One of the areas of AFL history of which I know little is that of the men who are considered the voices of the AFL, the radio and television broadcasters for the league and individual teams. My lack of familiarity is likely due to my growing up in a different decade, but regardless, my knowledge is not what it should be.
Still, as part of the old AFL, these men are of great interest, especially as they were the ones who brought the games into homes across the nation.
Recently I was fortunate to purchase more than 20 1964 Topps AFL team cards that had been autographed by various league personalities. Owners, coaches, announcers and players can all be found on these cards, and the purchase spurred me to do a bit of reading on some of these media personalities.
– Bill Grigsby – Bill Grigsby’s broadcasting career began in 1957, when he took over as the play-by-play voice of the Joplin Miners baseball team. He joined the Kansas City Athletics broadcasting team in 1959. He was hired by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963, and was a fixture of their broadcasting team until his retirement in 2009. Grigsby had the distinction of working both Super Bowl I and IV. He died in 2011 after a battle with prostate cancer.
– Merle Harmon – Merle Harmon’s time behind the microphone began in 1947, as a member of the broadcast team of the Topeka Owls minor league baseball team. Harmon had an extensive career in the sports media, announcing for five major league baseball team and two AFL teams. He teamed with Bill Grigsby on the Chiefs broadcasts in 1963, but then became the voice of the New York Jets from 1964-1970. Harmon retired in 1989, after spending the past several years with the Texas Rangers. He died in 2009.
– Van Miller – More so than the gentlemen above, Van Miller is synonymous with one team, and that is the Buffalo Bills. Miller called his first Bills game in 1960, and with the exception of a seven-year hiatus (1971-1977) during which the Bills were covered by a rival station, stayed with the team through his retirement in 2003.
I always thought the best AFL announcers were Curt Gowdy,Charlie Jones, and Al DeRogatis. They all had their own style, and always focused on the game at hand. The AFL telecasts also featured players on the field at the end of the game getting interviewed with headsets on, with the announcers in the booth asking the questions. The NFL at the time never did this.
Gowdy, etc. were the national TV announcers. Grigsby was the Chiefs announcer for many years on their regional network.
I got hooked on the AFL at age 7 in 1967. Being from the Oakland area, Bill King and Scotty Sterling were on the radio every Sunday home game – when not watching NBC with Curt Gowdy and Charlie Jones.
There’s a great biography out right now on King’s life (who also broadcast the Warriors of the NBA and later the A’s of MLB) called “Holy Toledo – Lessons from Bill King, Renaissance Man of the Mic.” I highly recommend it, several AFL tales told.
I remember Van Miller to be the consummate announcer. Yes, he was a “homer”, a true Bills fan, but at the same time he told it as he saw it, never sugar-coating it when the Bills were lousy. Will never forget sitting in the basement with my buddy listening to him call the 1964 AFL Championship game, especially when Mike Stratton knocked Keith Lincoln out of the game. Man, was Van excited over that; and when the Bills won, WOW, I thought he’d break the mic. I think he probably would still call a great game if he was called back. To me, he will always be the real “Voice of the Bills”.
I remember growing up in Boston area that most Pats’ games were not televised at first, so on radio Bob Gallagher was key to following every Pats’ game for the first few years. late we had the national broadcasts and Wyoming nativeCurt Gowdy (who did the Red Sox TV for years in the early-mid ’60’s Ted Williams thru Yaz until the Cleveland Browns’ broadcaster Ken Coleman took over for the 1966-67 magical turnaround)was excellent, as were Charlie Jones and Paul Christensen. Al DeRogatis: not so much. Starting I believe in 1966, when the Pats could have been AFC Champs and in the first Super Bowl before Namath’s Jets upset them the last week(our star runner Jim Nance was out injured that day) and the Chiefs went on to win it, that Bob Starr (later in the ’80’s and later the voice of the LA Angels baseball) and Gil Santos were our radio team. When Starr left Gil moved up to announce and then-retired AFL-er Gino Cappelletti took over the color, which they did on and off for over 20 years until just 2011/2012.
I am JUST NOW learning about Van Miller, who was also the voice of the Buffalo Braves. I’ve just purchased, and started reading, Tim Wendel’s excellent book, Buffalo: Home of the Braves.
The Braves now exist as the Los Angeles Clippers, but the Braves (1970-’78) are truly one of the fascinating franchises in the history of the NBA.
I first learned about them as a kid in the late ’70’s, when they had their disaster of a final season (went 27-55 in 1977-’78). That team, which had just traded away Bob MacAdoo and Adrian Dantley, had Randy Smith (All-Star), Ted “Hound Dog” McClain, and Wil Jones (I had his basketball card). Dr. J once identified Jones as the player who gave him the most trouble on defense.
The legendary Marvin Barnes was on that team, too. Barnes was never the same, however, after being a major force in the old ABA. The Braves were a team that had great players, and they played exciting ball in the mid-’70’s–but they made some AWFUL personnel decisions. How many people know Moses Malone was a Buffalo Brave for two games in 1976 ? ? ?
Wow, what a FUN career Van Miller undoubtedly had–to be the voice of BOTH the Bills and the Braves ! ! ! I’d love to hear some clips of him announcing.
Curt Gowdy and Paul Christman made a great team in those early days. The AFL would have a National telecast East of the Mississippi and one West of the Mississippi each week. I remember as a kid when the Oilers (my team) were the National game I got all excited. I realize now that there were only four games each week and two of them were National Games, it really wasn’t that big a deal. Anyway, I remember one weekend late in the year when the AFL had a Saturday game in addition to the Sunday games. Gowdy and Christman went to Boston and did the Saturday game and then were in Buffalo for the Sunday game. You would never see a crew do that in today’s game.
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