Gordon John Horner (1912 – January 10, 2005) was a noted

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

who worked in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. He participated in the first modern

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

broadcasts of

KSTP-TV KSTP-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, serving the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities area as an affiliate of American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is the Flagship (broadcasting), flagsh ...

channel 5, appearing on the first fully electronic telecast in the state on December 7, 1947 (others had appeared on the mechanical TV station W9XAT in the 1930s). When the station began regular broadcasts in April 1948, he provided play-by-play for a televised

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

game between 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 ...

and a team from

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. Jack Horner also broadcast the first live televised game of the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...

and provided one of the last interviews of

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 ...

. Horner began his career in

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

, starting at KGFK in

Moorhead, Minnesota Moorhead () is a city in and county seat of Clay County, Minnesota, United States, on the banks of the Red River of the North. Located in the Red River Valley, an extremely fertile and active agricultural region, Moorhead is also home to several ...

in 1935. He worked at several stations in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, and

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 ...

before moving to

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

to work at KSTP in 1944. After working at KSTP for a decade, he moved on to KEYD channel 9 (now KMSP) as that station was beginning operations. By the 1960s, he was working for WTCN (today's

KARE Kare or KARE may refer to: * Kare (Žitorađa), a village in Serbia * Kare language, several languages with the name * Kare (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Kare Kauks (born 1961), Estonian singer * Kåre or Kaare, ...

). Throughout his career, he was known as "Mr. Sports" and added colorful commentary to all of his work. He largely retired from broadcasting in the late 1960s, spending time working for the local

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

and the

March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to comba ...

. He retired from that work in 1977, but continued to periodically do announcing and voice-over work. Horner enjoyed being able to provide services for the blind. He has been honored by local media organizations, most recently by the

Pavek Museum of Broadcasting The Pavek Museum is a museum in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, that has one of the world's most significant collections of vintage radio and television equipment. It originated in the collection of Joe Pavek, who began collecting unique radios while h ...

in 2001.

About

Jack Horner, "Mr. Sports," compiled one of the most impressive lists of firsts in broadcasting history, and has set high standards for those who followed him. His career began in 1935 at KGFK Moorhead. After working at WSAU Wausau, Wisconsin, KTRI Sioux City, Iowa, WTMJ Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and KFJM/KILO Grand Forks, North Dakota, he joined KSTP Saint Paul/Minneapolis in 1944 to broadcast University of Minnesota football games and other sports. On December 7, 1947, he hosted the first live television program in Minnesota history for KSTP TV. He also broadcast the first baseball game ever televised in Minnesota, the first no-hit no-run game ever televised, and the first televised appearance of the Harlem Globetrotters. He joined KEYD TV Minneapolis/Saint Paul (now KMSP TV) in 1954, then moved to WTCN TV Minneapolis/Saint Paul (now KARE TV). He did sports programming for Twin Cities radio stations WPBC, KJJO, and KFAN. He also was active as a volunteer, broadcasting a weekly one-hour sports show for Minnesota State Services for the Blind for over 20 years.

References

External links

Jack Horner
at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting
Interview with Joe Louis in 1948Interview Willie Mays in 1951Interview with Babe Ruth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horner, Jack 1912 births 2005 deaths Television in Minnesota Minneapolis Lakers announcers