The American Sportscasters Association (ASA) was founded in 1979 by broadcaster

Dick London Dick, Dicks, or Dick's may refer to: Media * ''Dicks'' (album), a 2004 album by Fila Brazillia * Dicks (band), a musical group * ''Dick'' (film), a 1999 American comedy film * "Dick" (song), a 2019 song by Starboi3 featuring Doja Cat Names ...

(Hanna) and associate attorney Harold Foner as a non-profit association to represent sportscasters by promoting and supporting the needs and interests of the professional sports broadcaster.

History

In 1980, Louis O. Schwartz was asked to revitalize the association by founders Dick London (award-winning broadcast journalist) and (Attorney) Harold Foner and was named executive director. In 1983, a board of directors was established consisting of

Jack Brickhouse John Beasley Brickhouse (January 24, 1916 – August 6, 1998) was an American sportscaster. Known primarily for his play-by-play coverage of Chicago Cubs games on WGN-TV from 1948 to 1981, he received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Ha ...

Don Dunphy Don Dunphy (July 5, 1908 – July 22, 1998) was an American television and radio sports announcer specializing in boxing broadcasts. Dunphy was noted for his fast-paced delivery and enthusiasm for the sport. It is estimated that he did "blow-by ...

Dick Enberg Richard Alan Enberg (January 9, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of an approximately 60-year career, he provided play-by-play of various sports for several radio and television networks, including ...

Curt Gowdy Curtis Edward Gowdy (July 31, 1919 – February 20, 2006) was an American sportscaster. He called Boston Red Sox games on radio and TV for 15 years, and then covered many nationally televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports and ABC S ...

and Schwartz. Enberg was elected as chairman and Schwartz as president. In 1974, Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn's office asked founder,

, to form the Baseball Broadcasters Association of America. This was accomplished with the help of Joe Rickler and Monti Irvin from the Commissioner's Office. A few years later he formed the American Sportscasters Association, the umbrella organization for all sportscasters. After his retirement in 2000, Dick continued to perform on radio and TV. For two years he co-hosted a Sunday pre-game sports show covering all NFL games on KDUS Radio, Phoenix, the voice of the Arizona Cardinals, as well as weekly news and commentary. He also moderated the panel show "Air It Out With The Bad Boys" until the spring of 2008. Since 2008, Dick has been off the mic writing books, including "A Peaceful War," a modern historical novel, and others about his life experiences. Dick London's career as a print, radio and television broadcast journalist spanned 46 years. In the military, he was the public relations representative for President Eisenhower's Committee for Hungarian Refugee Relief. He received the First Army Award for humanitarian and outstanding service. He was a regular guest on NBC-Monitor, ABC, CBS, BBC and Radio Free Europe. He also produced a military Christmas show with singer Steve Lawrence on WNDT-TV in New York City. After the military, he was the TV News Anchor for a CBS-TV affiliate in Pennsylvania. That was followed by news anchor positions on WWRL/WRFM in New York City, where he became News and Sports Director before WRFM was sold to Bonneville. WWRL was the nation's number one R&B station. Under his leadership, the news team won several civic and national journalism awards including the prestigious Peabody. In 1976, one of the world's top survey organizations, The Lou Harris Company, said Dick's leadership position in New York State made his opinion particularly important to us. Other credits include his nightly half-hour world news round-up on WNYW, the CBS international affiliate, and his news anchor position at WNBC. Dick wrote many articles on social issues for religious organizations, including The National Catholic Register, The American Baptist Educational Ministries and the National Council of Churches. Dick has post Graduate Degrees in Broadcast Journalism and Media from CUNY, and NYU (Gallatin Division).

Halls of fame

In 1984, Schwartz established the ASA

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

to honor those who have achieved excellence in the field of sports broadcasting.''1997 Information Please Sports Almanac''. "Hall of Fame & Awards", p. 490. Inductees include: *1984 –

Red Barber Walter Lanier "Red" Barber (February 17, 1908 – October 22, 1992) was an American sports announcer and author. Nicknamed "The Ol' Redhead", he was primarily identified with broadcasts of Major League Baseball, calling play-by-play across four ...

*1984 –

*1985 –

*1984 –

Ted Husing Edward Britt Husing (November 27, 1901 – August 10, 1962) was an American sportscaster. He was among the first to lay the groundwork for the structure and pace of modern sports reporting on television and radio. Overview Early life and caree ...

*1984 – Graham McNamee *1984 –

Bill Stern Bill Stern (July 1, 1907 – November 19, 1971) was an American actor and sportscaster who announced the nation's first remote sports broadcast and the first telecast of a baseball game. In 1984, Stern was part of the American Sportscaster ...

*1985 –

Mel Allen Mel Allen (born Melvin Allen Israel; February 14, 1913 – June 16, 1996) was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940 ...

*1985 –

*1986 – Lindsey Nelson *1987 –

Clem McCarthy Clem McCarthy (September 9, 1882 – June 4, 1962)DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 173. was an American sportscaster and pu ...

*1987 –

Jim McKay James Kenneth McManus (September 24, 1921 – June 7, 2008), better known professionally as Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist. McKay was best known for hosting ABC's '' Wide World of Sports'' (1961–1998). His introd ...

*1989 –

Harry Caray Harry Christopher Caray (; March 1, 1914 – February 18, 1998) was an American radio and television sportscaster. During his career he called the play-by-play for five Major League Baseball teams, beginning with 25 years of calling the games ...

*1990 –

Jack Buck John Francis "Jack" Buck (August 21, 1924 – June 18, 2002) was an American sportscaster, best known for his work announcing Major League Baseball games of the St. Louis Cardinals. His play-by-play work earned him recognition from numerous hal ...

*1991 –

Ernie Harwell William Earnest Harwell (January 25, 1918 – May 4, 2010) was an American sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games. For 55 seasons, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the actio ...

*1992 –

Vin Scully Vincent Edward Scully (November 29, 1927 – August 2, 2022) was an American sportscaster. He was best known for his 67 seasons calling games for Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers, beginning in 1950 (when the franchise was located ...

*1993 – Howard Cosell *1993 – Marty Glickman *1994 –

Keith Jackson Keith Max Jackson (October 18, 1928 – January 12, 2018) was an American sports commentator, journalist, author, and radio personality, known for his career with ABC Sports (1966–2006). While he covered a variety of sports over his caree ...

*1995 –

Chick Hearn Francis Dayle "Chick" Hearn (November 27, 1916 – August 5, 2002) was an American sportscaster who was the play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association for 41 years. Hearn is remembered for his rapi ...

*1996 –

Chris Schenkel Christopher Eugene Schenkel (August 21, 1923 – September 11, 2005) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of five decades he called play-by-play for numerous sports on television and radio, becoming known for his smooth delivery and ...

*1997 –

Pat Summerall George Allen "Pat" Summerall (May 10, 1930 – April 16, 2013) was an American football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS, Fox, and ESPN. In addition to football, he announced major golf and tennis events. Summerall ann ...

*1997 –

Jack Whitaker John Francis Whitaker (May 18, 1924 – August 18, 2019) was an American sportscaster who worked for both CBS and ABC. Whitaker was a decorated army veteran of World War II. He fought in the Normandy Campaign and was wounded by an artillery s ...

*1998 – Ray Scott In 1987, the association established an International Hall of Fame. Its first inductee was

Masao Hazama Masao (written: 正雄, 正夫, 正生, 正男, 正郎, 雅雄, 雅央, 雅夫, 雅勇, 雅男, 昌雄, 昌夫, 昌男, 昌朗, 昌郎, 昌大, 政雄, 政夫, 政男, 政於, 征夫, 優夫, 聖雄, 利生, 将雄, 将夫 or 眞男) is a masculine ...

, one of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

's first television sports broadcasters. Other inductees include

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside f ...

boxing correspondent

Harry Carpenter Harry Leonard Carpenter, OBE (17 October 1925 – 20 March 2010) was a British BBC sports commentator broadcasting from the early 1950s until his retirement in 1994. His speciality was boxing. He was presenter of programmes such as ''Sportsnig ...

(1989) and Song Shixiong, sports commentator for

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...

(CCTV) for over 30 years (1995).

Recognizing sportcasters and notable individuals

A "Sportscaster of the Year" award has also been given to top sportscasters, including

Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he wa ...

Chris Berman Christopher James Berman (born May 10, 1955), nicknamed "Boomer", is an American sportscaster. He has been an anchor for ''SportsCenter'' on ESPN since 1979, joining a month after its initial launch, and hosted the network's '' Sunday NFL Count ...

Bob Costas Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952) is an American sportscaster who is known for his long tenure with NBC Sports, from 1980 through 2019. He has received 28 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from 19 ...

John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pl ...

and

Al Michaels Alan Richard Michaels (born November 12, 1944) is an American television sportscaster currently working as the play-by-play announcer for '' Thursday Night Football'' on Prime Video and in an emeritus role for NBC Sports. He has worked on n ...

. The association has also recognized sports greats and other notable individuals who have influenced society and the world of sports, including

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, ...

Arthur Ashe Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. He started to play tennis at six years old. He was the first black player selected to the Un ...

Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys, an Emmy and 10 Cable ACE Awards. Over his career, he hosted over 50,000 interviews. ...

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...

, LeRoy Neiman, and U.S. President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

Events

It has had fourteen Hall of Fame dinners with over 500 attendees at each one.

Board of directors

, its board of directors included Enberg,

Jon Miller Jon Miller (born October 11, 1951) is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball. Since 1997 he has been employed as a play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco Giants. He was also a baseball annou ...

Jim Nantz James William Nantz III (born May 17, 1959) is an American sportscaster who has worked on telecasts of the National Football League (NFL), NCAA Division I men's basketball, the NBA and the PGA Tour for CBS Sports since the 1980s. He has ancho ...

, Schwartz and

Bill Walton William Theodore Walton III (born November 5, 1952) is an American television sportscaster and former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for coach John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins, winning three consecutive national ...

References

{{Reflist A Peaceful War by Dick London and Winston Hodge - https://www.amazon.com/Peaceful-War-Winston-Hodge-ebook/dp/B008Y5J4QE A Peaceful War (audio book) by Richard Hanna (Dick "Hanna" London) - https://itunes.apple.com/us/audiobook/a-peaceful-war-unabridged/id582862842 Dick London News Director for WWRL 1600 NY, NY - http://www.las-solanas.com/arsa/surveys_item.php?svid=2357

External links

American Sportscasters Association
official website 1979 establishments in the United States American sports journalism organizations Sports organizations established in 1979 Sports television in the United States Sports organizations of the United States Trade associations based in the United States Organizations based in New York City

History

Halls of fame

Recognizing sportcasters and notable individuals

Events

Board of directors

See also

References

External links