Ray Scott | |
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| Born | Ray Eugene Scott (1919-06-17)June 17, 1919 Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | March 23, 1998(1998-03-23) (aged 78) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Occupation | Sportscaster |
| Spouse(s) | Bonnie Scott (2nd) Eda Scott (1st) |
| Children | 5 |
| Relatives | Hal Scott (brother) |
Ray Eugene Scott (June 17, 1919 – March 23, 1998) was an Americansportscaster, best known for his broadcasts for theGreen Bay Packers of theNational Football League (NFL). His brotherHal Scott was also a sportscaster.
A native ofJohnstown, Pennsylvania, Scott began his broadcasting career on local radio in the late 1930s. (Fellow announcerBill McColgan, in his introduction of Scott for the radio broadcast of the1957 NFL Championship Game, stated that Scott started broadcasting when he was only 17 years old.) Following a stint in the U.S. Army duringWorld War II, he moved to Pittsburgh, where he did play-by-play forCarnegie Tech andUniversity of Pittsburgh football andDuquesne University basketball.
Scott's first NFL broadcasts came in1953 over theDuMont network; three years later he began doingplay-by-play on Packers broadcasts forCBS,[1]
Scott was paired primarily withTony Canadeo on Packers telecasts. As the team's play-by-play announcer, Scott broadcastSuper Bowl I andII for CBS, along with the brutally cold "Ice Bowl" NFL championship game of1967. It was during this period that his terse, minimalist style (e.g. : "Starr . . .Dowler . . . Touchdown, Green Bay!") developed its greatest following. It also earned him a reputation as the "King of Understatement". Scott was also known for only occasionally using team names while broadcasting, more often identifying them by their city.
In1968, CBS ended its practice of assigning dedicated announcing crews to particular teams. Scott became the play-by-play announcer on CBS' lead NFL broadcast team. He was partnered withPaul Christman in 1968 and 1969 andPat Summerall from 1970 to 1973. During his tenure with CBS he called fourSuper Bowls, sevenNFL (laterNFC) championship games, and the1961 Orange Bowl; he also called major college bowl games forABC andNBC during this period.
Scott was the lead television and radio announcer forMajor League Baseball'sMinnesota Twins from1961 to1966, calling the1965 World Series onNBC television alongsideVin Scully, the voice of theLos Angeles Dodgers. Scott's famous minimalist style was evident in his call ofLou Johnson's home run that broke a scoreless tie and proved to be the game winner ("Kaat's pitch, uh-oh, it's a long fly down the left field line. Home run"). AfterSandy Koufax struck out his tenth hitter for the final out of the series, Scott stated "every pitcher likes to end a game with a strikeout. But this was not just any game. It was the 7th game of the World Series." After leaving Minnesota he called games for theWashington Senators in 1970–71 before returning to the Twins as a part-time announcer in 1973–75. Scott also calledMilwaukee Brewers telecasts in 1976–77.
CBS dismissed Scott in1974,[1] replacing him with his color commentator, Summerall. He was subsequently employed as a local radio announcer by theKansas City Chiefs (1974–75),Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1976–77), andMinnesota Vikings (1978–82). Scott also served as a narrator for theNFL Films Game of the Week in the 1970s and called play-by-play ofPhoenix Suns basketball in 1974–75, syndicated broadcasts ofPenn State football from 1975–81, theUSFL'sArizona Wranglers in 1983 and 1984, and thePortland Breakers in the 1985 season. In1988, Scott was one of several veteran announcers to call some September NFL telecasts forNBC, while many of the network's regular broadcasters were working at that year'sSummer Olympics inSeoul.
Scott also calledUCLA,Arizona,Arizona State,Minnesota, andNebraska football in the '80s; broadcastcollege basketball andgolf at various points in his career; and teamed withPatrick Ryan while doing high school and college football in and aroundBillings, Montana. From 1986 to 1988, he called the annualPeach Bowl game for theMizlou Television Network; at the same time, he was a sportscaster atKTVK in Phoenix, having wintered in Arizona since 1968.[2] In the later years of his life he hosted a syndicated talk show on the short-lived SportsAmerica Radio Network. In addition to sportscasting, Scott also read newscasts atWCCO-FM inMinneapolis in the late 1970s and early '80s. He also broadcast Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota in the late 1980s and thru the 1990s.
Scott died in 1998 at age 78 in Minneapolis following a long illness. He was survived by his second wife, Bonnie, and his first wife, Eda and their five children, including a son Patrick Scott, who resides in Ramsey County,Minnesota and broadcasts with Sheriff Bob Fletcher during their "Live On Patrol" podcast that streams onFacebook andYouTube each Friday night.
Scott was twice named National Sportscaster of the Year by theNational Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, was given regional awards by that organization 12 times in four different states, and was inducted into itsHall of Fame in 1982. Posthumous honors include induction into theAmerican Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame in 1998, receipt of thePete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from thePro Football Hall of Fame in 2000, and induction into theGreen Bay Packers Hall of Fame as a contributor in July 2001.[3]
Scott was ranked 28th in the American Sportscasters Association's list of the Top 50 Sportscasters of All Time in 2009.[4] His bare-bones style has inspired many sportscasters.
| Preceded by | NFL on CBS lead play-by-play announcer 1969–1973 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by First Jack Buck | Super Bowl television play-by-play announcer (NFC package carrier) 1966 (withJack Whitaker for the second half)-1967 1971–1973 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | World Series network television play-by-play announcer (withVin Scully) 1965 | Succeeded by |