Shelby Aldwin Whitfield (April 13, 1935 – February 5, 2013) was a play-by-play sports announcer, author and

sports director The title of sports director can refer to the director of a live sports broadcast. It can also refer to an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. Director Director may refer to: Literature * ...

for ABC Radio.

Early life and career

Whitfield was born in

Frost, Texas Frost is a city in Navarro County, Texas, United States. The population was 643 at the 2010 census. Geography Frost is located at (32.079218, –96.808544). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, ...

. He attended the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, where he announced games and did play-by-play coverage for the

Plainview Ponies Plainview or Plain View may refer to: * Plainview, Arkansas *Plainview, California *Plainview, Georgia *Plainview, Illinois *Plainview, Louisville, Kentucky *Plainview, Minnesota *Plainview, Nebraska * Plainview, New York *Plain View, North Carolin ...

, a minor league team based in Plainview, Texas. He joined the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

in 1955 and became the sports director of

American Forces Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...

within two years. He was a

Specialist Fifth Class Specialist is a military rank in some countries’ armed forces. Two branches of the United States Armed Forces use the rank. It is one of the four junior enlisted ranks in the United States Army, above private (PVT), private (PV2), and private ...

Washington Senators announcing career

Whitfield was a play-by-play announcer for the Washington Senators in 1969 and 1970.

''Kiss It Goodbye''

After Senators owner

Robert E. Short Robert Earl Short (July 20, 1917 – November 20, 1982) was an American businessman, sport teams owner, and politician. Background Short graduated from the College of Saint Thomas (now the University of St. Thomas) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, be ...

moved the team to Texas after the 1971 season, to become the Texas Rangers, Whitfield wrote a book called ''Kiss It Goodbye'', which was highly critical of the franchise and its management. The book helped prompt the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

to investigate the ethics of sports broadcasting.

Post-Senators career

Following his tenure with the Senators, Whitfield worked for

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, hosting the talk show "Sports Roundtable." In 1974, he joined Associated Press Radio, where he served as the sports director for seven years. Following his tenure there, he joined ABC Radio as its sports director in 1981. In that role, he oversaw coverage of multiple notable sporting events, including the Olympics. In 1991, he collaborated with sports journalist and announcer

Howard Cosell Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

on a book called ''What's Wrong With Sports''. He retired in 1997. He died in

Jackson, New Jersey Jackson Township is a township in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the township population was 58,544. A portion of the township is located within the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Roughly equidistan ...

at the age of 77 from complications from diabetes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitfield, Shelby 1935 births 2013 deaths American male non-fiction writers American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Deaths from diabetes Major League Baseball broadcasters People from Navarro County, Texas United States Army soldiers University of Texas alumni Washington Senators (1961–1971) announcers Writers from Texas