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Sports Broadcasting Loses Two Gentlemen

Posted by srr50 on April 17th, 2009 under Baseball, Football

Harry Kalas and Merle Harmon, two longtime big-league broadcasters died this week.

Kalas, the voice of the Philadelphia Phillies for almost 40 years was also the voice of NFL films after the legendary John Facenda. The passing of Kalas brought out many tributes from other reporters.

Kalas broke into broadcasting while in the military and stationed out in Hawaii. He was working minor league baseball when the Houston Colt 45’s came into existence and he got his big break.


The steady Gene Elston and the flamboyant Loel Passe were the other members of the original Houston Colt 45’s announcing team.

It was during this time I had the great fortune to meet Harry Kalas. I was a 15-year old sophomore in high school when I got the chance to spend a game inside the radio booth at the Astrodome. It was a late season contest between the Astros and the Pittsburgh Pirates. The ‘Stros had several young stars — Jimmy Wynn, Joe Morgan, Don Wilson, Doug Radar — but it was the behind-the-scenes action of a radio broadcast that had my attention.

KPRC-radio was the flagship station for the Astros, and I’m sure they were always getting sponsor guests into the booth.  Elston, Passe and Kalas could have been indifferent (or worse) to a callous teenager in their workplace, but they were just the opposite.  Gene Elston was exactly as he was on the air: concise, to the point, and friendly.  Loel Passe was excitable (Now You Chunkin it in there Donnie!!) and even dropped my name in during his work on the air.

Harry was the youngest of the crew and when he found out that I was an aspiring announcer he went out of his way to answer questions and give out unsolicited advice. The memories of that night are still vivid after all these years mainly because a young professional took the time to treat a guest with respect.


Merle Harmon was the voice of the AFL New York Jets as well as the Milwuakee Brewers and the Texas Rangers

The passing of Merle Harmon wasn’t noted quite as extensively. Harmon had worked college and NFL football for the networks for decades, and had also been an announcer for various major league baseball teams through the years. He ended his career with the Texas Rangers where he helped several announcers break into the business

I had the opportunity to work with Merle in the during the 1980’s and he was another gentleman who was more than happy to help a newcomer to the business.

In the early 80’s, Home Sports Entertainment (HSE) was the precursor to the regional sports networks. HSE had the SWC contract, and in 1980 they broadcast the Texas-Utah State football game. Merle was hired to handle play-by-play, I worked the color, and Randy McEachern was the sideline reporter. Merle was still working baseball so he flew in late Friday night for the football game.

We met for the first time over breakfast Saturday morning at the Hyatt hotel downtown. Broadcasting, like any other high profile job, requires a healthy ego to succeed. Merle had one, but he was also secure enough in his own ability to be more than happy to help smooth the way for others. He could not have been nicer at that first meeting, going over how he liked to handle certain situations, asking what areas I wanted to highlight, and explaining how he thought we could get into the rhythm of a broadcast with three announcers.

The broadcast went smoothly, and Texas won easily. As the contest was wrapping up, we were running right up against the top of the hour and our end time. The director was frantically screaming into the headsets to Merle to Wrap it up, wrap it up, we gotta get out!”

Now having just met Randy and I, Merle had written our names on an index card. As the director is still pushing him to get out, and as the teams are walking off the field Merle says,

Once again our final tonight, Texas 35 Utah State 17.  So from Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas  (picking up the index card) this is Steve Ross  (he pauses, I give him a quizzical look, then without missing a beat he says) WITH Merle Harmon and Randy McEachern!

We hit the break right on time.

I had the privilege of working with Merle Harmon several more times over the years — including the 1983 Texas-OU contest. He was one of the most positive and upbeat persons I have ever known.

Harry Kalas and Merle Harmon were both confident enough in their own abilities that giving guidance and direction to fellow broadcasters was second-nature to them. I will be forever grateful that I was able to cross their paths

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14 Responses

  1. Spring Branch Horn said:

    April 17th, 2009 at 8:53 am

    Great stuff – Loel Passe was absolutely hilarious to listen to – he was a homer but he and Gene combined to make the perfect combination. Prior to the days of every game being televised I listed to many a game of the Astros on AM radio. Games on radio had an excitement that TV can’t match. I can remember listening to games in San Diego and Los Angeles when the Astros were on one of their dreaded west coast swings and it would be nearly midnight and I would be the only one still listening while laying in bed.

    In the old days the Astros would find a way to lose what seemed like every game in the bottom of the 9th on the West Coast Swing. It was always Nate Colbert, Dave Winfield, Dave Kingman, Steve Garvey, Ron Cey,hitting a home run in the bottom of the 9th to win it. It always ended like this ……Elston says “here is the pitch” and then his voice would fade and he would say some like “its a deep fly ball…..” which would be followed by a crescendo of radio static and crowd noise which I was frantically trying to hear what was happening knowing full well that the longer that the static/crowd noice went that it was obvious that the Astros had given up the winning run once again.

    Oh well, just wait when we get them in the Astrodome…..Cedeno will get on base with a single in the 9th and steal second, steal third, and take home on a wild pitch!!!

  2. HenryJames said:

    April 17th, 2009 at 9:16 am

    Good stuff.

  3. Vasherized said:

    April 17th, 2009 at 9:44 am

    Having lived in Philly for a few years and witnessed the extent of suffering amongst local sports fans and broadcasters, Kalas was the first person I thought of when the Phillies won it all last year.

    Glad he got to see another title before moving on.

    Great story, srr50.

  4. Texoz said:

    April 17th, 2009 at 9:47 am

    Thanks for sharing those stories. I’m fairly certain that my grandfather had the Astros on the radio whenever I visited him as a small child during the late 60s. I’m certain I heard Harry Kalas a few times.

    My uncle was a golf broadcaster for many years, which obviously involves a lot of travel.

    I was fortunate enough to tag along with his kids on a few of those tournaments/broadcasts during the summer. The PGA championships and the US Open were my two favorites to attend. My uncle had a wicked temper (runs in my family), but was a great role model and perfect gentleman to everyone he met.

    I gained a great respect for what he did during one tournament when his son was working the graphics van while he was doing the color commentating. I was up in the booth with headsets on watching my uncle work.

    Over the headset I could hear the producer, who was good friends with my uncle, screaming profanities at my cousin because the graphics were glitchy. My cousin, a NY native, was screaming profanities right back.

    This lasted for a couple of minutes. The entire time my uncle calmly did his color commentary on the golfers like he was lounging in his backyard by the pool. I almost laughed my ass off so I removed the headsets and scurried down the tower.

    Most people at home have no idea of the conversations that announcers hear while doing their job. My hats off to you guys.

    There’s not a lot of signature voices left on the airwaves and I think that dilutes the intimacy of sports, especially pro sports.

  5. Possessed 4-ever/Divine Lorraine said:

    April 17th, 2009 at 12:10 pm

    I’ve been living in The Philadelphia area for 26 years. Sports is ingrained in Philly culture. A city of 1.4 million family members, not only is Philly a unique place 2 live, those involved in the Sports Industry here are considered royalty. Kalas is not just a broadcasting legend, but a father figure to millions in The Delaware & Lehigh Valleys.

  6. Scipio Tex said:

    April 17th, 2009 at 12:19 pm

    I always enjoy this stuff, srr50. Thanks.

    Broadcasting has to be easiest looking hard profession there is.

  7. R Fourie said:

    April 17th, 2009 at 1:04 pm

    I used to stay up late listening to those west coast swings as a kid too. I distinctly remember during a game towards the start of the season (probably 1967 or so) Loel Passe saying “you need to get out and see this ballclub as soon as you can; we might just be looking at one of the greatest teams in the history of baseball.” Though with a much more interesting accent.

  8. Kafka said:

    April 17th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    Great stuff, brings back memories of my childhood when I used to listen on the radio to Harry Caray (”It might be! It could be! It is, a 3 run homer!) and Jack Buck broadcasting the St. Louis Cardinals.

  9. srr50 said:

    April 17th, 2009 at 1:39 pm

    My grandfather came to visit that summer. He was a huge baseball — and Detroit Tiger fan. The Astros were playing the Reds and Cincinnnati had a pitcher who hit fungos to outfielders before the game and he put on a show trying to hit the rafters.

    Houston won, and when the scoreboard “fireworks” went off, my grandfather looked like a kid in a candy store.

    A year or so later, I saw Don Wilson pitch a no-hitter against Atlanta. Bob Aspermonte made a couple of great plays at third to preserve the no-hitter, and Wilson got Hank Aaron out on strikes for the final out.

  10. Jolly Texass said:

    April 18th, 2009 at 1:14 pm

    I’m an Austin native and I’ve been to every major city in America and Canada.Philly is my fave.I like the old colonial section-America’s take on Euro-culture at its finest.I like all of the cultures indiginous to Philly region-Amish, Mennonites, the Quakers and the thees & thous of their speech. Then thers the pocono peope, the piney people-the food-and the sports legends like my man Harry Kalas.The fans in Philly never fail to amaze me.You only hear the negatives, but trust me, the “class” of sports broadcasting had a direct connection to all the people of Philadelphia.I even like all of the different accents in Philly-esp. the one that sounds like a Brooklyn accent with a southern drawl-that one caught my attention, oh, and of course the major league sports of Philly. The fans hate it when people would refer to Philly as the 6th boro of NYC-so much better in Philly…the trends, the people, the personalities…esp. Harry Kalas.

  11. Water cooler said:

    April 18th, 2009 at 1:29 pm

    I miss you already, Harry.

  12. NorthDallasSooner said:

    April 19th, 2009 at 10:37 am

    “Now having just met Randy and I(?), Merle…”

    That’s not an English degree you earned at the University of Texas, is it?

    Kalas was greatness.

  13. Loel Passe said:

    April 19th, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    He breezed ‘im!

  14. springbranchhorn said:

    April 19th, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    One more time

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