The Soundtracks Of Our Lives

I am taking a break from politics today to reminisce about something we may not think about much until they are silent. I am talking about the voices that narrated some of the great moments of sports that gave us incredible memories throughout our lives. I can still remember vividly some of the moments I shared with my Dad, which revolved around sports and music. My Dad was a Jazz fan, primarily the Big Bands. I remember the Boston Globe and Newport Jazz Festivals and listening to Duke Ellington at Cranes Castle in Ipswich, Massachusetts. I remember my first Patriots game when they played at Fenway Park, and going onto the field to stand in front of the Green Monster after the game because that is where his hero, Ted Williams, played for so many years. And there was the night we listened to Jose Feliciano’s Light My Fire at Harvard Stadium. We didn’t have much growing up, but damn, we have great memories. We lived better than the wealthy.

Growing up in New England, we were spoiled with some of the greatest voices of radio and TV, who brought our sports heroes into our living room or bedroom, and I went to sleep with their voices in my head. There were so many of the early pioneers of play-by-play. Curt Gowdy was the voice of the Boston Red Sox and the early years of the AFL. Many a fall Sunday, I spent with Gowdy and Pat Summerall, hoping for a Patriot win. There was Johnny Most of the Celtics and Fred Cusick of the Bruins. They were familiar voices that were part of our sports journey. These were the early days when the game was the story and the “voice” was the supporting cast, unlike today when it is often reversed. I wrote a couple of years ago about the man I thought had the best job in the world, Jim Nance. I am listening to him call the final holes of The Masters as I write this article. My opinion of Nance has not changed. His voice is like the violin to an orchestra. He is integral to the event.

Two legends said goodbye today as they signed off on their last broadcasts. Mike Gorman, who has been the TV voice of the Celtics since the Larry Bird era, and Verne Lundquist, who has been calling the 16th at Augusta since before Tiger Woods picked up a club, signed off today for the last time.

We celebrate these men for the careers they have enjoyed and the joy and memories they have given us. They are the voices you hear, and you are transported back to a moment in time and a memory that brings a smile to your face or a tear to your eye. Sports do not have the importance in life it did when we were younger, but I am thankful for so many memories. The voices that brought us those moments, whether early on via radio or on TV, are as memorable as a Carlton Fisk home run in the twelfth inning in ’75 or a Billy Rohr near no-hitter in 1967. To Curt, Ned, Johnny, Gil, Fred, and Jim Nance, thanks for the incredible memories I will cherish until my final breath.