Jim Gordon (February 15, 1927 – February 16, 2003) was an American

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

and

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 transm ...

newscaster A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on television show, TV, radio or ...

and

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 In linguis ...

sportscaster in the

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 U ...

area for nearly 40 years. He delivered the first

newscast News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or televi ...

for New York's WINS radio when it switched from a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "conte ...

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States and ...

format to

all-news All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news. All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news stations can run the ...

in 1965 and also had long tenures as the television "voice" of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its ho ...

and radio voice of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

. Later in life, he was also active in local politics in

Putnam County, New York Putnam County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,668. The county seat is Carmel. Putnam County formed in 1812 from Dutchess County and is named for Israel Putnam, a hero in th ...

Career

Gordon's career began in

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States * Syracuse, New York ** East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

, NY. In the mid-1950s he moved to his native New York City and over the next four decades worked at several major radio stations in various sports and news capacities, including WMGM and its successors, WHN, WINS, WABC, WNEW-AM and WOR. In addition to his broadcasting roles, he served as

news director A news director is an individual at a broadcast station or network or a newspaper who is in charge of the news department. In local news, the news director is typically in charge of the entire news staff, including journalists, news presenters ...

of WABC and WNEW. Early in his New York radio career, he hosted pre and post-game programs on WMGM broadcasts of

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californ ...

baseball games. He also called

college sports College athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games. World University Games The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale des É ...

and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

matches. As a news reporter, he covered riots and blackouts in New York and anchored WINS' coverage of the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, a ...

moon landing A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2, on 13 September 1959. The United S ...

mission on July 20, 1969. Gordon began calling New York sporting events when he was hired by

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsyl ...

in 1955 to be the radio voice of the

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

and

Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

. He worked in those capacities on-and-off in both radio and television over the next three decades, occasionally alternating with other New York sportscasters like

Marty Glickman Martin Irving Glickman (August 14, 1917 – January 3, 2001) was an American radio announcer who was famous for his broadcasts of the New York Knicks basketball games and the football games of the New York Giants and the New York Jets. Glickman ...

Les Keiter Lester Keiter (April 27, 1919 – April 14, 2009), also known as the "General", was a newscaster and sports director of Honolulu, Hawaii television station KHON-TV. Keiter, who also lived in New York and San Francisco, also called some of the ...

Bob Wolff Robert Alfred Wolff (November 29, 1920 – July 15, 2017) was an American radio and television sportscaster. He began his professional career in 1939 on CBS in Durham, North Carolina while attending Duke University. He was the radio and TV vo ...

Win Elliot Irwin Elliot Shalek (May 7, 1915 – September 17, 1998), better known as Win Elliot, was an American television and radio sportscaster and game show host. He was best known for his long tenures as a play-by-play broadcaster of NHL New York Ran ...

, Tim Ryan,

Don Criqui Don Criqui (born October 1, 1940) is an American sportscaster. He holds the record for longest-tenured NFL broadcaster in U.S. TV history, calling NFL football for 47 seasons (1967-2013) on NBC and CBS. Criqui's final NFL broadcast came on Dec ...

and

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 ...

. In between Knicks and Rangers assignments, Gordon appeared on

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street (Manhattan), 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS ...

network TV coverage of the

in the late-1960s and also was the original television voice of the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

, calling games in the 1972-73 season. Returning to the Rangers in the mid-1970s, he called their cable and broadcast TV games until 1984, when he was replaced by Sam Rosen. During some of those hockey seasons, he also called games on the syndicated NHL Network. In

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrati ...

, Gordon was hired to replace Marv Albert as the radio voice of the

football team. For 18 seasons (ending in 1994) Gordon called games on both WNEW and WOR alongside

Dick Lynch Richard Dennis Lynch (April 29, 1936 – September 24, 2008) was an American football defensive back in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants. He was a one-time Pro Bowler in 1963, when he led the NFL i ...

and (later)

Karl Nelson Karl Stuart Nelson (born June 14, 1960) is a former American football offensive tackle who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants. He was a member of the 1986 Giants team that won Super Bowl XXI. ...

. He was fired by WOR after the 1994 season and replaced by

Bob Papa Robert L. Papa (born September 19, 1964) is an American sportscaster who is currently the radio play-by-play voice for the New York Giants of the National Football League. Papa also is the lead broadcaster for PGA Tour Champions events on Gol ...

, effectively ending his broadcasting career.

Notable calls

Gordon is best known for his call of

Scott Norwood Scott Allan Norwood (born July 17, 1960) is a former American football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons with the Buffalo Bills. He also played for the Birmingham Stallions in the United States Footba ...

's 47-yard field goal attempt with eight seconds left in

Super Bowl XXV Super Bowl XXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the ...

, which would have won the game for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

: His trademark catchphrase was "Giants have it!", used during plays that resulted in the Giants taking possession of the football, Norwood's field goal attempt included. A near-iconic expression that Gordon used almost nightly while calling Rangers games: "Loose puck in front! (pause, followed by) No Ranger there." When a Ranger player took a shot and missed the net completely his trademark call would be the seemingly contradictory, "Shot on Goal....wide"!

Politics

Gordon was a resident of

and served as a volunteer firefighter and in several elective positions. That included a decade as a

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

member of its county legislature from 1986 to 1996. He was its chairman from 1990 to 1993.

Death

Gordon died from cancer on February 16, 2003, one day after turning 76.

Notes

References

External links

WNEW, The World's Greatest Radio Station
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Jim 1927 births 2003 deaths American Basketball Association announcers American radio reporters and correspondents American male journalists American radio sports announcers Boxing commentators Brooklyn Dodgers announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters National Hockey League broadcasters National Football League announcers New York Giants announcers New York Knicks announcers New York Rangers announcers Sportspeople from Brooklyn Syracuse University alumni California Golden Seals announcers