Rory Markas (December 20, 1955 – January 4, 2010) was an American sportscaster best known as the

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

's play-by-play broadcaster for eight seasons and as the radio voice of the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

men's basketball team for 11 seasons. He also worked as a field reporter and part-time sports anchor for

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outle ...

. Born in

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

, Markas was a graduate of

Los Angeles Valley College Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC) is a public community college in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the Los Angeles Community College District. The college is adjacent to Grant High School in the neighborhood of Valley Glen. Often call ...

California State University-Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest ...

, and

Chatsworth High School Chatsworth Charter High School is a charter secondary school located in Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, U.S. History The campus was built with one-story buildings around a central quad as land was inexpens ...

. He won four Golden Mike Awards, two

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

Sportscasting Awards, and the 2008 Radio Play-by-Play Award from the Southern California Broadcasters Association.

Early career

Markas previously worked for

KTUC KTUC (1400 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Tucson, Arizona. The station is owned by Cumulus Media and airs an adult standards radio format, known as "Tucson's All Time Favorites." On Sunday mornings, it plays three hours of big band ...

in Tucson,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

KNX-AM KNX (1070 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Los Angeles, California. It airs an all-news radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. KNX is one of the oldest stations in the United States, having received its first broadcasting license, a ...

and

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...

, the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

, the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

, Fox Sports Net West, and the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

Salt Lake City Gulls Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

and

Vancouver Canadians The Vancouver Canadians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Vancouver, British Columbia. They are members of the Northwest League and are affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Canadians play their home games at Nat Bailey Stadium. ...

. He was also the lead announcer for ''

RollerJam ''RollerJam'' is an American television series featuring roller derby that aired on The Nashville Network (TNN, now Paramount Network) from 1999 to 2001. It was the first attempt to bring roller derby to TV since '' RollerGames''. ''RollerJam' ...

'' from its second season to its last. Most recently, and possibly his final effort, was the recording of the play-by-play segments for the upcoming motion picture "The Yankles". Rory Markas's voice is the first and last voice heard in the movie.

Health issues and death

In late 2008, Markas underwent surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain, which sidelined him for about six weeks.

Steve Physioc Steve Physioc () is a retired American sportscaster who has called play-by-play for various baseball, basketball, and football teams. He retired while working with the Kansas City Royals, who he had worked with since February of 2012. Early life ...

, his Angels partner, filled in for Rory on several USC basketball games. USC's regular radio voice for football and previous voice in basketball,

Pete Arbogast Pete Arbogast (born December 5, 1954) is a radio announcer who is the voice of the USC Trojans. Biography Arbogast was born in Chicago but grew up in Los Angeles. He has called football, men's basketball, and women's basketball for the Trojans and ...

filled in for most of the rest of that season. On January 4, 2010, the 54-year-old Markas was found dead at his

Palmdale Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. The city lies in the Antelope Valley region of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On Aug ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

home, the victim of an apparent heart attack. Many obituaries noted that Markas would be remembered for his signature "Just another Halo victory!" call after Angel wins, and for his call of the final play of the 2002 World Series at Angel Stadium. He was also known for his interviewing skills—for example, his Angels radio pre-game talk with former Negro leagues player

Buck O'Neil John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil Jr. (November 13, 1911 – October 6, 2006) was a first baseman and manager in the Negro American League, mostly with the Kansas City Monarchs. After his playing days, he worked as a scout and became the first Africa ...

References

External links

* *
Markas' biography on AngelsBaseball.com

News coverage of Markas' death from FOX11 KTTV

Highlights of Markas baseball calls
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markas, Rory 1955 births 2010 deaths American television sports announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Los Angeles Clippers announcers Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Milwaukee Brewers announcers Minor League Baseball broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters People from Hollywood, Los Angeles People from Palmdale, California Sportspeople from Los Angeles USC Trojans men's basketball announcers

Early career

Health issues and death

See also

References

External links