Kenneth Robert Coleman (April 22, 1925 – August 21, 2003) was an American radio and television sportscaster for more than four decades (1947[1]–1989).
Ken Coleman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kenneth Robert Coleman April 22, 1925 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | August 21, 2003 (aged 78) Plymouth, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | TV/Radio sportscaster, NFL radio announcer |
| Years active | 1952–1989 |
| Relatives | Casey Coleman (son) |
Early life
Coleman was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1925, the son of William (a salesman) and his wife Frances. The family subsequently moved to Dorchester, Massachusetts, and then to Quincy, Massachusetts, where he was raised. He graduated from North Quincy High School in 1943. [2] While in high school, he was a pitcher on the North Quincy High School baseball team,[3] and subsequently played in the semi-pro Park League. But he had dreams of being a sports broadcaster from the time he was a boy, when he enjoyed listening to the games on radio. [4]
After serving in the U.S. Army, where he was a sergeant during World War II,[5] Coleman took oratory courses for one year at Curry College, and then broke into broadcasting in Rutland, Vermont in 1947, working for station WSYB. He called the play-by-play of the minor league Rutland Royals baseball team. He also was a newscaster and a deejay on the station. [6] He then was hired at hometown team WJDA in Quincy MA, where he worked as a sports reporter until 1951; he then worked for a year at WNEB in Worcester. [7] During this time, he was broadcasting Boston University football. [8]
Broadcasting career
Cleveland Indians and Browns
He received critical praise for his college football play-by-play, which led to his big break: in 1952, he got the opportunity to broadcast for the NFL Cleveland Browns (1952–1965), calling play-by-play of every touchdown that Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown ever scored. He also began his MLB broadcasting career in Cleveland, calling Cleveland Indians games on television for ten seasons (1954–1963). In his first year with the Indians, Coleman called their record-setting 111-win season and their World Series loss to the New York Giants.
Coleman broadcast college football for various teams, including Ohio State, Harvard, and BU. He was the play-by-play announcer for the 1968 Harvard-Yale football game, a game that will be forever be remembered for the incredible Harvard comeback from a 16-point deficit to tie Yale at 29-29. He also called NFL games for NBC in the early 1970s, and later in his career called Connecticut and Fairfield basketball games for Connecticut Public Television.
Boston Red Sox
In 1966, Coleman was chosen to become the lead play-by-play announcer for the Boston Red Sox, replacing Curt Gowdy, who resigned after 15 years of calling Red Sox games to become NBC's lead baseball and pro football play-by-play announcer. [9] Coleman joined a broadcast team that also included Ned Martin and Mel Parnell.[10] He signed a three-year contract that paid him $40,000 per year. [11] Coleman broadcast the 1967 World Series (which the Red Sox lost to the St. Louis Cardinals) for NBC television and radio. Coleman was the "Voice of the Red Sox" on both WHDH-AM 850 and the original WHDH-TV for six seasons, through 1971. But when the FCC revoked WHDH's television license during the winter of 1971–1972, the Red Sox signed a TV contract with WBZ-TV and split their radio and TV announcing crews; Coleman and color man Johnny Pesky worked exclusively on television with WBZ-TV through the 1974 season. The Red Sox then awarded their TV rights to WSBK-TV in 1975, and the new rights-holders opted for a new broadcasting team, Dick Stockton and Ken Harrelson.
Coleman then returned to Ohio. From 1975 to 1978, he was the play-by-play man for the Cincinnati Reds' television crew, calling regular-season games for the Big Red Machine's back-to-back 1975–1976 World Series champions.
After the Red Sox' legendary radio combination of Ned Martin and Jim Woods were fired for failing to follow the dictates of sponsors following the 1978 season, Coleman returned to Boston in 1979 and spent 11 years as the team's radio voice. He broadcast the Red Sox' 1986 World Series loss to the New York Mets and two Red Sox ALCS (1986 and 1988). Coleman remained in the Red Sox radio booth until his retirement in 1989.
In 1972, Coleman returned briefly to the NFL, rotating play-by-play duties with Stockton for New England Patriots' preseason games on WBZ-TV with no color commentators.
Additionally, he wrote books on sportscasting, was one of the founding fathers of the Red Sox Booster Club and the BoSox Club, and was intimately involved with the Jimmy Fund, which raises money for cancer research.
Personal life and death
Coleman followed the routine of taking a swim in the Atlantic Ocean as often as he could through the late fall and into the earliest days of spring, until his death.
He was the father of the late Cleveland sports and newscaster Casey Coleman, who died in 2006 from pancreatic cancer.
Coleman was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame on May 18, 2000 at the age of 75. He died three years later, aged 78, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, from complications of bacterial meningitis.[12]
References
- ^ Pres Hobson. "Press Box." Quincy (MA) Patriot-Ledger, August 1, 1947, p. 8.
- ^ Paul Katzeff. "Sox Voice Bats Cleanup for Jimmy Fund." Boston Herald, July 27, 1980, p. 60.
- ^ "North Quincy Bops Thayer." Quincy (MA) Patriot-Ledger, May 25, 1943, p. 10.
- ^ Hy Hurwitz. "Broadcasting Red Sox Games Coleman's Boyhood Ambition." Boston Globe, March 6, 1966, p. 55.
- ^ D. Leo Monahan. "Coleman Vows Impartial Reporting." Boston Sunday Advertiser, March 6, 1966, p. 80.
- ^ Pres Hobson. "Press Box." Quincy (MA) Patriot-Ledger, August 1, 1947, p. 8.
- ^ D. Leo Monahan. "Coleman Vows Impartial Reporting." Boston Sunday Advertiser, March 6, 1966, p. 80.
- ^ Art Cullison. "Strangers to Air Browns Games." Akron (OH) Beacon-Journal, July 25, 1952, p. 34.
- ^ "Browns Seek Replacement for TV Voice." Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 5, 1966, p. 42.
- ^ Larry Claflin. "Quincy's Coleman New Sox Announcer." Boston Record American, March 5, 1966, p. 38.
- ^ Hy Hurwitz. "Broadcasting Red Sox Games Coleman's Boyhood Ambition." Boston Globe, March 6, 1966, p. 55.
- ^ "Ken Coleman: Longtime Sports Broadcaster." (Columbia, So. Carolina) The State, August 23, 2003, p. 9.