Broadcasting career Merle Harmon

1 broadcasting career

1.1 1950s
1.2 1960s
1.3 1970s
1.4 1980s , beyond

broadcasting career
1950s

for 2 years beginning in 1953, harmon broadcast university of kansas football , basketball games first-ever voice of ku radio network. in 1954, called baseball kansas city blues of american association, moving major league kansas city athletics following year after franchise s relocation philadelphia. replaced saam, returned being phillies main voice. harmon first did athletics play-by-play on kmbc-am larry ray (1955–56) , ed edwards (1957–58), later on wdaf radio , television bill grigsby (1959–61).

he fired after 1961 season charlie finley, had purchased ballclub previous year, refusing participate in campaign intended spite sports editor of kansas city star.

1960s

harmon s first experience on national television came in 1961 when hired abc sports anchor various studio shows , call college football games. he, along chris schenkel , keith jackson, play-by-play announcers network s baseball game of week in 1965. broadcast partner jackie robinson.

he became primary broadcaster milwaukee braves in 1964, succeeding earl gillespie resigned become sports director @ witi-tv. after 2 years working alongside tom collins (1964) , blaine walsh (1964–65) on wemp-am, harmon not retained braves, moved atlanta , selected milo hamilton, voice more recognized in new market, instead.

harmon joined herb carneal , halsey hall minnesota twins broadcasts on wcco-am , wtcn-tv 1967 1969. had replaced ray scott, designated lead national football league announcer on cbs

harmon lent talents professional football, reteaming grigsby call kansas city chiefs games in 1963, first season after moving dallas. became voice of new york jets next 9 years, first on wabc-am (1964–70), on wor-am (1971–72). broadcast partners otto graham (1964–65), dick young (1966–67) , sam deluca (1968–1972). highlight of harmon s time jets team s run super bowl championship in 1968, included heidi game , victories on oakland raiders , baltimore colts in american football league championship game , super bowl iii respectively.

1970s

in 1970, harmon became lead announcer milwaukee brewers , continued in role through remainder of decade, teaming bob uecker. went business during period merle harmon s fan fair, chain of retail stores devoted licensed sports merchandise. grew 140 stores nationwide before sold business in 1996.

harmon play-by-play voice world football league s thursday night game of week telecasts on tvs in 1974, circuit s complete season. joined in broadcast booth regular game analyst alex hawkins , various guest commentators, included george plimpton, burt reynolds , mclean stevenson.

1980s , beyond

from 1980–1982, harmon worked nbc sports, calling regional nfl, mlb, , college basketball action , contributing weekly sportsworld anthology series. slated work on network s coverage of 1980 summer olympics in moscow, before u.s. boycott of games. in 1988, harmon returned call several september nfl telecasts nbc while network s regular announcers working year s summer olympics in seoul.

prior retirement broadcasting, harmon worked on texas rangers telecasts, first on kxas-tv (1982–1984), on home sports entertainment (hse) (1984–1989). during 8 seasons rangers, worked alongside steve busby (1982–85), mark holtz (1984), norm hitzges (1986–89), bob carpenter (1986–88) , greg lucas (1989).

harmon called southwest conference college-football telecasts regional broadcaster raycom sports in 1980s, paired former oklahoma head football coach bud wilkinson. called 1985 , 1986 liberty bowl broadcasts raycom well.

harmon made cinematic appearance, playing 1 of 2 ncaa finals announcers in 2006 feature film glory road.

prior death, active member of national speakers association, , self-published book, stories, collection of humorous adventures broadcasting career. successful keynote speaker @ numerous conferences , association meetings.

harmon died of pneumonia @ hospital in arlington, texas on april 15, 2009.