Rory Markas (December 20, 1955 – January 4, 2010) was an American sportscaster best known as the

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

's play-by-play broadcaster for eight seasons and as the radio voice of the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

men's basketball team for 11 seasons. He also worked as a field reporter and part-time sports anchor for

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned a ...

. Born in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

, Markas was a graduate of

Los Angeles Valley College Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC, Valley College, or Valley) is a public community college in Los Angeles, California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, ...

, California State University-Northridge, and

Chatsworth High School Chatsworth Charter High School is a charter secondary school located in Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, U.S. History The campus was built with one-story buildings around a central quad as land was inexpensive ...

. He won four Golden Mike Awards, two

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

Sportscasting Awards, and the 2008 Radio Play-by-Play Award from the Southern California Broadcasters Association.

Early career

Markas previously worked for KTUC in Tucson,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

' KNX-AM and

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS Los Angeles, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship station of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the n ...

, the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

, the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

, Fox Sports Net West, and the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

's Salt Lake City Gulls and

Vancouver Canadians The Vancouver Canadians are a Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team located in Vancouver, British Columbia. They are members of the Northwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. The Canadians play their home games at Nat Bail ...

. He was also the lead announcer for '' RollerJam'' from its second season to its last. Most recently, and possibly his final effort, was the recording of the play-by-play segments for the upcoming motion picture "The Yankles". Rory Markas's voice is the first and last voice heard in the movie.

Health issues and death

In late 2008, Markas underwent surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain, which sidelined him for about six weeks.

Steve Physioc Steven Howard Physioc (; born December 28, 1954) is a retired American sportscaster who has called play-by-play for various baseball, basketball, and football teams. He retired while working with the Kansas City Royals, whom he had worked with si ...

, his Angels partner, filled in for Rory on several USC basketball games. USC's regular radio voice for football and previous voice in basketball,

Pete Arbogast Pete Arbogast (born December 5, 1954) is a radio announcer who is the voice of the USC Trojans. He has called football, men's basketball, and women's basketball for the Trojans and was the voice of the Cincinnati Bengals. Biography Arbogast was ...

filled in for most of the rest of that season. On January 4, 2010, the 54-year-old Markas was found dead at his

Palmdale Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the Antelope Valley of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On August 24, 1962 ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

home, the victim of an apparent heart attack. Many obituaries noted that Markas would be remembered for his signature "Just another Halo victory!" call after Angel wins, and for his call of the final play of the

2002 World Series The 2002 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB)'s 2002 Major League Baseball season, 2002 season. The 98th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL ...

at Angel Stadium. He was also known for his interviewing skills—for example, his Angels radio pre-game talk with former Negro leagues player

Buck O'Neil John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil Jr. (November 13, 1911 – October 6, 2006) was an American first baseman and manager in the Negro American League, mostly with the Kansas City Monarchs. After his playing days, he worked as a scout and became the fir ...

References

External links

*
Markas' biography on AngelsBaseball.com

News coverage of Markas' death from FOX11 KTTV

Highlights of Markas baseball calls
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markas, Rory 1955 births 2010 deaths American television sports announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Los Angeles Clippers announcers Los Angeles Angels announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Milwaukee Brewers announcers Minor League Baseball broadcasters NBA broadcasters People from Hollywood, Los Angeles People from Palmdale, California Sportspeople from Los Angeles USC Trojans men's basketball announcers

Early career

Health issues and death

See also

References

External links