The White 60s Sport Announcer from Texas is an audio blog dedicated to providing listeners with a unique and interesting perspective on sports.
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Introduction
In the early days of television, there were few if any professional sportscasters. The first decade or so of TV was filled with a hodgepodge of local announcers, many of them former athletes, some of whom had sideline experience calling games for radio. Into this milieu stepped an unlikely character: a white former college football player from Texas who became one of the most popular and colorful figures in the young industry.
Born in Beaumont, Texas, in 1917,ineptickname Harry Caray was originally given the moniker “Whitey” by his friends and family. After serving in the Navy during World War II, Caray began his broadcasting career calling games for minor league baseball teams in Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 1945, he landed his first big break when he was hired to do play-by-play for the St. Louis Cardinals.
For more than three decades, Caray was the voice of the Cardinals, becoming one of the most recognizable personalities in baseball. His folksy style and catchphrases endeared him to fans both in St. Louis and around the country. In 1969, he even sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during seventh-inning stretches at Cardinals home games—a tradition that continues to this day at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, where a statue of Caray stands outside the ballpark.
After stints with the Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox, Caray finally found his true home with the Cubs in 1982. He would spend the next 16 years as the team’s play-by-play announcer, becoming as much a part of Chicago lore as deep dish pizza and “da Bears.” He even had a street named after him on Chicago’s North Side: Harry Caray Way.
Caray died in 1998 at the age of 80, but his legacy lives on through his grandson, Chip Caray, who currently calls games for Fox Sports South and Turner Sports’ MLB coverage.
Early Life and Education
Clayton Edward Collins was born on April 8, 1957, in Austin, Texas. Collins grew up in the suburbs of Dallas and was a star athlete in high school. After graduation, he attended the University of North Texas on a football scholarship. He played for the mean green from 1976 to 1979 and graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism.
Career
In the early part of his career, he worked as a sports broadcaster for KTBC in Austin, Texas. He also did some work for KVUE in Austin. In the mid 1960s, he began working for KHOU in Houston, where he served as the station’s sports director. He remained with KHOU until 1975, when he took a job with KTRK, also in Houston.
He spent two years with KTRK before moving to WFAA in Dallas in 1977. He remained with WFAA until his retirement in 1995. During his time with WFAA, he served as the play-by-play announcer for the station’s coverage of high school football games. He was also the host of a sports talk show on the station.
After his retirement from broadcasting, he worked as a sales representative for a company that sold advertising on billboards.
Personal Life
Born in Temple, Texas, in 1944, James “Whitey” Ford was drafted by the Yankees in the ninth round of the 1962 Major League Baseball Draft. He made his Major League debut with the Yankees on September 21, 1963. Ford spent 16 seasons with the Yankees (1963–1974, 1976–1978), winning six World Series titles and 10 American League pennants. He was selected to eight All-Star teams and won both the Cy Young Award and World Series Most Valuable Player Award in 1961.
After retiring from baseball in 1974, Ford worked as a commentator for ABC’s Monday Night Baseball and as a color analyst for Yankee broadcasts on WPIX-TV (1977–1987). In addition, he served as a coach for the Yankees (1984–1989) and then returned to broadcasting as a color commentator for NBC’s Game of the Week from 1990 to 1994. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.
Whitey Ford died on October 13, 2020, at his home in Beverly Hills, California. He was survived by his wife Sue, their two daughters and four grandchildren.
Death and Legacy
In September 1961, White was killed in a plane crash near Martinsville, Virginia. He was en route from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Saint Louis, Missouri, to do a Cardinals–Cubs game for the Mutual Broadcasting System. Also killed in the crash were fellow Mutual announcers Bob Considine and Leo Durocher, Cardinals scout Clyde Kluttz, and airline pilot William G. report
