Jack Drees
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John Henry Drees (February 8, 1917 – July 27, 1988) was an American sportscaster who worked for ABC and CBS, as well as various stations in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
.


Early life and career

Drees was born on February 8, 1917, in Chicago. He attended Austin High School and the
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...
, where he was an all-
Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...
center on the
Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball The Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team is part of the University of Iowa athletics department. The Hawkeyes have had eight National Invitation Tournament appearances, won eight Big Ten regular-season conference championships and won the Big Ten ...
team. After graduating, he went to work for WJJD in Chicago as a secondary baseball play-by-play announcer to John Harrington. His first day on the air was May 23, 1938. In addition to baseball, Drees also called
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
games and horse races from
Sportsman's Park Sportsman's Park was the name of several former Major League Baseball ballpark structures in St. Louis, Missouri. All but one of these were located on the same piece of land, at the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street, on t ...
for WJJD and sister station
WIND Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...
. Although he had never seen a horse race prior to calling one, Drees became "the most accurate and respected horse race announcer in the country" according to Jack Brickhouse.


US Navy

During World War II, Drees served 35 months in the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
. He served 33 months at sea as a gunnery officer on a merchant ship and rose to the rank of lieutenant.


Los Angeles

After the war, Drees returned to WJJD and WIND, but the stations had dropped their sports coverage. He later moved to Los Angeles, where he called horse races and served as Public Relations director for the
Los Angeles Dons The Los Angeles Dons were an American football team in the newly formed football league the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) from 1946 Los Angeles Dons season, 1946 to 1949 Los Angeles Dons season, 1949, and played their home games in the L ...
of the
All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a major professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many ...
. After the league folded in 1949, he returned to Chicago, where he called horse races and college football.


Television


National

Drees first television role was co-hosting '' Pabst Blue Ribbon Bouts'' with
Russ Hodges Russell Pleasant Hodges (June 18, 1910 – April 19, 1971) was an American sportscaster who did play-by-play for several baseball teams, most notably the New York Giants / San Francisco Giants. He is perhaps best remembered for his call of Bo ...
. His television broadcast of the 1963
Sonny Liston Charles L. "Sonny" Liston ( – December 30, 1970), nicknamed "the Big Bear", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. A dominant contender of his era, he became the undisputed world heavyweight champion in 1962 after k ...
-
Floyd Patterson Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in his ...
world heavyweight championship fight drew the largest audience in history up to that point. In 1954, he was hired by ABC to announce college football games with Tom Harmon. In 1960, he was hired by CBS to call St. Louis Cardinals football games. In 1967/68 he called
Super Bowl I The first AFL–NFL World Championship Game (known retroactively as Super BowlI and referred to in contemporaneous reports, including the game's radio broadcast, as the Super Bowl) was an American football game played on January 15, 1967, at th ...
and II for the CBS Radio Network. In addition to NFL games, Drees also called college football, golf, and horse races for CBS. He was the broadcaster for the 1971 contest between the
Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...
and
Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...
which would see Detroit wide receiver
Chuck Hughes Charles Frederick Hughes (March 2, 1943 – October 24, 1971) was an American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1967 to 1971 with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Detroit Lions. Early life Born on Mar ...
collapse toward its conclusion, eventually becoming the only NFL player to date who died during a game. Drees returned to ABC, and in 1972, hosted a 5-minute daily broadcast on the American Information Radio Network.


Chicago

During the 1960s, Drees broadcast the Illinois state high school basketball tournaments on
WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...
. He also hosted a program on WGN-TV called "Sports Unlimited". He was the play-by-play voice for
Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...
telecasts on
WFLD WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is owned and operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed WPWR-TV (channe ...
from 1968 through 1972. His broadcast partners were Dave Martin (
1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...
), Mel Parnell ( 1969), Billy Pierce (
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
) and Bud Kelly (
1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
).All-time Broadcasters (pre-2009) – Chicago White Sox.
/ref>


Later career and retirement

In 1974, Drees and James C. Mullen published a book entitled ''Where Is He Now? Sports Heroes of Yesterday - Revisited''. From 1977 to 1985, he worked for
WKRG-TV WKRG-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Mobile, Alabama, United States, serving southwest Alabama and northwest Florida as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Gulf Shores, Alabama–licensed The CW, ...
in
Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...
. In 1986, he retired to
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
. Drees died on July 27, 1988, of cancer at his Dallas home. He was 71 years old.


Personal life

Drees and his wife Mary were married on August 16, 1939. They had three children. Drees' son Brian was also a sportscaster, notably working for KMGH in
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drees, Jack 1917 births 1988 deaths American horse racing announcers American television sports announcers American boxing commentators Chicago Bears announcers High school basketball announcers in the United States Chicago Cubs announcers Chicago White Sox announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers American golf commentators Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball players Major League Baseball broadcasters NBA broadcasters NFL announcers New York Giants announcers Television personalities from Chicago Physicians from Dallas People from Mobile, Alabama St. Louis Cardinals (football) announcers American men's basketball players Austin Community Academy High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen