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Vince Lloyd Skaff (June 1, 1917 – July 3, 2003), who worked under the name Vince Lloyd, was a
Vince Lloyd Skaff (June 1, 1917 – July 3, 2003), who worked under the name Vince Lloyd, was a radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
announcer
An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event.
Television and other media
Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narration ...
for Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
's Chicago Cubs for over 30 years. He also was the first radio voice in Chicago Bulls history.
Lloyd was born in Beresford, South Dakota
Beresford (; ) is a city in Lincoln and Union counties in the U.S. state of South Dakota. The population was 2,180 as of the 2020 census. The southern two-thirds is part of the Sioux City, IA- NE-SD Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the no ...
, and after graduating from Yankton College
Yankton College is a former private liberal arts college in Yankton, South Dakota, United States, affiliated with the Congregational Christian Churches (later the United Church of Christ). Yankton College produced nine Rhodes Scholars, more than a ...
in 1940 started his career with a number of local radio stations around the Midwest. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II.
During the 1950s, Lloyd was the sidekick to 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 ...
on Cubs and 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) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
broadcasts, during a time when WGN-TV covered both teams' home games and selected road games. When Cubs radio play-by-play
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...
man Jack Quinlan
John Charles Quinlan (January 23, 1927 – March 19, 1965) was an American sportscaster. He was best known for doing radio play-by-play for the Chicago Cubs, first on WIND (1955-56) and then on WGN- (1957–64). His broadcast partners were Lou ...
died in an auto accident during spring training, in 1965, Lloyd was promoted to that position and Lloyd Pettit
Lloyd Pettit (March 22, 1927 – November 11, 2003) was a sportscaster in Chicago and Milwaukee as well as the owner of the Milwaukee Admirals.
Early life
Pettit was born in Chicago and moved as a small child to the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood ...
was brought in to back up Brickhouse.
Lloyd then began a more than 20-year radio run partnered with Hall of Fame shortstop Lou Boudreau.
Various announcers have punctuated particularly exciting moments during a game with the exclamation "Holy..." something: 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 ...
and Phil Rizzuto
Philip Francis Rizzuto (September 25, 1917 – August 13, 2007), nicknamed "The Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career with the New York Yankees (1941–1956), and was elected to th ...
invoked "Holy cow!" Milo Hamilton
Leland Milo Hamilton (September 2, 1927 – September 17, 2015) was an American sportscaster, best known for calling play-by-play for seven different Major League Baseball teams from 1953 to 2015. He received the Ford C. Frick Award from t ...
's was "Holy Toledo!" For a while, Lloyd was known for "Holy mackerel!" During the 1970s, a fan sent the broadcasting team a cowbell
A cowbell (or cow bell) is a bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. Although they are t ...
, and when a Cubs player would hit a home run, Lloyd and Boudreau would ring the bell as Lloyd proclaimed, "It's a bell-ringer!"
Vince Lloyd was also the first baseball announcer to interview a current US president on TV, when he spoke to John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
during the White Sox TV pre-game show for the traditional 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, ...
season opener, at Griffith Stadium
Griffith Stadium stood in Washington, D.C., from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street (left field), and between W Street and Florida Avenue NW.
The site was once home to a wooden baseball park. Built in 1891, it was called Boundar ...
on April 10, 1961.
In the 1966–67 season, Lloyd teamed with Boudreau on Bulls' broadcasts for WGN Radio. He also was the voice of the Chicago Bears, Chicago Fire and Big Ten
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
football and pro wrestling.
Lloyd died of stomach cancer on July 3, 2003, in Green Valley, Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
.
References