The Golden Voices of Sports: A Dying Breed

It was my 17th birthday. Jan. 4, 1999. It was the closing minutes of the 1999 Fiesta Bowl, and the first-ever BCS National Championship Game. My Tennessee Vols football team was putting the finishing touches on its first national title since 1951. But in those crazy, joyous few moments, another thought crept into my head.

That other thought was that John Ward, the longtime voice of the Vols, was calling his final game. Of course, with a house full of people we watched and listened to the ABC call of the game. That is, until the five-minute mark of the final quarter.

Ward’s call was priceless. As he counted down from five, four, three, two, one...It was just one of those moments that I will never forget.

Of course, there were many more John Ward calls that are etched into my memory.

Like the indelible, “Give him six...Touchdown Tennessee.” As a matter of fact I still say those very words every time the Big Orange crosses into the checkerboards.

We have Ward’s patented calls like “He’s at the 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, five...you know what happened...Touchdown Tennessee!” or, “The kick is...good. No! It is no good! It is no good” as Notre Dame missed the would-be game-winner after the Vols came from 21 points down at South Bend to upset the second-ranked Irish in 1991.  

It's October, 1992, and it’s Game Seven of the NLCS in Atlanta. John Smoltz has pitched the game of his life. Unfortunately for the Braves so has Doug Drabek of the Pittsburgh Pirates. But there’s still a chance.

With the bases loaded in a 3-2 ballgame, two outs, bottom of the ninth—the Braves send up the backup catcher Francisco Cabrera. The unlikely hero would come through and send the Braves to their second World Series in as many years.

Skip Caray’s famous words were, "Two balls, one strike. What tension! The runners lead. A lotta room in right-center, if he hits one there, we can dance in the streets. The two-one. Swung, line drive left field! One run is in! Here comes Bream! Here's the throw to the plate! He is...SAFE! BRAVES WIN! BRAVES WIN! BRAVES WIN! BRAVES WIN! BRAVES...WIN!"

That is just classic to me. It takes me back to one of the happiest days I've had as a sports fan.

Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren, Don Sutton, and Joe Simpson had many more memorable calls down through the years. Not the least of which was the call when Marquis Grissom squeezed out number three in his glove in Game six of the 1995 World Series.

If you have been a sports fan for any length of time you can probably remember the time, the place, and your exact emotions any time you hear the voice.

The voice is what we fall in love with.

This is my team, and this is the voice of that team.

I grew up with that. I love that aspect of sports.

With the passing of yet another golden voice on Monday, the reality that this wonderful aspect of the game is dying away, has started to set in.

Harry Kalas was one of the best ever. I regret that I only knew his voice from the narration of NFL Films. I never knew the play-by-play voice of Harry Kalas, because I don’t live in Philadelphia.

But on this day after his death I can sure sympathize with the people of that city because you have certainly lost a great one.

Last August my favorite voice suddenly passed away too. Skip Caray was the voice of my Braves. When Skip Caray and Joe Simpson would switch to radio in the middle of the fifth, my TV’s volume button would go down and the radio volume would go up.

Skip was so personable, smart, and irreverent you could not stay away. His dry wit and knowledge of the game drew you in.

John Ward left the Vols broadcast booth in what I thought was his prime. Unfortunately for me, his prime was in the '70s and '80s.

Ward could step into that booth tomorrow and still be as good as he ever was, but he went out on his own terms and went out with his team winning a championship.

Many others like Jack Buck, Harry Caray, Marty Brennaman, Ernie Harwell, Vin Scully, Howard Cossell, Larry Munson, and Pat Summrall have painted many beautiful portraits with their words.

Their voices are simply golden. And to a much greater extent their interpretation of the game and the teams we love was simply priceless.

While these gentlemen have meant so much to the sporting world it's clear to see that sport is not in the same place it was when they first came on the scene.

Now we have a 24-hour news cycle.

We can view any team, or any game, on any given night.

The new voices of our teams are usually nothing more than hired hands who only stay until a better paying gig opens up.

That's not to say that guys like Joe Buck, Al Michaels, Brad Nessler, and Verne Lundquist are no good. Those guys are great. They are all just products of the new era of sports coverage.

There will be no more John Ward's for Tennessee football. That's no disrespect to Bob Kesling either. Kesling is great. But John Ward he is not.

There will be no more Skip Caray's or Pete Van Wieren's for Braves baseball. Again, no disrespect meant toward Boog Schiambi, or Joe Simpson.

Those days are simply coming to a close and the new era of sports media is taking over. It's not necessarily a bad thing.

In the end, it's those golden voices that stayed with our teams for 20+ years that are leaving us. That's definitely not a good thing.