TWO LEGENDARY VOICES SILENCED - Harold N. Kalas (1936-2009) & Paul Harvey (1918-2009)

Not every sports team can claim a voice that is so legendary, that he is well known outside of his team or sport. Harry Kalas was one of those voices. Not only was Kalas calling the games for MLB's Philadelphia Phillies for nearly four decades, but he was also the voice for numerous NFL games, and for ads for companies as various as General Motors and Campbell Soup.

Kalas, or known by Philadelphia fans as "Harry The K", was a native of Naperville, Illinois, where he was born on March 26, 1936. After a short stint calling minor league baseball games in Hawaii in 1962, he went to the majors with the Houston Astros in 1963, who were then known as the Colt .45s. In 1971, the Phils hired on Kalas, who was the master of ceremonies at the opening of Veterans Stadium that same year. He soon became the broadcasting partner of another legend, Richie Ashburn. Kalas and Ashburn worked together for 27 years, until Ashburn too suddenly passed away in New York after a Phils/Mets game on the evening of September 9, 1997.

Kalas began using his trademark "outta here" call for home runs in the mid-1970s, and is now known for pioneering the famous call. He was also well-known for his affinity for Frank Sinatra's classic song High Hopes, which he sung often, especially at rally events.

Kalas passed away suddenly on the job in Washington, where he was in the broadcast booth just a few hours before he was scheduled to call the Nationals' home opener against the Phils on April 13th. The Phils' president, David Montgomery, simply said, "we lost our voice." Especially for yours truly, the Conservative Statesman, this is a sad loss. Kalas has long been a role model of mine, especially since I have taken a liking into baseball and radio broadcasting in recent years.

Kalas may be outta here, but his legacy lives on.




Another legendary voice passed from this life just a few months ago. Paul Harvey was the voice of America. Millions of people, especially from working-class roots, grew up listening to him and trusting him as a source for news and storytelling. His audience in his later career is reported to have estimated 22 million.


Harvey, whose full name was Paul Harvey Aurandt, was born on September 4, 1918, and was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, right in the heartland, and amongst hard-working, rural folk. That is probably why he could so easily connect with Americans of industrious quality and roots in traditional, heartland values. A teacher noticed his voice in school, and encouraged him to go into radio, which is what he, of course, did. He started working for KVOO in Tulsa at the young age of 14.


Harvey eventually moved from station to station. He even went to Hawaii to cover the U.S. Navy during World War II. Finally, he found himself in Chicago in 1944, where he went to work at WENR, an ABC affiliate. The Rest of the Story was started here in 1946 as a tagline, and became a series in 1976. ABC Radio started Paul Harvey News And Comment for syndication on their network on April 1, 1951. The shows grew in popularity through the following decades, and Harvey became one of the most known and trusted voices in American history. He signed a 10-year, $100 million contract with ABC Radio in 2000. His health began to falter in recent years. His vocal cords were damaged in 2000, but he was back on the air in August 2001. He had many notable people fill in on the program in recent years, including Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Gil Gross, Tony Snow, and Scott Shannon. His son, Paul Harvey, Jr., often would fill in as well, training his voice to mimick his father's.


Harvey is another loss for me personally. I remeber traveling into town with my dad to go to college my first year at Tennessee Tech. I would listen to Paul Harvey on a regular basis on either the talk station in Nashville, 99.7 WWTN-FM, or in Cookeville, Tennessee, 780 WPTN-AM. I had also listened to him numerous times before then. I always enjoyed listening to him bring forth the news and the stories every day that I could listen. I always enjoyed a national radio personality who was mainstream, yet conservative.


The losses of these two men make the world sound a whole lot more empty.



Harry Kalas - Wikipedia
Paul Harvey - Wikipedia