William Malone Polglase (June 20, 1924 – March 8, 1973) was an American television and radio personality who worked for WMAL/ WMAL-TV in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

and was the first host of ''

Supermarket Sweep ''Supermarket Sweep'' is an American television game show. The format combines an ordinary team-based quiz show with the novel concept of a live, timed race through a supermarket. In the timed race, cameras follow the teams with shopping carts t ...

''.

Early life

Malone was born on June 20, 1924 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He graduated from

Brooklyn Preparatory School Brooklyn Preparatory School, commonly referred to as Brooklyn Prep, was a highly selective Jesuit preparatory school founded by the Society of Jesus in 1908. The school educated generations of young men from throughout New York City and Long Isla ...

, where he played football, baseball, and hockey. He attended the College of the Holy Cross for one year before leaving in 1942 to join the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as a Cadet in the Naval Service Training Command. After his active duty ended, Malone remained in the

United States Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Se ...

as a jet pilot.

Broadcasting career

Radio

At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Malone resumed his education at Fordham University, where majored in business administration. He was a member of the school’s football team, but quit after his freshman year. He then worked at the school’s radio station as a football play-by-play announcer and staff announcer. After graduating, Malone joined

WAVE In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (re ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. After six months, Malone left for WMAL, where he worked as an evening DJ and quiz show host. From 1953 to 1954, he was the color commentator for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

radio/television simulcasts. In 1957 he succeeded Jim Gibbons as WMAL’s morning host.

Television

Malone was the longtime evening sports anchor WMAL-TV. He also hosted a number of programs for the station, including '' Heavyweight Wrestling'', ''Bandstand Matinee Club'', ''Town & Country Matinee'', and ''Ladies' Home Theater'', as well as special events, such as the Cherry Blossom Festival and the President's Cup Regatta. From 1965 to 1967, Malone hosted ''Supermarket Sweep''. On March 8, 1973, Malone died in a car accident outside

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malone, Bill 1924 births 1973 deaths Brooklyn Preparatory School alumni Road incident deaths in New York City Fordham University alumni People from Brooklyn Professional wrestling announcers Radio personalities from Washington, D.C. United States Navy captains United States Navy pilots of World War II United States Navy reservists Washington Redskins announcers