Richard Eugene Weaver (November 26, 1926 – August 5, 2000) was an American sports announcer who was the play-by-play announcer for the

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

from 1971 to 1993.

Early life

Weaver was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana and grew up in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. His father, Everett Weaver, was an organizer for

John L. Lewis John Llewellyn Lewis (February 12, 1880 – June 11, 1969) was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from 1920 to 1960. A major player in the history of coal mining, he was the d ...

and the

United Mine Workers of America The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing worke ...

. Weaver attended DeVilbiss High School, where he played football and baseball. He also worked at WTOL, which had a program for high school students. After high school, Weaver served in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

Career

After leaving the military, pursued a baseball career, but an injury forced him to change his plans. He found a job at a radio station in

Columbus, Mississippi Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, on the eastern border of Mississippi, United States, located primarily east, but also north and northeast of the Tombigbee River, which is also part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterwa ...

. He worked four days a week as a morning deejay and called play-by-play for

Ole Miss Rebels football The Ole Miss Rebels football program represents the University of Mississippi, also known as "Ole Miss". The Rebels compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division of ...

. While there, he married Bobbie Leon Richardson. Weaver then had brief stints with WCAV in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

(1948),

WHSY WHSY (950 AM, "The Legend") is a radio station broadcasting a classic country format. Licensed to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States, the station serves the Hattiesburg-Laurel area. The station is currently owned by Timothy D. Lee's Lee Airw ...

Hattiesburg, Mississippi Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County, Mississippi, Forrest County (where it is the county seat and largest city) and extending west into Lamar County, Mississippi, Lamar County. The city popu ...

(1949), WPDQ in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

(1949–50), WIOU in

Kokomo, Indiana Kokomo ( ) is a city in Indiana and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Kokomo, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Howard County, the Kokomo-Peru CSA, which includ ...

(1950–1951),

WXGI WXGI (950 AM) is a classic hip hop formatted radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia. WXGI is owned and operated by Urban One. The station's studios and offices are located just north of Richmond proper on Emerywood Parkway in unincorpor ...

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

(1951), WCEN in Mount Pleasant, Michigan (1951-1953), WGEM/

WGEM-FM WGEM-FM (105.1 MHz; "News/Talk 105") is a radio station in Quincy, Illinois broadcasting a news/talk format. The station is owned by Gray Television. History The station signed on August 1, 1947 as WQDI. It was Quincy Newspapers' first broadcas ...

WGEM-TV WGEM-TV (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Quincy, Illinois, United States, serving the Quincy, Illinois–Hannibal, Missouri–Keokuk, Iowa market as an affiliate of NBC, The CW Plus, and Fox. Owned by Gray Television, it is a si ...

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ), known as Illinois's "Gem City", is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Illinois, United States, located on the Mississippi River. The 2020 census counted a population of 39,463 in the city itself, down from 40,633 in 2010. ...

(1953–55), and

KLIN KLIN (1400 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a news talk information format. Licensed to Lincoln, Nebraska, United States, the station serves the Lincoln area. The station is currently owned by NRG Media and features programming from Compass ...

and

KOLN-TV Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

(1955–56). From 1956 to 1965, Weaver was the sports director of KFH in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

. He was the play-by-play announcer for the station's coverage of high school and Wichita State Shockers sports. In 1963, Weaver also called

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

games on

KLIF The Norwegian Climate and Pollution Agency ( no, Klima- og forurensningsdirektoratet, Klif), named Norwegian Pollution Control Authority ( no, Statens forurensningstilsyn), SFT) until 2010, was a Norwegian government agency from 1974 to 2013 when ...

, but station owner Gordon McLendon let him go after he chartered a flight from a Wichita State game to a Cowboys away game at the expense of the team. In 1965, Weaver joined WBBM in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where he called Big Ten football and

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

hockey games and was also contributor to

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...

's national sports coverage. He then worked for KGO in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where he was part of the broadcast teams for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

and California Golden Seals. In 1971, Weaver joined WIOD in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

as sports director and play-by-play announcer for the

. He was with the team during its undefeated 1972 season and called five Super Bowls. He won Florida Sportscaster of the Year ten times. He retired after the 1993 season.

Later life

Weaver's wife suffered a stroke that confined her to a wheelchair for the final decade of her life. She died in 1991 and Weaver moved to

Okolona, Mississippi Okolona is a city in and one of the two county seats of Chickasaw County, Mississippi, United States. It is located near the eastern border of the county. The population was 2,692 at the 2010 census. History Okolona was named as Rose Hill in 1 ...

to be near her burial site. In 1993, Weaver married Joan Hoskin of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, whom he met while visiting his brother, Joe Weaver, a Detroit news anchor. Weaver spent his final years in Grosse Pointe Farms, where he died from

colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...

on August 5, 2000. Funeral services were held in Miami and he was buried in Okolona.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weaver, Rick 1926 births 2000 deaths American sports announcers California Golden Seals announcers Chicago Blackhawks announcers Dallas Cowboys announcers Deaths from colorectal cancer People from Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan Radio personalities from Chicago Radio personalities from Kansas Radio personalities from Miami Radio personalities from San Francisco Miami Dolphins announcers Sportspeople from Toledo, Ohio United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II