Ken Coleman | |
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| Born | Kenneth Robert Coleman (1925-04-22)April 22, 1925 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | August 21, 2003(2003-08-21) (aged 78) Plymouth, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Curry College |
| Years active | 1947–89 |
| Relatives | Casey Coleman (son) |
| Sports commentary career | |
| Team(s) | Cleveland Browns (1952–65) Cleveland Indians (1954–63) Boston Red Sox (1966–74, 1979–89) Cincinnati Reds (1975–78) |
| Genre | Play-by-play |
| Sport(s) | Major League Baseball National Football League |
Kenneth Robert Coleman (April 22, 1925 – August 21, 2003) was an American radio and televisionsportscaster for more than four decades (1947[1]–1989).
Coleman was born inHartford, Connecticut, in 1925, the son of William (a salesman) and his wife Frances. The family subsequently moved toDorchester, Massachusetts, and then to nearbyQuincy, where he was raised. Coleman graduated fromNorth Quincy High School in 1943.[2] He was a pitcher on the North Quincy High School baseball team,[3] and subsequently played in the semi-pro Park League. But Coleman had dreams of being a sports broadcaster from the time he was a boy, when he enjoyed listening to the games on radio.[4]
After serving in theU.S. Army, where he was a sergeant duringWorld War II,[5] Coleman took oratory courses for one year atCurry College, and then broke into broadcasting inRutland, Vermont, in 1947, working for stationWSYB. He called the play-by-play of the Rutland Royals of the Vermont Northern League, a summer collegiate baseball circuit akin to theCape Cod League. Coleman also was a newscaster and a deejay on the station.[6] He was hired by stationWJDA in Quincy, where he worked as a sports reporter until 1951; he then worked for a year atWNEB inWorcester.[7] During this time, Coleman was broadcastingBoston Universityfootball[8] during theHarry Agganis era.
Coleman received critical praise for his college football play-by-play, which led to his big break: in 1952, he got the opportunity to broadcast for theNFLCleveland Browns (1952–1965), callingplay-by-play of everytouchdown thatHall of Fame running backJim Brown ever scored. He also began hisMLB broadcasting career, callingCleveland Indians games on television for ten seasons (1954–1963). In his first year with the Indians, Coleman called their record-setting 111-win season and theirWorld Series loss to theNew York Giants.
Coleman broadcastcollege football for various teams, includingOhio State andHarvard, as well as BU. He was the play-by-play announcer for the 1968Harvard-Yale football game, a game forever remembered for theincredible Harvard comeback from a 16-point deficit to tie Yale at 29–29 in the game's last 42 seconds. Coleman also calledNFL games for NBC in the early 1970s, and later in his career calledConnecticut andFairfield basketball games forConnecticut Public Television.
In 1966, Coleman was named the lead play-by-play announcer for theBoston Red Sox on both radio and television, succeedingCurt Gowdy, who resigned after 15 years of calling Red Sox games to become the top play-by-play voice forNBC'sMajor League Baseball Game of the Week.[9] Coleman joined a broadcast team that also includedNed Martin andcolor manMel Parnell,[10] and signed a three-year contract that paid him $40,000 per year.[11] Coleman broadcast the1967 World Series (which the Red Sox lost to theSt. Louis Cardinals) forNBC television, working alongside Gowdy, and radio.
Coleman was the "Voice of the Red Sox" on bothWHDH-AM 850 andthe original WHDH-TV for six seasons, through 1971. When theFCC revoked WHDH's television license during the winter of 1971–1972, the Red Sox split their radio and TV announcing crews and signed a three-year contract withWBZ-TV. Coleman and color manJohnny Pesky worked exclusively on television through the 1974 season. In 1975, the Red Sox awarded their television rights toWSBK-TV and increased their telecast schedule from 65 to over 100 games,[12] and the new flagship station opted for a new broadcasting team,Dick Stockton andKen Harrelson. Coleman then returned toOhio. From 1975 to 1978, he was the play-by-play man forWLWT and theCincinnati Reds' television network, calling regular-season games for theBig Red Machine's back-to-back 1975–1976 World Series champions.
After the Red Sox' legendary radio combination ofNed Martin andJim Woods were fired for failing to follow the dictates of sponsors following the 1978 season, Coleman went back to Boston in 1979 and spent 11 years as the Red Sox' top radio voice. He broadcast the Red Sox'1986 World Series loss to theNew York Mets and two Red SoxALCS (1986 and 1988). Coleman remained in the Red Sox booth until his retirement in 1989. He worked with #2 announcersRico Petrocelli,Jon Miller andJoe Castiglione during this "second term" with the Red Sox.
It was Coleman who was on the call on theRed Sox Radio Network when Red Sox first basemanBill Buckner let a groundball hit byMookie Wilson of the New York Mets go through his legs at the end of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series:
Knight at second. Three and two. The pitch... groundball to first base. Buckner...it goes by him! And here comes...the winning run! The Mets have won it...6 to 5 on a groundball to Buckner...that went through him...for what has to be an error! And Knight comes home. And the Mets are still alive! They are going wild inNew York! As the New York Mets after the Red Sox in the top of the 10th inning, got two with two men out and nobody on...come back and get three and win it....win it...6 to 5 to force Game 7 tomorrow night. Game 7 tomorrow night! And we'll be back with a recap...in a moment.[13]
In 1972, Coleman returned briefly to the NFL, rotating play-by-play duties with Stockton forNew England Patriots' preseason games on WBZ-TV with no color commentators.
Additionally, he wrote books on sportscasting, was one of the founding fathers of the Red Sox Booster Club and the BoSox Club, and was intimately involved with theJimmy Fund, which raises money forcancer research.
Coleman followed the routine of taking a swim in the Atlantic Ocean as often as he could through the late fall and into the earliest days of spring, until his death.
He was the father of the late Cleveland sports and newscasterCasey Coleman, who died in 2006 frompancreatic cancer.
Coleman was inducted into theBoston Red Sox Hall of Fame on May 18, 2000, at the age of 75. He died three years later, aged 78, inPlymouth, Massachusetts, from complications of bacterial meningitis.[14]
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