With Gowdy, Sports Loses a Favorite Voice [4min]

Legendary sports broadcaster Curt Gowdy has died. The man whose voice described historic feats in baseball and football for millions of fan passed away at his Palm Beach, Fla., home. Gowdy, who was 86, suffered from leukemia. Just seven years after Gowdy made his broadcast debut -- calling a six-man football game in Wyoming in 1944 -- he headed east, eventually becoming the main play-by-play voice for the Red Sox broadcast team. In 1966, Gowdy was tapped to be the announcer for the NBC Game of the Week, a baseball staple for a generation of fans. He would go on to call 13 World Series and 16 All-Star games. In addition, Gowdy covered dozens of NCAA Final Four games. Gowdy called the first Super Bowl in 1967; he also was central to broadcasting several Olympic games and Rose Bowls. The first sports broadcaster to win journalism's prestigious Peabody Award, Gowdy also has a state park named for him, in Cheyenne, Wyoming.