28 Facts About Harry Wismer

Harry Wismer was an American sports broadcaster and the charter owner of the New York Titans franchise in the American Football League.

Harry Wismer was born on June 30,1911 in Port Huron, Michigan to Fred R Wismer and his wife.

Harry Wismer was a multiple sport star at Port Huron High School, but bad grades temporarily derailed his college plans and he entered a private school, earning letters in football, basketball, and baseball at St John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin.

Harry Wismer played college football at both the University of Florida and Michigan State College, his playing career ending at the latter school when he damaged a knee severely during a game against the University of Michigan.

Harry Wismer then began broadcasting Michigan State sports on MSC's radio station WKAR in a position arranged for him by Spartans head coach Charlie Bachman.

Harry Wismer soon began doing a ten-minute daily radio show covering the Lions in addition to his PA duties, while continuing as a student at Michigan State.

However, a subsequent management change at ABC led to a new regime that was hostile to sports, and Harry Wismer became a free-lancer, selling his service to the highest bidder.

Harry Wismer became known for an enormous ego and developed a reputation as a "namedropper", preferring to announce the names of celebrities of his acquaintance who were in the audience to the actual game action, and was alleged at times to include them in the crowd of games which he announced when they were in fact elsewhere.

Harry Wismer often added the sound commentary long after the games were over, and added a radio style commentary with sound effects such as referee whistles to recreate an authentic sound.

Harry Wismer was owner of HarFilms, a short-lived New Orleans-based sports film production company.

Harry Wismer appeared in the 1948 Hollywood production Triple Threat as a football broadcaster.

Harry Wismer achieved the height of his fame as the voice of the Washington Redskins.

Harry Wismer was involved for a time in the broadcasting of Notre Dame football.

In 1953, Harry Wismer was involved in an early attempt to expand football into prime time network television, when ABC, now with a renewed interest in sports, broadcast an edited replay on Sunday nights of the previous day's Notre Dame games, which were cut down to 75 minutes in length by removing the time between plays, halftime, and even some of the more uneventful plays.

Harry Wismer was a charter owner in the AFL, which was announced in 1959 and began play in 1960.

Harry Wismer was one of two owners with experience in sports team ownership and in broadcasting.

Harry Wismer had previously been a part owner of the Detroit Lions and the Washington Redskins, and his New York franchise was nicknamed the "Titans".

Harry Wismer devised a plan in which the proceeds from the broadcast rights to league games would be shared equally by all teams, which was very innovative at the time, and set the standard for all future professional football television broadcasting contracts.

However, Harry Wismer had realized that the fledgling league needed for all of the eight franchises to be successful in order to survive long-term.

The other serious flaw in the Titans' business plan was that Harry Wismer lacked the funding that some of the other early AFL owners, particularly Hunt and Oilers owner Bud Adams, possessed.

Harry Wismer, who had long tended to live "hard-and-fast", began to drink even more heavily, and eventually ruined his relationships with all of the other AFL owners, even Adams.

Harry Wismer wrote a book, The Public Calls It Sport, which was something of a combination autobiography and explanation of his philosophy of life.

Harry Wismer got involved in the Michigan Speedway project, which, to his great chagrin, was very slow to get under way.

Largely given up on, Harry Wismer rallied, and soon fulfilled his desire to return to New York City.

Wismer's brother John, a Port Huron radio station owner, claimed ever afterward Harry had been thrown down the stairs by mobsters, though for what reason wasn't clear.

Today Harry Wismer is remembered primarily as something of an eccentric rather than as a crucial founder of the AFL and one of the creators of professional football's modern era through shared broadcast revenues.

Mary Zwillman Harry Wismer was appointed as the Titans' nominal chief executive officer.

Harry Wismer agreed, later forgot about it, and Plimpton ended up playing with and writing about Harry Wismer's old team, the Detroit Lions, for the magazine and in the book Paper Lion.