“FENWAY'S BEST PLAYERS”


 
BOSTON RED SOX
1951-1965
CURT GOWDY

Curt Gowdy was recognized as one of the top sportscasters in broadcasting history. Providing the play-by-play for some of the most memorable sporting events, he was the voice of sports for the middle part of the 20th century.

Curt was hired by radio station KFBC in Cheyenne to do play-by-play for high school football games in 1943. That led to providing play-by-play for University of Oklahoma football, Oklahoma A&M basketball, and the Oklahoma City Texas League baseball games.

In the fall of 1948, Gowdy received a phone call from Red Barber in New York, asking him to provide play-by-play over the CBS Radio Network for a game between Oklahoma and Texas Christian University.

When broadcaster Russ Hodges left the New York Yankees for the New York Giants after the 1948 season, Curt met with Yankees officials in December, and three weeks later, he was hired to be a broadcaster partner for the Yankees, sitting alongside Mel Allen.

As the 1951 season approached, Curt learned there would be an opening in the Boston Red Sox broadcast booth. Announcer Jim Britt had previously covered the home games of both the Red Sox and Braves, but beginning that year, each team planned to have its own broadcast crew and Britt would be covering the Braves.

Gowdy approached Red Sox general manager Joe Cronin, who was familiar with his work and was hired. His voice then became the sound of Red Sox baseball for 15 summers. He was joined in the booth by several partners over the years, such as Ned Martin.

Though the Red Sox teams he described during those years, never finished higher than third place, he covered some of the great players of the era and developed close friendships with people like Johnny Pesky, Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, and Dom DiMaggio.

Most memorable was Curt’s description of Ted Williams’ final appearance at the plate: “Everybody quiet now here at Fenway Park after they gave him a standing ovation of two minutes knowing that this is probably his last time at bat. One out, nobody on, last of the eighth inning. Jack Fisher into his windup, here’s the pitch. Williams swings—and there’s a long drive to deep right! That ball is going and it is gone! A home run for Ted Williams in his last time at bat in the major leagues.”

In early 1966, he left the Red Sox to sign with NBC, becoming its main television broadcaster for baseball. Joined by such partners as Pee Wee Reese, Tony Kubek, and Joe Garagiola, he provided play-by-play for NBC’s Game of the Week, All-Star, and World Series telecasts from 1966 to 1975.

As if being the top network broadcaster of television baseball wasn’t enough, he also provided play-by-play for network football telecasts, first over ABC and eventually on NBC. He teamed with Paul Christman from 1961 to 1968 to cover the games of the American Football League.

Curt was also the host of the television series "The American Sportsman" from 1965 to 1984. Episodes him hunting or fishing with celebrities like Bing Crosby, and President Jimmy Carter. The television series was one of his proudest achievements.

In 1987, for the first time since leaving the Red Sox. he returned to the Boston area and worked as the radio voice of the New England Patriots.

For his contributions to broadcasting, Curt Gowdy received awards from the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Football and Basketball Halls of Fame, as well as being inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame.

In May 2003, Gowdy returned to the booth at Fenway Park for the last time as a special guest on an ESPN broadcast of a Red Sox game.

His last visit to Fenway came in August 2005. Before that night’s game, the 86-year-old former Red Sox voice was honored by the team and cheered by the crowd. He died later that year after an extended battle with leukemia and his final request was to have his funeral procession circle his beloved Fenway Park one last time.