Cyrus Brown "Cy" Follmer, Jr. was an American broadcaster.

Early life

Follmer was born on December 14, 1933, in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, where his father was U.S. Vice

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

. He served in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. He later graduated from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

with a degree in broadcasting.

Broadcasting

After graduating, Follmer worked for

KASE-FM KASE-FM (100.7 MHz "KASE 101") is a commercial radio station licensed to Austin, Texas. It is owned by iHeartMedia and airs a country music radio format. It shares studios and offices with four sister stations in the Penn Field complex in the S ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. In 1961, he moved to KXYZ in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. In 1963, he began hosting the ''After Hours Show'', a 2 to 3 am jazz program on

KTOK KTOK (1000 AM) is a commercial radio station in Oklahoma City and airs a talk radio format. It is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., and licensed as iHM Licenses, LLC. The studios and offices are in the 50 Penn Place Building on the northwest side of ...

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

. He then worked for WSVA AM, WSVA-FM, and WSVA-TV. In 1965, he left Harrisonburg to become sports director at WTVM-TV in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...

. He then moved to WLEX-TV in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

, where he was the sports director and play-by-play announcer for Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball. In 1970, he joined WSMW-TV in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

, as sports director and play-by-play announcer for

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

and

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

games. He left WSMW in 1971.

Later life

After broadcasting, Follmer worked as a stockbroker. In 1993, he was fined $50,000, required to pay $53,000 in restitution to customers, and barred from working for any National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) member by the NASD after it found that Follmer had solicited and accepted $53,000 from customers for the purchase of securities but instead used the money for his own benefit. He later worked as a business consultant and did voice-over work.

Death

Follmer died on June 28, 2009, in

Harrodsburg, Kentucky Harrodsburg is a home rule-class city in Mercer County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 9,064 at the 2020 census. Although Harrodsburg was formally established by the House of Burgesses after Boonesbo ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Follmer, Cy 1933 births 2009 deaths American stockbrokers American television sports announcers Boston Celtics announcers College basketball announcers in the United States National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers New England Patriots announcers 20th-century American Episcopalians