Any oldtimer recall their names? I use to listen to them, I think on WHO, very cool ,great voices and brought excitement.
Thanks
Thanks
Late 1960's Iowa basketball announcers?
- Thread starter CousinofSparty
- Start date
WHO was Jim Zabel. I grew up in Cedar Rapids so I listened to Ron Gonder on WMT. He was way better than Zabel. There was also Frosty Mitchell and Bob Brooks on other stations.
Thanks, I just remember the games were exciting to hear even though I was in E.L. as a grad student and MSU wasnt any good in BB under John Bennington.
Also Gene Claussen!
From 2002:
Claussen broadcast news and sports for 40 years in Iowa City.
Bob Brooks, retired sports broadcaster and occasional sports analyst for KCRG-TV, spent many University of Iowa football and basketball games broadcasting with Claussen.
"He loved the Hawks, too," Brooks said. "We enjoyed a lot of Iowa wins. He had a great ride of it."
Brooks told of how in 1980 the NCAA began limiting the number of radio stations that could air basketball games.
So Claussen, who owned KXIC, allowed Brooks, sports director for KHAKFM in Cedar Rapids, to join him broadcasting UI athletic events.
"That's how kind and generous he was," Brooks said of Claussen. "He allowed me to come on and join him and we could do the games together."
"He was a gentleman broadcaster, a delight to be around and to work with. I had great respect for him, not just as a sports broadcaster, but as an owner as well. I also knew him in that light."
Claussen grew up in Manning and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from UI in 1942. He served in the Merchant Marine during World War II from 1943 to 1945 and then returned in 1948 to start up KXIC-AM.
Bob Hogue......TV.
When it came to Hawkeye football and basketball on the radio (they were rarely on TV way back when), Zabel was too emotional, and Brooks not emotional enough. Gonder was a perfect balance. I never listened to Mitchell or Claussen, so I can't compare them.
Dolph doesn't hold a candle to any of them, unfortunately.
Who could forget Zabel's signature call for Hawk fans to "hug your radio" and of course his repetitive "I love it, I love it, I love it!"
Loved Gonder, especially for football games.
Zabel had some great calls, to be sure. Unfortunately the last several years he became a caricature of himself.
He was a good one, though
I'm lucky (?) enough to have grown up with a lot of legendary Iowa broadcasters. Seems like everyone had their favorites. Personally, I usually listened to Zabel, because I loved his passion, even though a lot of the time he didn't know what was going on. He was known more for his passion than his accuracy and was behind the microphone for every significant Hawkeye event for almost fifty years.
Occasionally I would listen to Bob Brooks on his football broadcasts. There was something about the sound quality and Brooksy's style that would sometimes make me feel as though I was listening to a game in the 1930's. For whatever reason, I just couldn't make a connection with Gondor, Claussen or the other assorted announcers Iowa had until they sold their soul to Learfield, who installed Dolph in the mid-90's.
Occasionally I would listen to Bob Brooks on his football broadcasts. There was something about the sound quality and Brooksy's style that would sometimes make me feel as though I was listening to a game in the 1930's. For whatever reason, I just couldn't make a connection with Gondor, Claussen or the other assorted announcers Iowa had until they sold their soul to Learfield, who installed Dolph in the mid-90's.
I also loved Ron Gonder and Bob Brooks...fell asleep many times listening to one of them calling an Iowa BB game. I replaced my 9V batteries MANY times in my little transistor radio in those days!
Preferred Gondor and Mike Riley "passing in the song books" when the game was in hand.
Go back a little further?
Tait Cummings.
Didn’t care for Zabel. Was a diehard Claussen and Gonder listener. After the game, two radios were playing in the house. One on WMT & one on KXIC. Occasionally I heard other stations from cars that were tailgating after the game.
Dolph unfortunately cannot shake his broadcast school delivery. Everyone is trained to sound like some network star, and it usually doesn't work.
Mom and Pop America had a lot more flavor than Corporate America.
Zabel was my choice but I listened to a lot of Frosty Mitchell too.
Zabel was my choice but I listened to a lot of Frosty Mitchell too.
I believe back in the day, Zabel had Sharm Scheuremann as his color guy for awhile....Hansen has been the guy for YEARS now....
Before everything went exclusive, WHO (Zabel) use to do all the Iowa BB games and some ISU and Drake games. They had games on constantly.
Zabel was good when he was young. Everybody now remembers him as he got old and wasn't that great.
Couldn’t listen to Zabel everyone game got tight or exciting you couldn’t tell what was going on. Guy was wayyyyy overrated. I’ll take Dolphin
Z was “unique” as an announcer, for sure. Accuracy never stopped Jim, though.
1970's era transistor radioBig Mack sack attack (Gonder and Riley)! And just what is a transistor radio?
All the cool kids had them.
Well, at least the poor, cool kids did.
Mine had a simulated leather case with holes in it, so I could listen thru the case!
Dad and I would sit in lawn chairs in the driveway with Gonder pumping through the radio. At breaks and halftime we play catch in the yard. Good times
My favorite was Ron Gonder who would occasionally throw out something that was off the wall like describing 6'8" Dan McGwire running for a first down looking kind of like a giraffe in heat.
I think Gonder was announcing a high school game...but the FUNNIEST radio call I ever heard was Gonder explaining to the audience a sequence where a player on the court was shaken up. It went something like this...
"Player A is hunched over as play is stopped...it looks like he may have an injury to his...lower mid-section. ...pause... Oh heck, let's just say it...he got RACKED!".
At which point my friend and I looked at each other and being quite immature HS punks...proceeded to laugh uncontrollably for the next 10 minutes. He was a really good guy and I knew his son and daughter in HS, the daughter was in my graduating class, FWIW. She was one of the finest people that was in our class, which I am sure is a reflection of her parents.
Tait was one of a kind. He and a guy from Madison named Roundy Coughlin were Damon Runyon type characters. I ran the Big Ten Skywriters tour from 1970-73 and got to know them all - Gus Shrader, Maury White, and msny other legendary Big Ten sportswriters. They are almost all gone now. I just hit 81 last week. I still keep in touch with Phil Haddy. He had good friends that are involved with a farm adjacent to ours in west Central, Indiana. Hoffman from Indianapolis who is a Hawkeye.
Zabel calling the game: "Podolak has the ball!! He's at the 45, the 40, the 30, the 20!!!" You'd think he was going to score!
Next call: "Iowa has the ball at the 43 yard line. " No explanation, just on to the next play. To say Zabel was excitable is an understatement.
Next call: "Iowa has the ball at the 43 yard line. " No explanation, just on to the next play. To say Zabel was excitable is an understatement.
Back in the day (of really poor Iowa football), Randy Duncan was Z's "color man".....Discussing Iowa's forlorn football status, Duncan offered up this explanation to Zabel...."Jim, I think it is Iowa's 20 game schedule that is hurting them more than anything..." Z answered "20 game schedule?? " Duncan answered, "Yep Z....there is the 10 games that Iowa plays every year and then there are the 10 games you broadcast every Saturday..."
Pretty accurate summation of Z's broadcasting career....Z's biggest asset was that he was the original "homer" announcer......Damn, Z loved him some Hawkeyes!
Pretty accurate summation of Z's broadcasting career....Z's biggest asset was that he was the original "homer" announcer......Damn, Z loved him some Hawkeyes!
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