcer Al Michaels. NBC announced earlier this month that the 75-year-old Michaels will receive 3-5 “bye weeks” this season with Tirico filling in on the play-by-play.
Kenny Albert, veteran NFL on Fox announcer, will finally be able to return to work this Sunday. The longtime ASA member missed the first two weeks of the NFL season due to a league rule that says any one returning to the U.S. from a foreign country must quarantine for two weeks. Albert spent the last month in Edmonton calling the NHL playoffs on NBC.
Sean McDonough, Lifetime ASA Member, recently signed a multi-year contract extension with ESPN to continue in his role as the lead play-by-play voice for college football and basketball as well as the National Championship on ESPN Radio.
Best wishes to Dallas 1310 The Ticket’s Norm Hitzges, who announced he’s undergoing treatment for bladder cancer.
Merv Johnson, Oklahoma Sooners radio analyst who has been involved with the OU football program for the last 41 years, recently announced his retirement.
IN MEMORIAM
Bobby Pope, Hall of Fame sports announcer for Georgia’s WMAZ Radio and TV who later became the Athletic Director and voice of Mercer Unverisity, died on September 6 at the age of 75.
Bob Robertson, who called Washington State Football for more than 50 years, died on September 6 . He was 91.
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