Jay C. Upchurch
2/20/2006, 04:56 PM
story link for my favorite all-time play-by-play guy...
http://nytimes.com/2006/02/20/obituaries/20cnd-gowdy.html?hp&ex=1140498000&en=f37c7ae35bdf66bb&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Here is an excerpt from a story on Gowdy that covers his time at OU...
Between those events, Gowdy spent the springtime of his career in Oklahoma City at radio station KOMA in 1945-49 and was in on the Big Bang of OU’s football explosion into the national spotlight.
The manager of KOMA heard Gowdy broadcasting a basketball game and four months later hired him in August 1945.
“My experiences at Oklahoma were nothing but the best,” said Gowdy, who is retired and has homes in Boston and Palm Beach, Florida. “I had the greatest college sports to broadcast, Oklahoma and Oklahoma A&M were national powers. Great coaches: Iba, Wilkinson. Everybody was marvelous to me. The baseball broadcasting of the Oklahoma City Indians in the Texas League gave me the experience to win a national audition and work for the Yankees.
“Oklahoma meant everything to me in my career. I can’t tell you how important those days were. They really set a great foundation for me.”
At the time, KOMA covered everything from high football to minor league baseball, and everything in between. Gowdy was a natural.
“Curt was always right on the play, every play. He was really good at calling the action,” said 86-year-old Ross Brink, who was on KOMA’s engineering and control room staff from 1941-50. “Curt could give you a thumbnail sketch of every player from both sides — that’s how sharp he was.”
Gowdy explained how he talked KOMA into broadcasting college basketball, mainly because he considered it his best sport since he had played collegiately at the University of Wyoming.
“I played against Hank Iba’s teams, Oklahoma A&M it was called in those days. If the station canceled those network programs, they lost a lot of money. We finally came up with the idea to record the games and play them back at 10:30 at night,” he said. “Plus that first year Oklahoma A&M won the national championship. I broadcast those NCAA games.
“The next year the war was over and the boys were returning and Oklahoma hired Jim Tatum as head football coach and Bud Wilkinson was his top assistant. Nobody knew what they had. The first game was one of the thrills of my lifetime: It was Oklahoma against Army, the Black Knights of the Hudson with Blanchard and Davis and Tucker — one of the greatest teams of all time.
The Sooners were 38-point underdogs that day and eventually lost 21-7. Gowdy remembered how the outcome hinged on a late drive and a turnover.
“Oklahoma marched about 90 yards late in the game, and Arnold Tucker picked a fumble out of the air and ran 96 yards for a touchdown. Oklahoma pushed them all over the field, and you could see, hey, they had something,” Gowdy explained. “They were invited to play in the Gator Bowl game against North Carolina State. I went down to do that game. They beat North Carolina State badly (34-13).
“After the game, Bud asked me if I would go out to dinner with him. We had become friendly when he was an assistant. You always can talk to the assistant better than the head coach. Bud asked: ‘What kind of a head coach do you think I’d be?’ I said: ‘Let me be honest with you, Bud. As far as football, you’re as good an anybody, but you’re too nice. I think these players would run all over you.’ He said, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s tough, because I just got named head coach at Oklahoma.’”
Wilkinson’s first OU team finished 7-2-1 in 1947 and he quickly overcome any thoughts that he was too young or not tough enough to be a head coach.
“The next season Santa Clara beat Oklahoma, 20-17, in the opening game. Little did anybody know, but that was probably the college game of the year. Oklahoma went to the Sugar Bowl that year and Santa Clara to the Orange Bowl,” Gowdy said. “After the game, I went to the dressing room at Kezar Stadium and Bud was sitting outside and he had tears in his eyes. I said: ‘Bud, that was a tough one.’ He said, ‘That was a hell of a team we lost to. I’ll tell you one thing: We may not lose another game in three years. They won 31 in a row after that.”
But even with the Sooners on the verge of greatness, Gowdy had his sights set on baseball, the major sport in the 1940s.
“I knew if you wanted to make some money in sports, you had to do baseball, because the season was 154 games long,” said Gowdy. “I did football, basketball and baseball, year around.
“In the fall of ’49, I get a letter from the New York Yankees. They wanted to know if I wanted to apply for a job as Mel Allen’s partner. I sent a recording and brochure I made up. I got a telegram from (Yankees’ general manager) George Weiss. They had 300 people apply and had narrowed it down to three. I went for an interview and the Yankees hired me as their broadcaster.
“I was really sad,” Gowdy continued. “I really enjoyed Oklahoma. Hank Iba was like a father to me. Wilkinson was like my best friend. Plus, I met this girl out of Edmond, Oklahoma, named Jerre Dawkins. I knew going to New York would be the biggest break of my life, so I accepted the job. I married her June 24 in New York City that first year with the Yankees.
http://nytimes.com/2006/02/20/obituaries/20cnd-gowdy.html?hp&ex=1140498000&en=f37c7ae35bdf66bb&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Here is an excerpt from a story on Gowdy that covers his time at OU...
Between those events, Gowdy spent the springtime of his career in Oklahoma City at radio station KOMA in 1945-49 and was in on the Big Bang of OU’s football explosion into the national spotlight.
The manager of KOMA heard Gowdy broadcasting a basketball game and four months later hired him in August 1945.
“My experiences at Oklahoma were nothing but the best,” said Gowdy, who is retired and has homes in Boston and Palm Beach, Florida. “I had the greatest college sports to broadcast, Oklahoma and Oklahoma A&M were national powers. Great coaches: Iba, Wilkinson. Everybody was marvelous to me. The baseball broadcasting of the Oklahoma City Indians in the Texas League gave me the experience to win a national audition and work for the Yankees.
“Oklahoma meant everything to me in my career. I can’t tell you how important those days were. They really set a great foundation for me.”
At the time, KOMA covered everything from high football to minor league baseball, and everything in between. Gowdy was a natural.
“Curt was always right on the play, every play. He was really good at calling the action,” said 86-year-old Ross Brink, who was on KOMA’s engineering and control room staff from 1941-50. “Curt could give you a thumbnail sketch of every player from both sides — that’s how sharp he was.”
Gowdy explained how he talked KOMA into broadcasting college basketball, mainly because he considered it his best sport since he had played collegiately at the University of Wyoming.
“I played against Hank Iba’s teams, Oklahoma A&M it was called in those days. If the station canceled those network programs, they lost a lot of money. We finally came up with the idea to record the games and play them back at 10:30 at night,” he said. “Plus that first year Oklahoma A&M won the national championship. I broadcast those NCAA games.
“The next year the war was over and the boys were returning and Oklahoma hired Jim Tatum as head football coach and Bud Wilkinson was his top assistant. Nobody knew what they had. The first game was one of the thrills of my lifetime: It was Oklahoma against Army, the Black Knights of the Hudson with Blanchard and Davis and Tucker — one of the greatest teams of all time.
The Sooners were 38-point underdogs that day and eventually lost 21-7. Gowdy remembered how the outcome hinged on a late drive and a turnover.
“Oklahoma marched about 90 yards late in the game, and Arnold Tucker picked a fumble out of the air and ran 96 yards for a touchdown. Oklahoma pushed them all over the field, and you could see, hey, they had something,” Gowdy explained. “They were invited to play in the Gator Bowl game against North Carolina State. I went down to do that game. They beat North Carolina State badly (34-13).
“After the game, Bud asked me if I would go out to dinner with him. We had become friendly when he was an assistant. You always can talk to the assistant better than the head coach. Bud asked: ‘What kind of a head coach do you think I’d be?’ I said: ‘Let me be honest with you, Bud. As far as football, you’re as good an anybody, but you’re too nice. I think these players would run all over you.’ He said, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s tough, because I just got named head coach at Oklahoma.’”
Wilkinson’s first OU team finished 7-2-1 in 1947 and he quickly overcome any thoughts that he was too young or not tough enough to be a head coach.
“The next season Santa Clara beat Oklahoma, 20-17, in the opening game. Little did anybody know, but that was probably the college game of the year. Oklahoma went to the Sugar Bowl that year and Santa Clara to the Orange Bowl,” Gowdy said. “After the game, I went to the dressing room at Kezar Stadium and Bud was sitting outside and he had tears in his eyes. I said: ‘Bud, that was a tough one.’ He said, ‘That was a hell of a team we lost to. I’ll tell you one thing: We may not lose another game in three years. They won 31 in a row after that.”
But even with the Sooners on the verge of greatness, Gowdy had his sights set on baseball, the major sport in the 1940s.
“I knew if you wanted to make some money in sports, you had to do baseball, because the season was 154 games long,” said Gowdy. “I did football, basketball and baseball, year around.
“In the fall of ’49, I get a letter from the New York Yankees. They wanted to know if I wanted to apply for a job as Mel Allen’s partner. I sent a recording and brochure I made up. I got a telegram from (Yankees’ general manager) George Weiss. They had 300 people apply and had narrowed it down to three. I went for an interview and the Yankees hired me as their broadcaster.
“I was really sad,” Gowdy continued. “I really enjoyed Oklahoma. Hank Iba was like a father to me. Wilkinson was like my best friend. Plus, I met this girl out of Edmond, Oklahoma, named Jerre Dawkins. I knew going to New York would be the biggest break of my life, so I accepted the job. I married her June 24 in New York City that first year with the Yankees.