I used to broadcast. I
worked for CBS with Bob Costas. I was up in New York with the head of CBS Barry
Frank, who was head of CBS sports at the time. He said “you’re a pretty good
golfer, can you broadcast?” I told him I would love an opportunity in
broadcasting and he gave it to me. The first guy I worked with was Bob Costas.
Bob Costas was a young kid at that time and never had paper in front of him. He
had total recall on everything. He was fantastic. Our first broadcast game was
the St. Louis Cardinals against the Green Bay Packers. The game was absolutely
terrible! They made a lot of mistakes. It was the first pre-season game and
they looked like a bunch of amateurs. Everything that could go wrong in a
pre-season game, did go wrong. Bob Costas and I tried to make light of the
conversation. I started telling stories and he was able to ask the right
questions to make the game into something the listeners would enjoy hearing
I was also given a
chance to broadcast for the Ravens when they were brought to Baltimore. I was
great friends with Art Modell. The first time I met Art Modell, because I grew
up in Cleveland Ohio, is when he took over the Browns in 1961. He had bought
the Browns from Paul Brown when Paul went to Cincinnati. It was in my rookie season
and in the first game I played, I crushed two vertebrae in my neck. I was placed
on injured waiver. Back in those days that made you a free agent. So, Art
Modell called me to Cleveland. He wanted to have x-rays taken to see if I was
alright. The doctors decided I would be fine, so Art said he would like to sign
me in Cleveland. He made me an offer that would have increased my salary by
30%. I went back to the Baltimore Colts’ general manager and told him I wanted
to go to Cleveland because they were offering me more money and it was my
hometown, I wanted to go back there. He told me “Tom, whatever they offered
you, we will match it.” So, I got a 30% raise thanks to Art Modell. In later
years, when he came to Baltimore for Preakness or other like events, I always
had Art Modell come to my radio show. Art and I just hit it off. I was in
attendance at his wedding. He was just the nicest guy in the world, everyone
loved him. He was a great philanthropist. When he finally decided to come to
Baltimore with the Browns, I fixed up memorial stadium and put down a brand new
field for him. That field was voted the best field in the football league at
the time. He was grateful for all the work I’d done and in return, he got me a
job in broadcasting for the Ravens. For the year we went to the Super Bowl, he
gave me and Scott Garceau Super Bowl rings. He was a real gentleman and people
don’t give him credit. He deserves to be in the hall of fame.
I had a great time
broadcasting with Scott Garceau for the Baltimore Ravens. The year that the
Ravens drove for the Super bowl one of my fondest memories. Dilfer was the
quarterback at the time. Although, Dilfer was a mediocre quarterback, he didn’t
make any mistakes. He was very conservative. He always kept us in the game and
the defense would make the big plays. It was just a fun drive. It was great
watching the progression of the Ravens into the Super Bowl. It was just a fun
time for everybody. I had a great time broadcasting and Scott Garceau is my
best friend. It was like broadcasting with a brother.
Sadly, all good things
come to an end. When BAL came around, they got the rights away from CBS radio.
After 10 years, the Ravens got a better deal and changed stations and that was
the end of Scott Garceau and I broadcasting for the Baltimore Ravens.
No comments:
Post a Comment