Raymond P. "Ray" Christensen (May 6, 1924 – February 5, 2017) was an American sportscaster who was the play-by-play announcer for the

Minnesota 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 ...

sports teams from 1951 until 2001, working for WCCO in Minneapolis starting in 1963. Christensen was born in 1924 in Minneapolis. A 1949 graduate of 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 also served with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 2002, he was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame. Christensen also worked games for 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 ...

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

, and

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, predating the formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Founded in 1947, the Lakers are one of the NBA's most famous and successful franchises. As of summer 2012, th ...

. In addition to his sports coverage, Christensen hosted a daily music appreciation segment on WCCO-AM titled "Musing on Music." Christensen would play a brief excerpt of a classical music piece and then report on its history and other musicology. He died on February 5, 2017, at the age of 92 from an

upper respiratory infection An upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) is an illness caused by an acute infection, which involves the upper respiratory tract, including the human nose, nose, Paranasal sinus, sinuses, pharynx, larynx or trachea. This commonly includes nasal ...

Rosemount, Minnesota Rosemount is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, Dakota County, Minnesota, United States, on the southern edge of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. The population was 25,650 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Rosemount was establi ...

, where he lived.

References

External links

Interview with Ray Christensen
about his book ''Golden Memories'', reflections of the Minnesota Gophers, co-authored by Stew Thornley, ''NORTHERN LIGHTS Minnesota Author Interview'' TV Series #296 (1994) 1924 births 2017 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II American radio sports announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Minneapolis Lakers announcers Minnesota Golden Gophers football Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball Minnesota Twins announcers Minnesota Vikings announcers National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers University of Minnesota alumni People from Rosemount, Minnesota Military personnel from Minneapolis {{US-radio-bio-stub