Curt Gowdy

The son of Ruth and Edward "Jack" Gowdy (Curt's father was a manager and dispatcher for the Union Pacific railroad [2]), Curtis Edward (Curt) Gowdy was born in Green River, Wyoming, and moved to Cheyenne at age six. As a high school basketball player in the 1930s, he led the state in scoring. He also showed an early interest in journalism, serving as sports editor of his high school newspaper.[3] He enrolled at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, where he was a 5'9" (175 cm) starter on the basketball team and played varsity tennis, lettering three years in both sports for the Cowboys. He was also a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

After graduating in 1942 with a degree in business statistics, he entered the army, where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. [4] Gowdy planned to become a fighter pilot, but a ruptured disk in his spine from a previous sports injury cut short his military service in the Army Air Force, leading to a medical discharge in 1943. Gowdy would continue to suffer from persistent back problems for many years. [5]

In November of 1943, recovering from back surgery, Gowdy made his broadcasting debut in Cheyenne calling a "six-man" high school football game from atop a wooden grocery crate in subzero weather, with about 15 people in attendance. He found he had a knack for broadcasting, and worked at the small KFBC radio station and at the Wyoming Eagle newspaper as a sportswriter (and later sports editor). After several years in Cheyenne, he accepted an offer from CBS's KOMA radio in Oklahoma City in September 1945. [6] He was hired primarily to broadcast Oklahoma college football (then coached by new-hire Bud Wilkinson) and Oklahoma State college basketball games (then coached by Hank Iba). In 1947-1948, in addition to calling football and basketball on KOMA, Gowdy was also broadcasting the baseball games of the Texas League Oklahoma City Indians, on station KOCY. [7] When Gowdy announced in early 1949 that he was leaving Oklahoma to work in New York, his replacement was fellow Oklahoma City sportscaster Bob Murphy. [8]

Gowdy's distinctive play-by-play style during his broadcasts of minor league baseball, college football, and college basketball in Oklahoma City earned him a national audition and then an opportunity with the New York Yankees in 1949, working with (and learning from) Mel Allen for two seasons.

In June 1949, Curt married Geraldine (Jerre) Dawkins. She had a bachelor's degree in Education from Central State College, and was studying for a master's degree in Radio Speech at the University of Oklahoma when they became engaged. [9] Curt and Jerre had three children: Cheryl Ann Gowdy, Curtis Edward Gowdy Jr. (who worked as a sports producer for ABC and SNY),[10] and Trevor Gowdy.

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. There, he succeeded Russ Hodges, who departed to become the New York Giants' lead announcer when the Yankees and Giants decided to broadcast a full slate of 154 games, instead of sharing the same radio network and announcers for the 77 home games of each team that had been broadcast (no away games of either team were broadcast). Two years later, in Boston, the Red Sox and the Boston Braves followed a similar path, with each team opting for its own networks and announcers to allow each team to broadcast their full schedules, home and away. Jim Britt, who had called home games of both teams, decided to stay with the Braves, opening the top spot on the Red Sox broadcast team. [11]

In April 1951 at the age of 31, Gowdy began his tenure as the lead announcer for the Red Sox. For the next 15 years, he called the exploits of generally mediocre Red Sox teams on WHDH radio and on three Boston TV stations: WBZ-TV, WHDH-TV, and WNAC-TV (WBZ and WNAC split the Red Sox TV schedule from 1948 through 1955; WBZ alone carried the Red Sox from 1955 through 1957; and WHDH took over in 1958). During that time, Gowdy partnered with two future baseball broadcasting legends: Bob Murphy and Ned Martin. Chronic back pain caused Gowdy to miss the entire 1957 season. He also did nightly sports reports on WHDH radio when his schedule permitted. Gowdy was also the narrator of several Red Sox highlight films during his tenure in Boston which described the season in depth along with its key moments; this would lead to him eventually narrating World Series highlight films during his time with NBC (1968–1974, '77).

Gowdy called Ted Williams' final at-bat where he hit a home run into the bullpen in right-center field off Jack Fisher of Baltimore. He also called Tony Conigliaro's home run in his first at-bat at Fenway Park on April 17, 1964 at the age of 19.

He left WHDH after the 1965 season for NBC Sports, where for the next ten years he called the national baseball telecasts of the Saturday afternoon Game of the Week and Monday Night Baseball during the regular season (and the All-Star Game in July), and the postseason playoffs and World Series in October.

Gowdy, who also did some sportswriting during his early broadcasting days, wrote two books: Cowboy at the Mike (1966), with Al Hirshberg, and Seasons to Remember: The Way It Was in American Sports, 1945–1960 (1993), with John Powers. He also wrote the foreword for the 2000 book The Golden Boy, authored by Dr. George I. Martin, in which Gowdy described the subject of the book, Jackie Jensen, as possibly the best athlete he had ever covered.

In 1963, Gowdy purchased radio stations 800/WCCM and 93.7/WCCM-FM in Lawrence, Massachusetts, later changing the FM station's call letters to WCGY to somewhat match his name. Gowdy also owned several radio stations in Wyoming, including KOWB and KCGY in Laramie. He sold his broadcast interests in Massachusetts in 1994 and his Wyoming stations in 2002. He also owned 850/WEAT & WEAT-FM in West Palm Beach, Florida, and WBBX (AM) in New Hampshire. The year away from broadcasting the Red Sox in 1957 awakened him to the fact that he might need an alternate way of making of living, leading to his interest in station ownership.

In 1970, Gowdy became the first sportscaster to receive the George Foster Peabody Award. The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association named Gowdy as Massachusetts Sportscaster of the Year five times (1959–63) and National Sportscaster of the Year twice (1966, 1969), and inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1981. In 1985, he was inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame along with his onetime Yankees partner Mel Allen and Chicago legend Jack Brickhouse. He served as the organization's vice president and was a member of its board of directors. In addition, he was given the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984, the Pete Rozelle Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993 and a lifetime achievement Emmy in 1992, and was selected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1995. Gowdy was president of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for several years, and that institution's Curt Gowdy Media Award is presented annually to outstanding basketball writers and broadcasters; he was one of its first two recipients.

Curt Gowdy's 23 Halls of Fame honors/inductions:

1. Conservation Hall of Fame International – April 16, 1973
2. Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement – 1973[17]
3. International Fishing Hall of Fame – 1981
4. Natl. Sportscasters & Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame – 1981
5. Sportswriters & Broadcasters Hall of Fame – 1984
6. National Baseball Hall of Fame – 1984, Ford C. Frick Award recipient
7. American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame – 1985
8. Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame – 1990, Curt Gowdy Media Award recipient
9. Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame – 1990
10. Gold Medal Hall of Fame Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in New England
11. Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame – 1992
12. Pro Football Hall of Fame – 1993, Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award recipient
13. Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame – 1994
14. Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame – 1995
15. American Football League Hall of Fame – 1995
16. University of Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame – September 25, 1998 [18]
17. Florida Sports Hall of Fame – 1999
18. Wyoming Sports Hall of Fame – 2001
19. International Game Fish Association (IGFA) Fishing Hall of Fame – 2003
20. Wyoming Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame – 2003
21. Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame – 2004
22. National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame – 2005
23. Rose Bowl Hall of Fame – 2005 inductee (January 3, 2006)

A state park in Wyoming, opened in 1971, was officially named for Gowdy on March 27, 1972, one of numerous honors bestowed on the native son from the state of Wyoming on "Curt Gowdy Day." The 11,000 acre (44 km²) Curt Gowdy State Park is halfway between his high school hometown of Cheyenne and his college town of Laramie. Additional land was acquired by the state for the park in 2006. "It has two beautiful lakes, hiking trails, camping, boating, fishing, and beauty," said Gowdy. "It has everything I love. What greater honor can a man receive?"

Gowdy was proud of his Wyoming heritage and loved the outdoors, and said that he was "born with a fly-rod in one hand," and that the sports microphone came a little later. In 2002, he recalled that his father, Edward Curtis Gowdy, who had taught him to hunt and fish, was the best fly-fisherman in the state. "We had free access to prime-time fishing and hunting. The outdoors was a way of life for me. I should have paid them to host The American Sportsman."

On July 31, 2013, on the 94th anniversary of his birth, the state park opened an interpretive center with exhibits about the history of the park and Gowdy's work to preserve area natural resources. Milward Simpson, director of the Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources Department, describes the 7,400-square foot building, which also includes meeting rooms and a lobby, as a monument to the "fantastic legacy" left by Gowdy.[19]

Gowdy died at the age of 86 at his winter home in Palm Beach, Florida, after an extended battle with leukemia. His funeral procession circled Fenway Park and he was interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Pallbearers included his former NBC baseball analyst and New York Yankees shortstop Tony Kubek.

On October 12, 2006, the United States Postal Service building in Green River, Wyoming, was officially designated as the "Curt Gowdy Post Office Building," honoring the place of Gowdy's birth. The legislation required for the USPS name change was introduced by Wyoming House Representative Barbara Cubin.[20]

• Curt Gowdy Ford C. Frick Award biography at the National Baseball Hall of Fame
• American Football League Hall of Fame Curt Gowdy's citation
• Curt Gowdy at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
• Curt Gowdy at IMDb
• Ex-Red Sox Broadcaster Curt Gowdy Dies
• "Curt Gowdy dies at 86". The Boston Globe. February 20, 2006.
• "Sportscaster Curt Gowdy dies at 86". The Boston Globe. February 21, 2006.
• Red Sox mourn the loss of Hall of Fame broadcaster Curt Gowdy – Boston Red Sox press release
• Sports E-Cyclopedia's Memoriam to Curt
• Curt Gowdy dies at 86 The New York Times February 21, 2006
• In memory of Curt Gowdy – U.S. Senator Craig Thomas February 27, 2006
• Curt Gowdy State Park – 1972 west of Cheyenne, Wyoming
• Curt Gowdy, Milo Hamilton and Vin Scully's Calls of Aaron's 715th Home Run from Archive.org
• Curt Gowdy at Find a Grave