He wasn't flashy. He wasn't self-obsessed. He wasn't a motor-mouth.
And he never shook the unassuming ways of his native Wyoming. Curt Gowdy, who died Monday at 86, was one of the great sports broadcasters because he let the game tell the story. His most famous call may have been Ted Williams's very last at-bat in the major leagues, when Teddy Ballgame dramatically delivered a home run.
Gowdy's smooth, laid-back style and consummate professionalism propelled him to the highest ranks of sports announcing. He called seven Super Bowls from 1967 to 1979, including the legendary Jets-Colts upset in 1969, and 10 consecutive World Series, capped by arguably the best ever played: the 1975 seven-game classic between the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. He was beloved in New England as the announcer for the Red Sox for 15 years.
His gentle and unobtrusive, but keenly observant, nature made him the ideal host of ABC's The American Sportsman, on which he teamed up with such celebrities as Williams and Bing Crosby in hunting and fishing on camera. You could tell he loved every minute of it. "The outdoors was a way of life for me. I should have paid them to host American Sports," he mused.
Those who dealt with Gowdy almost universally seemed to regard him as a gentleman. The contrast with today's brand of bombastic, self-promoting blowhards could not be sharper.
Curt Gowdy's great virtue was understanding that the sports he covered, and not the announcer, provided the drama. As long as televised professional sports are slathered with loud music and hype, we probably won't see his like again.
Concord Monitor Online, P.O. Box 1177, Concord NH 03302
And he never shook the unassuming ways of his native Wyoming. Curt Gowdy, who died Monday at 86, was one of the great sports broadcasters because he let the game tell the story. His most famous call may have been Ted Williams's very last at-bat in the major leagues, when Teddy Ballgame dramatically delivered a home run.
Gowdy's smooth, laid-back style and consummate professionalism propelled him to the highest ranks of sports announcing. He called seven Super Bowls from 1967 to 1979, including the legendary Jets-Colts upset in 1969, and 10 consecutive World Series, capped by arguably the best ever played: the 1975 seven-game classic between the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. He was beloved in New England as the announcer for the Red Sox for 15 years.
His gentle and unobtrusive, but keenly observant, nature made him the ideal host of ABC's The American Sportsman, on which he teamed up with such celebrities as Williams and Bing Crosby in hunting and fishing on camera. You could tell he loved every minute of it. "The outdoors was a way of life for me. I should have paid them to host American Sports," he mused.
Those who dealt with Gowdy almost universally seemed to regard him as a gentleman. The contrast with today's brand of bombastic, self-promoting blowhards could not be sharper.
Curt Gowdy's great virtue was understanding that the sports he covered, and not the announcer, provided the drama. As long as televised professional sports are slathered with loud music and hype, we probably won't see his like again.
Concord Monitor Online, P.O. Box 1177, Concord NH 03302