Tommy Clarence Engstrand (30 September 1939 – 18 July 2021) was a Swedish sports journalist,

sports commentator 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 ...

, and television host of general interest shows like ''Razzel'' and ''Zick-Zack''.

Early life

Engstrand was born on 30 September 1939 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden, the son of Viktor Engstrand, a sheet metal worker, and his wife Svea (née Jacobsson). He grew up on Tomtebogatan in Vasastan in Stockholm together with future journalists

Lars-Gunnar Björklund Lars-Gunnar Björklund (24 February 1937 – 30 November 2012) was a Swedish radio and TV journalist. He was famous as a sports reporter, especially reporting from Vasaloppet and the Ice Hockey World Championships. Early life Björklund was bor ...

and . Engstrand passed ''realexamen'' in 1955.

Career

Engstrand began his sports career at ''Idrottsbladet'' from 1960 to 1966. He then worked for ''Se'' from 1966 to 1969 and ''

Aftonbladet ''Aftonbladet'' (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lars Johan H ...

'' in 1969. He was employed by

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio AB (, "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is d ...

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...

, and between 1969 and 1987 where he became one of "Hyland's boys", together with

Fredrik Belfrage Fredrik Belfrage (born Knut Fredrik Åkesson Belfrage; 29 July 1949, in Växjö) is a Sweden, Swedish TV and radio presenter and sports reporter. He is the son of the dentist Åke Belfrage (1915–1985) and Vera Maria, born Vange (1914–1984). H ...

, and

Ingvar Oldsberg Ingvar Gunnar Oldsberg (31 March 194510 February 2022) was a Swedish television presenter and sports journalist. Early life Oldsberg was born on 31 March 1945 in Annedal Parish, Gothenburg. Oldsberg grew up in Mölnlycke outside Gothenburg. On ...

, who were young sports journalists educated by

Lennart Hyland Otto Lennart Hyland (24 September 1919 – 15 March 1993), was a Swedish TV-show host and journalist and one of the most popular and renowned TV personalities in the history of Swedish television. His biggest success as an entertainer was unquestio ...

. Engstrand was head of Sveriges Riksradio's sports editorial from 1979 to 1987 and worked as a freelancer, among other things, with assignments for Sweden's Radio from 1987. Engstrand provided commentary on the FIFA World Cup 1978 final between

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

(3–1 after extra-time) for the only Swedish television company at that time, Sveriges Radio. He and

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimb ...

became personal friends. Within sports, his radio commentary of the last minutes of the World-Cup qualifier between West Germany and Portugal on 16 October 1985, which ended with a single goal win for Portugal, is a bit of Swedish radio history, because the result meant that Portugal went ahead for the

FIFA World Cup 1986 The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

instead of Sweden. With two minutes left, he declared whilst close to crying "Portugal is leading 1–0, and I can't give you any hope". Sweden had earlier that day taken the lead by 1–0 against Czechoslovakia away, but lost 2–1; however, the hope was still alive, if only West Germany (that by this time had not lost any such game, and was playing at home) just took a single point, that would have been enough; but West Germany did not. The event became known as ''"Den svarta onsdagen"'' in Sweden ("The Black Wednesday"). Engstrand also commented on the

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annua ...

and the The Rumble in the Jungle, the boxing match between

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

and

George Foreman George Edward Foreman (born January 10, 1949) is an American former professional boxer, entrepreneur, minister and author. In boxing, he was nicknamed "Big George" and competed between 1967 and 1997. He is a two-time world heavyweight champio ...

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

in 1974.

Personal life

Engstrand was married to Kersti Blomgren (born 1943) from 1965 to 1969. From 1974, he was cohabiting with Britt-Marie Karlén (born 1948), the daughter of Arne Larsson and Margareta (née Holmberg).

Death

Tommy Engstrand died in 2021 in

from complications of

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by long-term respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. The main symptoms include shortness of breath and a cough, which may or may not produce ...

. The funeral service was held in Gustaf Vasa Church in Stockholm. Among the guests were many retired and active television sports commentators and executives from various media companies, including:

Arne Hegerfors Olof ''Arne'' Hegerfors (born 4 July 1942) is a Swedish sports journalist and television presenter. He is mostly known as a sports commentator at SVT and Canal Plus between 1969 until 2011. He was awarded the Stora Journalistpriset (The great jo ...

Christer Ulfbåge Christer Ulfbåge (born 7 May 1942, in Falköping, Sweden), is a Swedish sports journalist and commentator and earlier presenter of Sportspegeln and Sportnytt which are broadcast on SVT. Ulfbåge was for many years commentator for SVTs sports b ...

, , ,

Ralf Edström Ralf Sigvard Edström (born 7 October 1952) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as Sweden's best player in the 1970s, he started off his career with Degerfors IF in the late 1960s and went on t ...

, , Pamela Andersson,

Håkan Södergren Karl Håkan Södergren (born 14 June 1959 in Rosersberg, Sweden) is a retired professional ice hockey player, often a recurring color commentator in Viasat's ice hockey broadcast productions. Playing career Södergren played for ...

, , , , , and

Ulf Elfving Ulf Elfving (born 27 November 1942 in Stockholm) is a Swedish journalist and broadcaster."Elfving, Ulf", ''Nationalencyklopedin'' biographical entry, retrieved 24 March 2014 Elfving started his career in the 1960s. He was programme manager of the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Engstrand, Tommy 1939 births 2021 deaths Swedish sports broadcasters Swedish television hosts Journalists from Stockholm Deaths from pulmonary edema