Chris Schenkel | |
|---|---|
 Schenkel in 1964 | |
| Born | (1923-08-21)August 21, 1923 |
| Died | September 11, 2005(2005-09-11) (aged 82) Fort Wayne,Indiana, U.S. |
| Occupation | Sportscaster |
| Years active | 1947−1997 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
Christopher Eugene Schenkel (August 21, 1923 – September 11, 2005) was an Americansportscaster. Over the course of five decades he calledplay-by-play for numerous sports ontelevision andradio, becoming known for his smooth delivery and baritone voice. In 1964, he did a final scene voiceover ofLyndon B. Johnson's controversial"Daisy" advertisement.
Schenkel was born on August 21, 1923, to second-generation immigrant parents on their farm in Bippus, Indiana.[1] He was one of six children.[1] He began his broadcasting career at radio stationWBAA while studying for apremedical degree atPurdue University where he was a member of thePhi Sigma Kappa fraternity. He served in the U.S. Army duringWorld War II and theKorean War.[1] He worked in radio for a time atWLBC inMuncie, Indiana.[2] and then moved to television, inProvidence, Rhode Island, and in 1947 began announcingHarvard football games. For six years he did local radio and called theThoroughbred horse races atNarragansett Park.[3]
In 1952, Schenkel was hired by theDuMont Television Network, for which he broadcastNew York Giants football and hosted DuMont'sBoxing From Eastern Parkway (1953–1954) andBoxing From St. Nicholas Arena (1954–56), replacingDennis James as the network's primary boxing announcer. Schenkel was at the microphone for DuMont's last broadcast and its only color telecast, ahigh school football championship game held onThanksgiving in 1957.[4]
In 1956, with DuMont exiting the network television business, he moved toCBS Sports, where he continued to call Giants games, along withboxing,Triple Crown horse racing andThe Masters golf tournament, among other events. Along withChuck Thompson, Schenkel called the1958NFL Championship Game forNBC. He was the voiceover talent for the firstNFL Films production ever made, the1962 NFL Championship Game between theGreen Bay Packers and theNew York Giants, also doing the play by play for the game on NBC with Ray Scott. Schenkel announced five of the six NFL title games from 1958 to 1963 on NBC, as the Giants played in all five.
ABC Sports hired Schenkel in 1965, and there he broadcastcollege football,Major League Baseball,NBA basketball,golf andtennis tournaments, boxing,auto racing, and the Summer and WinterOlympic Games. He became widely known for covering professionalbowling, mainly for theProfessional Bowlers Association (with the program becoming known as theProfessional Bowlers Tour). He covered bowling from the early 1960s until 1997, as it became one of ABC's signature sports for Saturday afternoons. His broadcast partners on the PBA telecasts includedBilly Welu (through 1974) andNelson "Bo" Burton Jr. (1975–97). Schenkel and his broadcast team provided exciting and colorful coverage to a sport not typically considered attractive to a television audience. From the late 1960s to the early 1980s,Pro Bowlers Tour typically outdrew college football and college basketball in the ratings. Many viewers considered it a weekly tradition to watch bowling on Saturday afternoons, which was a lead-in toABC's Wide World of Sports.
During his 36 years[5] on The Professional Bowlers Tour, there were occasions whenABC sent Schenkel away to cover other assignments. Strangely, he was away on assignment for the first three of the PBA's televised300 games. Given that Schenkelwas in the broadcast booth for three televised 299 games in the 1970s, light-hearted conversation circulated among the PBA faithful that Schenkel was a "curse" for anyone with a chance to shoot a perfect game on television. He would eventually call a televised 300 game on January 31, 1987, when Houstonian Pete McCordic bowled one in the first match of the Greater Los Angeles Open. Schenkel told McCordic it was a great moment for him, since he was away all the other times. Schenkel would be in the ABC booth for five more televised 300 games. Schenkel was also away the first time the7-10 split was converted on television byMark Roth.
In 1971,Statesboro, Georgia, businessman Charlie Robbins honored Schenkel by developing in his name, a scholarship for golf atGeorgia Southern University and calling the great classic, "Chris Schenkel Intercollegiate Golf Tournament", featuring some of the nation's top college golf teams. Schenkel had attended then named Georgia Teacher's College (1930–1958) while in the service near Statesboro during WW II. There are a few books in the School's library today with Schenkel's signed name listed as the one checking out the library book. The Schenkel Tournament ended after the 1989 event when it was discovered that the golf club hosting the tournament was all-white, but was revived in 1999 as theE-Z-Go Schenkel Invitational. This college event is regarded as one of golf's premier intercollegiate events in the East.
Chris Schenkel also did play-by-play (withBud Wilkinson providing color commentary) for the legendary1969 Texas vs. Arkansas football game, known as a "Game of the Century," culminating the first 100 years of College Football in 1969. The game garnered a share of 52.1, meaning that more than one half of the televisions in the United States were tuned in. Years later, Schenkel said "it was the most exciting, most important college football game I ever televised". Schenkel went on to broadcast many more huge games, including the celebrated Nebraska-Oklahoma match on Thanksgiving Day 1971, as well as theSugar Bowl national championship showdown between Notre Dame and Alabama on New Year's Eve 1973 (with Wilkinson andHoward Cosell, in a rare college football appearance). Schenkel was replaced byKeith Jackson as ABC's lead play-by-play man for college football telecasts in 1974, but continued to call college football games for several more years.
He was thespokesman forOwens-Illinois's "Good Taste of Beer"advertising campaign which began in 1975 and continued through the remainder of the decade.[6]
In 1975, he received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[7]
In 1976, Schenkel was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in the "Meritorious Service" category and in 1988 was inducted into the American Bowling Congress (nowUnited States Bowling Congress) Hall of Fame, also in the "Meritorious Service" category.
Schenkel was inducted in 1981 in theNational Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.
He was named National Sportscaster of the Year four times, and in 1992 received a lifetime achievementEmmy Award. Also in 1992, thePro Football Hall of Fame presented Schenkel with itsPete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. In 1999, he received theJim Thorpe Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 1996, theNational Football Foundation created an award in his honor, given annually to distinctive individuals in broadcasting with ties to a university.[8]
In 1999, the Professional Bowlers Association named the Player of the Year award after Schenkel.
In a 2009 vote by its members, theAmerican Sportscasters Association ranked Schenkel 25th on its list of the Top 50 Sportscasters of All-Time.[9]
In a 2010 podcast, comedianChris Hardwick (son of former pro-bowlerBilly Hardwick) claimed he was named after Schenkel.[10]
He was married to former dancer and model Fran Paige.
Schenkel had three children, Christina, Ted, and John. He also had three grandchildren, Christopher, Michael, and Katie.
Chris resided onTippecanoe Lake inLeesburg, Indiana.[11]
In 1971, Schenkel, a longtime friend ofIndianapolis Motor Speedway ownerTony Hulman, was a passenger in the pace car for that year's Indianapolis 500 race. AstronautJohn Glenn and Hulman were also in the car when its driver,Indianapolis-areaDodge dealerEldon Palmer, crashed the 1971Dodge Challenger convertible into a camera platform at the beginning of the race.[1]
Schenkel died ofemphysema in 2005 at the age of 82.[12] He is interred at Saint Johns United Church of Christ Cemetery inBippus, Indiana.
Schenkel appeared (along with Bo Burton) as the bowling announcers in the final match in the 1979 movieDreamer.
Schenkel appeared as himself in the1996 filmKingpin. He played the role of play-by-play announcer in the final match between characters Ernie McCracken and Roy Munson.
Another appearance was in the1994 filmGreedy. He played himself as an announcer of a bowling tournament early in the movie.
Schenkel's voice can be heard in the"Daisy" ad forLyndon B. Johnson in the1964 U.S. presidential election campaign.[13]
| Preceded by | Television voice of the Indianapolis 500 1966 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by None | Lead play-by-play announcer,ABC NCAA Football 1966-1973 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Play-by-Play announcer,NBA Finals 1966–1971 (withBob Wolff in1966 and1969) | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | American television prime time anchor,Summer Olympic Games 1968–1972 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | American television prime time anchor,Winter Olympic Games 1968 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lead play-by-play announcer,Major League Baseball on ABC 1965 | Succeeded by Bob Prince (in1976) |
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| National | |
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| Other | |
