Robert Joseph DeLaney (April 21, 1924 – November 25, 2008) was an American sportscaster. A 1942 graduate of

Elmira Free Academy Ernie Davis Academy, formerly Elmira Free Academy, is the junior high school in Elmira, New York, United States. In September 2014 it merged with Southside High School (now Elmira High School). It has 855 students in grades 7–8 with a student- ...

, DeLaney served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

in the Pacific theater during World War II, stationed in New Caledonia. After returning to the States, he attended Syracuse University and worked with radio station

WFBL WFBL (1390 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Syracuse, New York and owned by Wolf Radio, Inc. It serves Syracuse and its suburbs, with studios and offices located on Smokey Hollow Road in Baldwinsville. Since September 2017 the stati ...

in Syracuse. When the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

and Boston Braves decided to separate their radio coverage in 1951,

Curt Gowdy Curtis Edward Gowdy (July 31, 1919 – February 20, 2006) was an American sportscaster. He called Boston Red Sox games on radio and TV for 15 years, and then covered many nationally televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports and ABC S ...

Tom Hussey Thomas Goldsmith Hussey (November 10, 1910 – March 8, 1982) was a Major League Baseball announcer for the Boston Red Sox and Boston Braves. Early life Hussey was born on November 10, 1910 in Marblehead, Massachusetts, the son of Thomas P. and M ...

and DeLaney were hired to call Red Sox games on WHDH. At the end of the 1954 season, DeLaney was hired to replace

Ernie Harwell William Earnest Harwell (January 25, 1918 – May 4, 2010) was an American sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games. For 55 seasons, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the actio ...

on New York Giants broadcasts. When the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958, DeLaney was replaced by local announcer

Lon Simmons Lonnie Alexander "Lon" Simmons (July 19, 1923 – April 5, 2015) was an American sports announcer, best known for his play-by-play broadcasts of San Francisco Giants baseball and San Francisco 49ers football. He was born in Vancouver, Washin ...

. After his stint with the Giants, DeLaney was hired as the announcer for live commercials for

Atlantic Refining Company Atlantic Petroleum was an oil company in the Eastern United States headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a direct descendant of the Standard Oil Trust. It was also one of the companies that merged with Richfield Oil Corporation to form ...

during

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

games, a job he held for ten seasons. In April 1959, DeLaney became the announcer for

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

's presidential campaign. After the election, DeLaney worked as a television sports host in New York City from 1962 to 1968 on WPIX and called the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...

Football Game of the Week on radio from 1964 to 1968. During the 1970s he served as narrator for the ''

NFL Films Game of the Week The ''NFL Films Game of the Week'', formerly known as the ''NFL Game of the Week'', is a television program that aired from 1965 to 2007. The show presented one or two NFL games from the previous week compressed into a one-hour program. Format '' ...

'', a disc jockey at WFAS in

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

, and a freelance commercial

voiceover Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...

artist. He died on November 25, 2008, from complications of a stroke at St. John's Queens Hospital.

References

Boston Globe Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delaney, Bob 1924 births 2008 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II Boston Red Sox announcers College football announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters New York Giants (NL) announcers New York Yankees announcers NFL Films people Sportspeople from Elmira, New York United States Army soldiers Syracuse University alumni