DATE TAKEN: undated---CBS Announcers Hank Stram (L) and Jack Buck. ORG XMIT: UT28298
DOG COMMENTARY:
Long before there were Green Bay Packers fans calling for Fox to not allow their NFL broadcast crew of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to call Packers games….there was father, Jack Buck and Hank Stram (and sometimes Dick Vermeil, like in this video herewith) calling NFL games for CBS Sports.
John Francis “Jack” Buck was an American sportscaster….who was best known for his work announcing Major League Baseball games of the St. Louis Cardinals….as his play-by-play work earned him recognition from numerous Halls of Fame….such as the National Baseball Hall of Fame….the Pro Football Hall of Fame….and the National Radio Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum.
His early sportscasting career included work for the minor league affiliates of the St. Louis Cardinals…. when in 1954….Buck was promoted to radio play-by-play of Cardinal games on KMOX in St Louis….which was a position that he maintained for nearly all of the next 47 years. He was known in St. Louis for his trademark phrase “That’s a winner!”….which was said after every game that the Cardinals had won.
In addition to his work with the Cardinals, Buck also earned assignments on many national sportscasts…. including radio coverage of 18 Super Bowls and 11 World Series. Some of his famous play-by-play calls include the dramatic walk-off home runs hit by Ozzie Smith in Game 5 of the 1985 National League Championship Series….by Kirk Gibson in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series….and by Kirby Puckett in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series….all of which are in our ImaSportsphile library to be posted herein.
In the final years of his life, Buck also became recognized for writing poetry….culminating in national attention for his poem “For America”….which was written after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 on the Twin Towers in NYC. The later part of his career found him working side-by-side in the Cardinals booth with his son Joe Buck….who also has risen to national sportscasting prominence. When you combine Jack Buck on the mike….with the 1985 Cowboys and Rams facing off on the gridiron in this NFC Divisional Playoff Game….you dang near have a MUST SEE TV video to watch.
