John Charles Quinlan (January 23, 1927 – March 19, 1965) was an American sportscaster. He was best known for doing radio

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

for 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 locate ...

, first on

WIND Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ...

(1955-56) and then on WGN- (1957–64). His broadcast partners were

Lou Boudreau Louis Boudreau (July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001), nicknamed "Old Shufflefoot", "Handsome Lou", and "The Good Kid", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 15 seasons, primarily as a ...

(1957–April 1960, 1961–64) and

Charlie Grimm Charles John Grimm (August 28, 1898 – November 15, 1983), nicknamed "Jolly Cholly", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman, most notably for the Chicago Cubs; he was als ...

April–October 1960). Quinlan was killed in an auto accident after leaving a golf outing during

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives estab ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

. He was an avid golfer, and a charity golf tournament in his name has been held in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

area ever since. Quinlan's classic call of the final out of Don Cardwell's no-hitter on May 15, 1960, transcribed from a phonograph record of Cubs history issued in 1971, is quoted below. The batter for the opposing

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

is Joe Cunningham. The Cubs left fielder is Walt "Moose" Moryn. (See also

Jack Brickhouse John Beasley Brickhouse (January 24, 1916 – August 6, 1998) was an American sportscaster. Known primarily for his play-by-play coverage of Chicago Cubs games on WGN-TV from 1948 to 1981, he received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Ha ...

for TV-vs.-radio style comparison.) Quinlan was named Illinois Sportscaster of the Year by the

National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association The National Sports Media Association (NSMA), formerly the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, is an organization of sports media members in the United States, and constitutes the American chapter of the International Sports P ...

four straight years from 1961 to 1964. Nationally, he broadcast the first 1960 All-Star Game and the

1960 World Series The 1960 World Series was played between the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League (NL) and the New York Yankees of the American League (AL) from October 5–13, 1960. In Game 7, Bill Mazeroski hit the series winning ninth-inning home run ...

for

NBC Radio The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first tw ...

. He also called

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

football on WGN and broadcast the

1963 NFL Championship Game The 1963 NFL Championship Game was the 31st annual championship game, played on December 29 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. The game pitted the visiting New York Giants (11–3) of the Eastern Conference against the Chicago Bears (11–1� ...

locally as a substitute for regular

Bears Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the No ...

radio announcer Brickhouse, who was calling the game on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

television. Two audio books "Jack Quinlan/Forgotten Greatness" Parts I and II were produced by broadcaster Ron Barber and include every known remaining clip of Quinlan's play-by-play and are part of Barber's continuing effort to gain Quinlan consideration for election to the Baseball Broadcasters' Hall of Fame. Rare photos and additional information on Jack Quinlan are available on Facebook at Jack Quinlan Cubs Broadcaster.

External links

WGN Radio's Jack Quinlan page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinlan, Jack 1927 births 1965 deaths American radio sports announcers Chicago Bears announcers Chicago Cubs announcers College football announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters People from Peoria, Illinois Road incident deaths in Arizona University of Notre Dame alumni