Halsey Lewis Hall (May 23, 1898 – December 30, 1977) was a
sports reporter
Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...
and
announcer
An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event.
Television and other media
Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, ...
in the
Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is commonly known as the Twin Cities ...
area from 1919 until the 1970s.
Early life
Halsey Lewis Hall was born in New York City's
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
on May 23, 1898.
[Thornley, Holy Cow!, p. 18] His parents initially named him Smith Lewis Hall, but subsequently renamed him "Halsey" after his paternal grandfather, Halsey R. W. Hall.
Halsey Lewis Hall was the son of Smith B. Hall, a prominent Minneapolis newspaperman, and the New York stage actress
Mary Hall.
His great-uncle, Harlan P. Hall, founded the
St. Paul Dispatch
The ''Saint Paul Dispatch'' was a daily newspaper in Saint Paul, Minnesota from 1868 until 1985.
Founding
Harlan Page Hall founded the ''Saint Paul Dispatch'' on February 29, 1868. Hall was born in 1838 in Ravenna, Ohio, where his father publish ...
,
which later merged with the
St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Hall's parents divorced when he was a small child and he was raised by his father's family in Minnesota.
He spent his early years in the Ramsey Hill neighborhood of St. Paul.
When he was eight, the family moved to Portland Avenue in Minneapolis. In June 1916, Hall graduated from
Central High School in Minneapolis.
[Thornley, Holy Cow!, p. 26] After briefly attending the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
, he joined the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
He spent his time in the service as a recruiter in
Duluth, Minnesota
, settlement_type = City
, nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...
.
Sports writing career
After his discharge from the Navy, Hall followed in the footsteps of his father and great-uncle and became a newspaper journalist.
He began his career as a sports reporter for the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in September 1919. He moved to the ''St. Paul Pioneer Press'' in 1922 and then in 1926 he took a position as a sportswriter for the ''Minneapolis Journal''.
Hall developed a large readership for his sports writing, especially his baseball writing. In 1927 he became the ''
Minneapolis Journal
The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...
s baseball beat writer covering the
Minneapolis Millers
The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...
, a AAA
minor league baseball club. Although the
Twin Cities
Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...
did not have a
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
team until the
Twins
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...
arrived in 1961, Hall covered the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
for the ''Minneapolis Journal'' in the 1920s and 1930s. Hall witnessed
Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
's famous "
called shot" home run at
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...
during Game 3 of the
1932 World Series
The 1932 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1932 season. The 29th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion New York Yankees versus the National League champions Chicago Cubs. The ...
between the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
and the
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
. In 1934 Hall received one of the great honors of his career when he was elected president of the American Association of Baseball Writers.
Hall's tenure at the ''Minneapolis Journal'' ended in 1939 when the newspaper was purchased by
John Cowles, Sr
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
. After acquiring the ''Journal'', Cowles merged it with the ''Minneapolis Star'', thus creating the
''Minneapolis Star-Journal''. Cowles would rename the newspaper the ''Minneapolis Star'' in 1947.
Hall nevertheless remained a prominent and featured sports writer under the new ownership. In 1941 Cowles purchased the ''
Minneapolis Tribune
The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...
''. With the ''Star'' and ''Tribune'' both owned by the Cowles family, Hall wrote a sports column for both newspapers until 1960. He gave up his ''Star'' and ''Tribune'' sports columns to become the full-time television and radio broadcaster of the Minnesota Twins, beginning with the 1961 season.
Sports broadcasting career
In the spring of 1934 Hall became the radio broadcaster of the
Minneapolis Millers
The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...
. Hall announced Millers games for the next 27 years. During home games, he called the radio play-by-play from the press box at
Nicollet Park
Nicollet Park was a baseball ground located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The venue was home to the minor league Minneapolis Millers of the Western League and later American Association from 1896 to 1955.
The ballpark opened on June ...
, the team's home stadium.
Like most radio broadcasters of the day, he did not travel with the team. Instead, he announced the Millers road games from WCCO's Minneapolis studio, reading the
Western Union
The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...
wire account of the game into a radio microphone.
But Hall's impassioned description of events gave listeners the impression he was watching the game in person.
In the fall of 1934 Hall became the radio broadcaster of the
Minnesota Gophers football
The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represents the University of Minnesota in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Founded in 1882, Minnesota has been a member of the Big Ten Conference since its incept ...
team.
Over the years Hall announced the games on
KSTP radio,
WCCO, and
WLOL. He also hosted a Sunday morning radio show with Gopher Football Coach
Bernie Bierman
Bernard W. Bierman (March 11, 1894 – March 7, 1977) was an American football player and coach of football and basketball. He coached from 1919 to 1950 except for a span during World War II when he served in the U.S. armed forces. Bierman was th ...
.
[Hartman, Sid!, p. 229] Hall broadcast Gopher football games for nearly 40 years, retiring after the 1973 season.
Although Hall continued to write for the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' and the ''Minneapolis Star'', radio broadcasting became his principal focus by the 1950s.
[Hartman, Sid!, p. 231] Sid Hartman
Sidney Hartman (March 15, 1920October 18, 2020) was an American sports journalist for the Minneapolis '' Star Tribune'' and the WCCO 830 AM radio station. For 20 years, he was also a panelist on the weekly television program ''Sports Show with ...
, a legendary Minnesota sports writer, served as Hall's sports editor at the ''Tribune''.
Although Hartman and Hall were close friends, Hartman did not like supervising Hall.
"Deadlines did not mean a thing to Halsey," Hartman recalled years later.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Hall served as the sports anchor for the 10 p.m. news on WCCO radio alongside the news anchor,
Cedric Adams
Cedric Adams (May 27, 1902 – February 18, 1961) was an American broadcaster, well known in the Midwestern United States from the 1930s until his death. He was inducted into the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting's Hall of Fame in 2002. Throughout the ...
.
The Adams–Hall news program was exceptionally popular, commanding 70% of the radio audience in the state.
According to Sid Hartman, "Airplane pilots would report that, flying over the Minnesota prairie, they could tell when it was 10:30 P.M. That was when the 'CCO news was over and the lights in all the farm houses would go out."
When the
Washington Senators moved to
Bloomington and became the
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...
in 1961, Hall was a member of the original
WCCO radio broadcast team and
WTCN WTCN may refer to:
* WTCN-CD, a low-power television station (channel 17, virtual 43) licensed to Palm Beach, Florida, United States
* KLBB (AM), a defunct radio station (1220 AM) formerly licensed to serve Stillwater, Minnesota, United States, whi ...
television broadcast team along with
Ray Scott and
Bob Wolff
Robert Alfred Wolff (November 29, 1920 – July 15, 2017) was an American radio and television sportscaster.
He began his professional career in 1939 on CBS in Durham, North Carolina while attending Duke University. He was the radio and TV vo ...
.
When Wolff left in 1962 to cover NBC's national baseball game of the week,
Herb Carneal
Charles Herbert Carneal (May 10, 1923 – April 1, 2007) was an American Major League Baseball sportscaster. From 1962 through 2006, he was a play-by-play voice of Minnesota Twins radio broadcasts, becoming the lead announcer in 1967 after Ra ...
joined the Hall and Scott broadcast team. When Scott left to become the lead NFL announcer for CBS television,
Merle Harmon
Merle Reid Harmon (June 21, 1926 – April 15, 2009) was an American sportscaster who was the play-by-play voice for five Major League Baseball teams, two teams in the American Football League and the World Football League's nationally syndicat ...
joined the Hall–Carneal broadcast team.
Unlike his radio career with the Millers, Hall broadcast in person Twins road games as well as home games at
Metropolitan Stadium
Metropolitan Stadium (often referred to as "the Met", "Met Stadium", or now "the Old Met" to distinguish from the Metrodome) was an outdoor sports stadium in the north central United States, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneap ...
. He reveled both in announcing Twins games and in traveling with the team across the country.
[Hartman, Sid!, p. 232] As Sid Hartman put it, "Halsey was in heaven. He loved baseball, he loved the radio, and he loved the fact he was able to drink for free on the road."
A cigar smoker, Hall accidentally set his sport coat on fire during a 1968 Twins broadcast at
Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park was a baseball park in Chicago, Illinois, located in the
Armour Square neighborhood on the near-southwest side of the city. The stadium served as the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League from 1910 through 1990. Buil ...
in Chicago.
Jerry Zimmerman
Gerald Robert Zimmerman (September 21, 1934 – September 9, 1998) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played all or part of eight seasons in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds and Minnesota Twins from 1961 to 196 ...
, the Twins catcher, said afterwards, "Halsey's the only man I know who can turn a sports coat into a blazer."
Hall retired from Twins broadcasts after the 1972 season.
Family
In 1922 Hall married Sula Bornman in
London, Wisconsin
London is an unincorporated community located in the counties of Dane and Jefferson in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Dane County portion of London is in the town of Deerfield, while the Jefferson County portion is in the town of Lake Mills. ...
.
[Thornley, Holy Cow!, p. 115] Sula's brother, a
Moravian minister, presided at the wedding ceremony.
The daughter of German immigrants, Sula grew up in
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
.
[Thornley, Holy Cow!, p. 113] Her father died when she was four, and her mother died when she was 13.
Upon her mother's death, Sula moved to
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...
to live with her sister, Katie Marcks.
A graduate of Fargo High School and
Moorhead Normal School, Sula was a school teacher.
She met Halsey in Duluth when she was teaching a
Fairmount Elementary Schooland he was a Navy recruiter. After their marriage, Halsey and Sula lived in the same house on Ramona Avenue (later renamed Alabama Avenue) in
St. Louis Park for 55 years, until Halsey Hall's death in 1977.
They had a daughter, Suzanne "Sue" Eugenia Hall, who was born in 1928.
[Thornley, Holy Cow!, p. 193] She married William "Bill" Charles Kennedy in 1949. They had three children and raised their family on Sunnyside Road in
Edina
EDINA is a centre for digital expertise, based at the University of Edinburgh as a division of the Information Services Group.
Services
EDINA front-end services (those accessed directly by the user) are available free at the point of use for ...
, not far from Halsey and Sula's home.
Catch phrases
Halsey Hall originated the huzzah "
Holy cow!" as a home run exclamation on
WCCO radio
WCCO (830 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and owned by Audacy, Inc. Its studios and offices are located on Second Avenue South in Downtown Minneapolis. WCCO features a talk radio format, with frequent newscas ...
long before
Harry Caray
Harry Christopher Caray (; March 1, 1914 – February 18, 1998) was an American radio and television Sports commentator, sportscaster. During his career he called the play-by-play for five Major League Baseball teams, beginning with 25 years of ...
and
Phil Rizzuto
Philip Francis Rizzuto (September 25, 1917 – August 13, 2007), nicknamed "The Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career with the New York Yankees (1941–1956), and was elected to th ...
used it.
Hall also originated the practice of adding "
Golden
Golden means made of, or relating to gold.
Golden may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
*Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall
*Golden Cap, Dorset
*Golden Square, Soho, London
*Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...
" before "Gophers" when describing the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
's football and basketball teams. Hall was inspired by the golden uniforms the Gopher football team adopted under Coach
Bernie Bierman
Bernard W. Bierman (March 11, 1894 – March 7, 1977) was an American football player and coach of football and basketball. He coached from 1919 to 1950 except for a span during World War II when he served in the U.S. armed forces. Bierman was th ...
in the 1930s.
Golden Gophers
The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...
is now the official name of the University's athletic teams.
Death and legacy
Halsey Hall died of a heart attack at his home on December 30, 1977.
He was buried at
Fort Snelling National Cemetery 3
Fort Snelling National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory adjacent to the historic
fort and Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport. It is the only National Cemetery in Minneso ...
.
After his death, he was voted the most popular Minnesota sportscaster of the 1970s.
As his biographer
Stew Thornley
Stew Thornley (born July 23, 1955 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an author of books on sports history, particularly in his home state. He is an official scorer and online gamecaster for the Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American p ...
explained, "Halsey Hall was an institution" for Minnesota sports fans. In the words of Minnesota Twins Hall of Famer
Harmon Killebrew
Harmon Clayton Killebrew Jr. (; June 29, 1936May 17, 2011), nicknamed "The Killer" and "Hammerin' Harmon", was an American professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and left fielder. He was a prolific power hitter who spent most of hi ...
, Halsey Hall "was the most unforgettable man I ever knew."
Hall was inducted into the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.
In 2001 he was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
The Minnesota chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research is named after Halsey Hall.
Twenty years after Hall's death,
Sid Hartman
Sidney Hartman (March 15, 1920October 18, 2020) was an American sports journalist for the Minneapolis '' Star Tribune'' and the WCCO 830 AM radio station. For 20 years, he was also a panelist on the weekly television program ''Sports Show with ...
observed that "Halsey Hall was the most beloved character this area has ever had."
References
Further reading
* Sid Hartman, ''Sid! The Sports Legends, the Inside Scoops, and the Close Personal Friends''. Stillwater, Minnesota: Voyageur Press, 1997.
* Don Swenson
''Something in the Water'' St. Louis Park, Minnesota: St. Louis Park Historical Society, 2001.
*
Stew Thornley
Stew Thornley (born July 23, 1955 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an author of books on sports history, particularly in his home state. He is an official scorer and online gamecaster for the Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American p ...
''Holy Cow! The Life and Times of Halsey Hall'' Minneapolis: Nodin Press, 1991.
* Stew Thornley, ''On to Nicollet: The Glory and Fame of the Minneapolis Millers''. Minneapolis: Nodin Press, 1988.
* Stew Thornley, ''Baseball in Minnesota: The Definitive History''. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2006.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Halsey
1898 births
1977 deaths
American sportswriters
Major League Baseball broadcasters
Minnesota Golden Gophers football announcers
Minnesota Twins announcers
People from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area
United States Navy officers
Central High School (Minneapolis, Minnesota) alumni
External links
Society for American Baseball Research websiteInterview with Stew Thornley author of ''Holy Cow! The Life and Times of Halsey Hall'', ''NORTHERN LIGHTS Minnesota Author Interview'' TV Series #177 (1991)