Jack Buck

Sportscaster

Jack Buck was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States on August 21st, 1924 and is the Sportscaster. At the age of 77, Jack Buck biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.

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Date of Birth
August 21, 1924
Nationality
United States
Place of Birth
Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States
Death Date
Jun 18, 2002 (age 77)
Zodiac Sign
Leo
Profession
Sports Commentator
Jack Buck Height, Weight, Eye Color and Hair Color

At 77 years old, Jack Buck physical status not available right now. We will update Jack Buck's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Height
Not Available
Weight
Not Available
Hair Color
Not Available
Eye Color
Not Available
Build
Not Available
Measurements
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Jack Buck Religion, Education, and Hobbies
Religion
Not Available
Hobbies
Not Available
Education
Ohio State University
Jack Buck Spouse(s), Children, Affair, Parents, and Family
Spouse(s)
Alyce Larson ​ ​(m. 1948; div. 1969)​, Carole Lintzenich ​(m. 1969)​
Children
8 (including Joe Buck)
Dating / Affair
Not Available
Parents
Earle and Kathleen Buck
Jack Buck Career

Buck started broadcasting Cardinals games for KMOX radio in 1954, teaming with Harry Caray, Milo Hamilton (1954), and Joe Garagiola (from 1955). Buck was dropped from the Cardinals booth in 1959 to make room for Buddy Blattner; the following year, he called Saturday Game of the Week telecasts for ABC. Buck was re-hired by the Cardinals in 1961 after Blattner departed; Garagiola left the following year, leaving Caray and Buck as the team's broadcast voices through 1969.

After Caray was fired by the Cardinals following the 1969 season, Buck ascended to the team's lead play-by-play role (1969 was also the year that Jack Buck divorced his first wife Alyce Larson—whom he had married in 1948 and had six children with—and married his second wife, Carole Lintzenich, who gave birth to their son Joe Buck in the same year).

Buck teamed with ex-Yankees and Pirates announcer Jim Woods in 1970–71. In 1972, retired Cardinals third baseman Mike Shannon joined Buck in the broadcast booth, beginning a 28-year partnership. On Cardinals broadcasts, Buck routinely punctuated St. Louis victories with the expression, "That's a winner!"

In addition to Joe, Buck has three daughters who worked in broadcasting. Two are from his first marriage - Bonnie Buck, who currently works in television in Los Angeles, and Christine Buck, who started her career at KPLR-TV in St. Louis. From his second marriage is Julie Buck on KYKY 98.1 in St. Louis (she now works at [KTRS-AM 550], also in St. Louis). In addition, Buck's younger brother, Bob Buck was a sportscaster and sports director at KMOX/KMOV-TV in St. Louis.

Buck was well-respected in the St. Louis community, where he lived and regularly volunteered time to host charity events. In addition to his sportscasting work, Buck served as the original host of the KMOX interview/call-in program At Your Service beginning in 1960. His guests on the program included Eleanor Roosevelt.

Buck can be heard calling a (fictional) 1964 Cardinals broadcast in the 1988 film Mississippi Burning, and makes a cameo appearance in a 1998 episode of the television series Arliss. He also lent his voice to R.B.I. Baseball '95.

Jack Buck was also a renowned football broadcaster. In 1964, he began calling National Football League games for CBS television, following a four-year stint doing telecasts of the rival American Football League for ABC, which included the 1962 AFL Championship game between the Houston Oilers and the Dallas Texans—at that point the longest game ever played. Buck called Chicago Bears games in his first two CBS seasons, then switched to Dallas Cowboys games, including the famous "Ice Bowl" championship game in 1967. After the network moved away from dedicated team announcers, Buck continued to call regional NFL action through 1974, as well as several NFC Championship Games and Super Bowl IV. He also called the 1965 Cotton Bowl Classic for CBS television and several later Cotton Bowl games for CBS Radio.

In 1975, Buck temporarily left his Cardinals baseball duties in order to host the NBC pregame show, GrandStand, alongside Bryant Gumbel. In the 1976 and 1977 seasons, he called regional NFL play-by-play for NBC. On August 16, 1976, Buck called the first-ever NFL game played outside of the United States, a preseason exhibition between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Chargers held at Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. (Buck also worked NBC's backup Game of the Week during the 1976 baseball season before returning to the Cardinals full-time in 1977.)

Buck served as the CBS Radio voice of Monday Night Football (teaming with Hank Stram) for nearly two decades (1978–1984 and again from 1987–1995 after CBS regained the radio rights from NBC). Ironically, in 1970 ABC's Roone Arledge had asked via telephone about Buck's interests in becoming the first television play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Football, but because of personal animosity surrounding his previous stint with the network, Buck would not return their phone call. (The television play-by-play role would go to Keith Jackson instead, and later to Buck's CBS colleague, Frank Gifford.)

In addition to MNF, Buck called numerous playoff games for CBS Radio, including 17 Super Bowls (the most of any announcer). Buck also served as a local radio broadcaster for the football Cardinals in 1980 and 1981, and returned to calling Sunday NFL games for CBS television from 1982 to 1987.

Late in the 1990 NFL season, Buck's onetime CBS broadcasting partner, Pat Summerall, was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer after vomiting on a plane during a flight after a game, and was out for a considerable amount of time. While Verne Lundquist replaced Summerall on games with lead analyst John Madden, Buck (who was at the time the network's lead Major League Baseball announcer) filled in for Lundquist, teaming with Dan Fouts to call two games (both of which coincidentally featured the Cardinals, who had moved from St. Louis to Arizona by that time).

While much better known for his baseball and football commentary, Jack Buck was also the original voice of the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League. Buck was paired with Jay Randolph and Gus Kyle on Blues broadcasts and covered the 1968 Stanley Cup Final for KMOX radio.

He was succeeded after one season by broadcaster Dan Kelly. Buck also broadcast for the St. Louis Hawks and Rochester Royals of the National Basketball Association, and called professional wrestling, boxing, and bowling at various times in his career.

Showing his versatility, Buck also hosted the syndicated Top Star Bowling during the early 1960s.

In 1960, Buck along with Carl Erskine broadcast a series of late-afternoon Saturday games on ABC. were the lead announcing crew for this series, which lasted one season.

Despite temporarily losing the Game of the Week package in 1961, ABC still televised several games in prime time (with Buck returning to call the action). This occurred as Roger Maris was poised to tie and subsequently break Babe Ruth's regular season home run record of 60.

For a number of years Buck called baseball events nationally for the CBS Radio network, teaming with Brent Musburger to call the All-Star Game in 1976 and with Jerry Coleman to call the NLCS from 1979–1982. From 1983–1989, Buck variously teamed with Sparky Anderson, Bill White, and Johnny Bench to call World Series radio broadcasts on CBS Radio, including appearances by the Cardinals in 1985 and 1987. (As a Cardinals announcer, Buck had previously called the World Series in 1968 (on NBC Radio) and 1982 (locally on KMOX).) Buck, along with his CBS Radio colleagues Johnny Bench and John Rooney, was on hand at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on October 17, 1989, when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit. After the 6.9 magnitude quake rocked the Bay Area, Buck told the listening audience:

He is most famous for his coast-to-coast radio call of Kirk Gibson's game-winning home run in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 1 of the 1988 World Series and his disbelief at Gibson knocking it out while hobbled by injuries to his right hamstring and left knee. His call of the play is so famous that it's sometimes played over the television footage of the play. The television call was handled by long-time Dodgers announcer Vin Scully on NBC.

This was Buck's call. It begins here with Buck speculating on what might happen if Gibson manages to reach base:

The last sentence is often remembered and quoted by fans. Buck followed it with,

Buck concluded his comments on Gibson's amazing feat with this thought:

Buck was not intended to be the main play-by-play announcer for CBS baseball telecasts when the network acquired the sport from NBC and ABC. Originally assigned to the network's #2 crew (and therefore, work with Jim Kaat), he was promoted at practically the last minute after Brent Musburger was fired on April Fools' Day of 1990.

After two years of calling baseball telecasts (including the Saturday afternoon Game of the Week, All-Star Game, National League Championship Series, and World Series), Buck was dismissed by CBS. The official reasoning behind Buck's ouster was that he simply had poor chemistry with lead analyst Tim McCarver.

Buck was soon replaced by Boston Red Sox announcer Sean McDonough. Buck later noted that "CBS never got that baseball play-by-play draws word-pictures. All they knew was that football stars analysts. So they said, 'Let McCarver run the show ... In television, all they want you to do is shut up. I'm not very good at shutting up." Buck was criticized by some for his alleged habit of predicting plays on air.

Buck made controversial statements about singer Bobby Vinton prior to Game 4 of the 1990 National League Championship Series. After Vinton muffed the lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner" in his home town of Pittsburgh, Buck lightly referenced Vinton's Polish heritage ("Well, when you're Polish & live in Pittsburgh, you can do anything you want with the words!"). Buck soon got death threats from Pittsburgh Pirate fans, who even went as far as leaving a footprint on Buck's hotel pillow.

The next day, CBS Sports executive producer Ted Shaker spotted Buck in the hotel lobby and told Buck that he was in trouble. The final baseball play that Jack Buck narrated for CBS television was Gene Larkin's game winning bloop single in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.

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