Jack Buck
John Francis Buck was an American sportscaster, best known for his work announcing Major League Baseball games of the St. Louis Cardinals. His play-by-play work earned him recognition from numerous halls of fame. He has also been inducted as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum. He was the father of ESPN sportscaster Joe Buck.
Early years and military service
Buck was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, the third of seven children of Earle and Kathleen Buck. His father was a railroad accountant who commuted weekly to New Jersey. From an early age, Buck dreamed of becoming a sports announcer with his early exposure to sports broadcasting coming from listening to Boston Red Sox baseball games announced by Fred Hoey.Part of his childhood coincided with the Great Depression, and Buck remembered his family sometimes using a metal slug to keep a coin-operated gas meter going during the winter to provide heat for their home. In 1939, his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio to join their father, who had a job with the Erie Railroad. Soon after though, Buck's father died at the age of 49 due to uremic poisoning related to high blood pressure.
Buck planned to quit high school in 1941 to take a full-time job in an effort to support his family. Dissuaded by one of his teachers, Buck decided to finish high school, graduating from Lakewood High School in the winter of 1942. After graduation, he followed one of his friends and began working on an iron ore freight boat operated on the Great Lakes by the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company.
Buck served on a steamer named The Sheadle, where he began as porter and was later promoted to night cook and baker. After performing various other shipping related jobs, Buck attempted to become a "deck watch." A required physical examination revealed Buck was color blind, unable to differentiate between the colors green and brown. Ineligible for the promotion to deck watch, Buck subsequently became eligible for the military draft, and was drafted into the United States Army in June 1943.
After completion of his military service in 1946, Buck enrolled at Ohio State University. His early sportscasting career included work for the minor league affiliates of the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1954, he was promoted to radio play-by-play of Cardinal games on KXOK radio; the team's radio broadcasts would move in 1955 to KMOX. Buck maintained this position for nearly all of the next 47 years. He was known in St. Louis for his trademark phrase "That's a winner!", which was said after every game that the Cardinals had won.
In addition to his work with the Cardinals, Buck also earned assignments on many national sportscasts, including radio coverage of 18 Super Bowls and 11 World Series. Some of his famous play-by-play calls include the dramatic walk-off home runs hit by Ozzie Smith in Game 5 of the 1985 National League Championship Series, by Kirk Gibson in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, and by Kirby Puckett in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series.
The later part of his career found him working side by side in the Cardinals booth with his son Joe Buck, who also has risen to national sportscasting prominence.
Military service
After graduating from high school, he worked on large shipping boats that traveled the Great Lakes. Buck was drafted into the U.S. Army in June 1943. The physicality of Buck's work on the Great Lakes left in him good physical condition at the time he entered the Army. Buck, who was 19 years old, stood tall, and weighed. His first assignment was anti-aircraft training, and was sent to Fort Eustis, Virginia to undergo his 13-week basic training regimen.After completing his basic training in 1943, Buck was designated as an instructor, and assigned the rank of corporal. In addition to his instructor duties, Buck participated in boxing as a form of recreation. In February 1945, Buck shipped out to the European theater of the war, where he was assigned to K Company, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.
During the night of March 7, 1945, Buck and his compatriots crossed the Ludendorff Bridge at the town of Remagen, Germany. United States forces' successful capture of this bridge led to the Battle of Remagen from March 7–25. On the morning of March 15, Buck was the squad leader of a patrol that came under German fire in the Remagen zone. Wounded in his left forearm and leg by fragmentation, Buck received medical treatment on the battlefield from the only medic K company had at that time, Frank Borghi. He received further medical treatment at the 177th General Army Hospital in Le Mans, France, where he was awarded the Purple Heart. Buck recovered, and rejoined his outfit sometime after German forces had surrendered.
Declining to re-enlist, and turning down requests to enroll in the Officers Training School, Buck joined his compatriots in guard duty of German prisoners of war. Buck received orders to ship home in April 1946, effectively ending his military service.
College
After returning to the United States, Buck worked in various industrial-related jobs. When his friend Bill Theil told Buck he needed a roommate to attend Ohio State University with him, Buck decided on the spot to join Theil and enroll at Ohio State in Columbus. The suddenness of Buck's decision meant he had no corresponding paperwork that could be used to formally enroll at the university, so Buck attended classes of his own choosing until he was able to formally enroll.Buck majored in radio speech and minored in Spanish. He worked several jobs while attending college, including one position at an all-night gas station. He crafted his play-by-play skills broadcasting Ohio State basketball games.
After college, he called games for the Columbus Red Birds, a Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, in 1950–51. He spent the 1953 season as voice of another AAA Cardinals affiliate, the International League Rochester Red Wings on WHEC radio. His work there earned him an invitation to join the big-league Cardinals' broadcast team in St. Louis the following season.
Broadcasting career
St. Louis Cardinals
Buck started broadcasting Cardinals games for KMOX radio in 1954, teaming with Harry Caray, Milo Hamilton, and Joe Garagiola. 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 after 1962, leaving Caray and Buck as the team's broadcast voices from 1963 through 1969.After Caray was fired by the Cardinals following the 1969 season, Buck ascended to the team's lead play-by-play role.
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. 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 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 and Relief Pitcher.
Football
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 served as the CBS Radio voice of Monday Night Football for nearly two decades. 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.
In addition to MNF, Buck called numerous playoff games for CBS Radio, including 17 Super Bowls. 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 filled in for Lundquist, teaming with Dan Fouts to call two games.