Thomas Graham McNamee was an American radio broadcaster, the medium's most recognized national personality in its first international decade.
19 Facts About Graham McNamee
2.
Graham McNamee originated play-by-play sports broadcasting for which he was awarded the Ford C Frick Award by the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016.
3.
Graham McNamee's father, John B McNamee, was an attorney and legal advisor to President Grover Cleveland's cabinet, and his mother, Anne, was a homemaker, who sang in a church choir.
4.
Graham McNamee studied voice as a youth and sang in churches, and in 1922 gave a concert in Aeolian Hall, New York.
5.
Graham McNamee was given an audition and hired as a staff announcer on the spot.
6.
Graham McNamee became well known for his broadcasts of numerous sports events, including several World Series, Rose Bowl games, championship boxing matches, and Indianapolis 500 races.
7.
In 1923, announcer Graham McNamee was assigned to help the sportswriters with their broadcasts.
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Graham McNamee was not a trained sports writer, so he immediately began to describe what he was seeing as it happened, thus originating play-by-play sports broadcasting.
9.
Graham McNamee was featured on the cover of the October 3,1927, issue of Time magazine.
10.
Graham McNamee continued to broadcast into the 1930s, as an announcer on such weekly programs as Rudy Vallee's, and Ed Wynn's.
11.
Graham McNamee played straight man on the latter, reacting to Wynn's gags.
12.
Graham McNamee worked in motion pictures, narrating Krakatoa, Universal Pictures' weekly Universal Newsreels, and Camera Thrills, an Academy Award-nominated short subject produced and directed by Charles E Ford.
13.
Graham McNamee was married twice: the first time, in 1921, to concert and church soprano Josephine Garrett.
14.
Graham McNamee died on May 9,1942, at St Lukes Hospital at the age of 53.
15.
Graham McNamee was buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio.
16.
In February 1960, Graham McNamee was posthumously recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
17.
In 1964, Graham McNamee was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.
18.
On December 9,2015, McNamee was named the 2016 recipient of the Ford C Frick Award by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, presented during the Hall's induction weekend in July.
19.
Graham McNamee is portrayed by actor Dayton Lummis in The Winning Team, the 1952 film biography of Grover Cleveland Alexander.