William T. O'Donnell Jr. (June 4, 1926 – October 29, 1982) was an American sportscaster.

Life and career

Born in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and raised in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, O'Donnell attended

Fordham Preparatory School Fordham Preparatory School (commonly known as Fordham Prep) is an American, independent, boys' college-preparatory school in the Jesuit tradition located on the Rose Hill campus of Fordham University in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. ...

and

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

. After serving in the

Marines Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included Raid (military), raiding ashor ...

during World War II, he completed his education at Mohawk Valley Community College, then began his sportscasting career in

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

, calling

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

minor-league baseball and

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

football and basketball. He also worked as the nightly sportscaster for WSYR for many years. He was married to Mary Patricia O’Donnell and had five children: Kevin O’Donnell(sp:Jean, Erin(Velez), Kerrie), Kathleen Walther(sp:Joe, Caitlin), Colleen Flury(sp:Stevan, Michael, Shannon(Neidhardt)), Maureen Kane(sp:Tom, Ethan, Jimmy) and Eileen O’Donnell. The

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

hired O'Donnell in 1966, and he paired with

Chuck Thompson Charles Lloyd Thompson (June 10, 1921 – March 6, 2005) was an American sportscaster best known for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles and the National Football League (NFL)'s History of the Baltimore Colts, Baltimore C ...

to call their games on

WJZ-TV WJZ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios and offices on Woodberry, B ...

(1966–1977), WBAL-AM (1966–1978), and WFBR-AM with fellow broadcaster

Tom Marr Thomas Aquinas Marr (October 17, 1942 – July 7, 2016) was an American talk radio host on WCBM (680-AM) in Baltimore, Maryland, known for his conservative political views. He spent nearly 20 years as a newsman and sportscaster, including ...

from 1979 until health reasons forced him to step down early in the 1982 season. O'Donnell also contributed to national coverage of the team's appearances in the

1969 World Series The 1969 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1969 season. The 66th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Baltimore Orioles and the National L ...

NBC Television The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and the

1971 World Series The 1971 World Series was the championship round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1971 season and featured the first night game in its history. The 68th edition of the Fall Classic was a best-of-seven playoff between the defending World Series ...

NBC Radio The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...

. In addition to the Orioles, O'Donnell called

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983, when owner Robert Irsay moved the franchise to Indianapolis. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breeding and racing. It w ...

radio from 1966 to 1968, as well as

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, regional

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

and

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

games for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, and college basketball for

TVS Television Network The Television Sports Television Network, or TVS Television Network for short (commonly referred to as just TVS), was a syndicator of American sports programming. It was one of several "occasional" national television networks that sprang up i ...

. O'Donnell died at age 56 of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

Johns Hopkins Hospital Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1889, Johns Hopkins Hospital and its school of medicine are considered to be the foundin ...

on October 29, 1982."Bill O'Donnell, the Baltimore Orioles' play-by-play announcer for 17...," ''United Press International'' (UPI), Saturday, October 30, 1982.
Retrieved November 25, 2019 He was posthumously given the Herb Armstrong Award by the

Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame The Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame is a team Hall of Fame dedicated to representing the most significant contributors to the history of the Baltimore Orioles professional baseball team since the first season of Baltimore baseball in 1954, which has ...

in 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odonnell, Bill 1926 births 1982 deaths American Football League announcers United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Baltimore Colts announcers Baltimore Orioles announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Deaths from cancer in Maryland Fordham University alumni Major League Baseball broadcasters Minor League Baseball broadcasters NBA broadcasters NFL announcers Mass media people from Baltimore Sportspeople from the Bronx Syracuse Orange football announcers Syracuse Orange men's basketball announcers United States Marines Fordham Preparatory School alumni