John Francis "Jack" Buck was an American sportscaster, best known for his work announcing Major League Baseball games of the St Louis Cardinals.
46 Facts About Jack Buck
2.
Jack Buck's father was a railroad accountant who commuted weekly to New Jersey.
3.
From an early age, Jack Buck dreamed of becoming a sports announcer with his early exposure to sports broadcasting coming from listening to Boston Red Sox baseball games announced by Fred Hoey.
4.
Part of his childhood coincided with the Great Depression, and Jack Buck remembered his family sometimes using a metal slug to keep a coin-operated gas meter going during the winter to provide heat for their home.
5.
Jack Buck planned to quit high school in 1941 to take a full-time job in an effort to support his family.
6.
Jack Buck served on a 700-foot steamer named The Sheadle, where he began as porter and was later promoted to night cook and baker.
7.
Jack Buck maintained this position for nearly all of the next 47 years.
8.
The later part of his career found him working side by side in the Cardinals booth with his son Joe Jack Buck, who has risen to national sportscasting prominence.
9.
In February 1945, Jack Buck shipped out to the European theater of the war, where he was assigned to K Company, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.
10.
Jack Buck received further medical treatment at the 177th General Army Hospital in Le Mans, France, where he was awarded the Purple Heart.
11.
Jack Buck recovered, and rejoined his outfit sometime after German forces had surrendered.
12.
When his friend Bill Theil told Jack Buck he needed a roommate to attend Ohio State University with, Jack Buck decided on the spot to join Theil and enroll at Ohio State in Columbus.
13.
The suddenness of Jack Buck's decision meant he had no corresponding paperwork that could be used to formally enroll at the university, so Jack Buck attended classes of his own choosing until he was able to formally enroll.
14.
Jack Buck worked several jobs while attending college, including one position at an all-night gas station.
15.
Jack Buck started broadcasting Cardinals games for KMOX radio in 1954, teaming with Harry Caray, Milo Hamilton, and Joe Garagiola.
16.
Jack Buck was dropped from the Cardinals booth in 1959 to make room for Buddy Blattner; the following year, he called Saturday Game of the Week telecasts for ABC.
17.
Jack Buck was re-hired by the Cardinals in 1961 after Blattner departed; Garagiola left the following year, leaving Caray and Jack Buck as the team's broadcast voices through 1969.
18.
Jack Buck was well-respected in the St Louis community, where he lived and regularly volunteered time to host charity events.
19.
Jack Buck can be heard calling a 1964 Cardinals broadcast in the 1988 film Mississippi Burning, and makes a cameo appearance in a 1998 episode of the television series Arliss.
20.
Jack Buck called Chicago Bears games in his first two CBS seasons, then switched to Dallas Cowboys games, including the famous "Ice Bowl" championship game in 1967.
21.
Jack Buck called the 1965 Cotton Bowl Classic for CBS television and several later Cotton Bowl games for CBS Radio.
22.
In 1975, Jack Buck temporarily left his Cardinals baseball duties in order to host the NBC pregame show, GrandStand, alongside Bryant Gumbel.
23.
Jack Buck served as the CBS Radio voice of Monday Night Football for nearly two decades.
24.
Jack Buck served as a local radio broadcaster for the football Cardinals in 1980 and 1981, and returned to calling Sunday NFL games for CBS television from 1982 to 1987.
25.
Jack Buck was paired with Jay Randolph and Gus Kyle on Blues broadcasts and covered the 1968 Stanley Cup Final for KMOX radio.
26.
Jack Buck was succeeded after one season by broadcaster Dan Kelly.
27.
Jack Buck is most famous for his coast-to-coast radio call of Kirk Gibson's game-winning home run in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 1 of the 1988 World Series and his disbelief at Gibson knocking it out while hobbled by injuries to his right hamstring and left knee.
28.
Jack Buck's call of the play is so famous that it's sometimes played over the television footage of the play.
29.
Jack Buck concluded his comments on Gibson's amazing feat with this thought:.
30.
Jack Buck was not intended to be the main play-by-play announcer for CBS baseball telecasts when the network acquired the sport from NBC and ABC.
31.
The official reasoning behind Jack Buck's ouster was that he simply had poor chemistry with lead analyst Tim McCarver.
32.
Jack Buck was replaced by Boston Red Sox announcer Sean McDonough.
33.
Jack Buck made controversial statements about singer Bobby Vinton prior to Game 4 of the 1990 National League Championship Series.
34.
Jack Buck soon got death threats from Pittsburgh Pirate fans, who even went as far as leaving a footprint on Jack Buck's hotel pillow.
35.
The final baseball play that Jack Buck narrated for CBS television was Gene Larkin's game winning bloop single in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.
36.
Health concerns played a factor in this, as Jack Buck suffered from such ailments as Parkinson's disease, diabetes, requiring a pacemaker, cataracts, sciatica, and vertigo.
37.
Sick with lung cancer and showing the signs of Parkinson's disease, Jack Buck looked frail and struggled to maintain his composure.
38.
Jack Buck died on June 18,2002, in St Louis's Barnes-Jewish Hospital from a combination of illnesses.
39.
Jack Buck was interred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in south St Louis County.
40.
Jack Buck was married twice and had eight children in all; five daughters and three sons.
41.
Joe Jack Buck was the lead play-by-play announcer for both Major League Baseball and the NFL on the Fox network.
42.
Joe Jack Buck has done occasional local telecasts for the Cardinals as well as commercials for a local automobile dealership.
43.
Jack and Joe Buck are the only father and son to call play-by-play of Super Bowl telecasts.
44.
Jack Buck was inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame in 1990, the Missouri Athletic Club Hall of Fame in 1993, the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1995, and the NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2005.
45.
Jack Buck is honored with a star on the St Louis Walk of Fame.
46.
The Jack Buck Award, presented by the Missouri Athletic Club "in recognition of the enthusiastic and dedicated support of sports in St Louis", is named in his honor.