Charles Anthony Wakeman (October 22, 1909 – November 17, 1953) was an American sportscaster in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

from 1936 to 1952.

Early life

Wakeman attended high school in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. He worked his way through

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened as the Pittsbu ...

by working as a radio announcer. His first radio job came when he was 16 years old when he worked as the announcer for a teenage dance band show. After three years at Duquesne, Wakeman moved to

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

, where he played on the school's football team during their 1929 season.

Broadcasting career

Pittsburgh

After Penn State, Wakeman resumed his broadcasting career in Pittsburgh. In 1935, he won the H. P. Davis Memorial Announcers Award, which was awarded to the Pittsburgh announcer considered to have outstanding “personality, adaptability, diction, voice and versatility”. In 1936 he called

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

games for KDKA.

Washington D.C.

In 1936, Wakeman joined WOL in Washington D.C. He became first the play by play announcer for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

, when the franchise relocated to the city in 1937. That same year he began announcing boxing and wrestling matches from

Turner's Arena Turner's Arena was the name given to a 1,800 seat arena, located at 1342 W Street, near the northeast corner of 14th and W Streets, NW in Washington, DC, and originally owned by local wrestling promoter Joe Turner. One of the popular events were ...

. During his time as a wrestling announcer, Wakeman feuded with Laverne Baxter, which led to the two coming to blows. In 1942, Wakeman moved to WINX. On August 21, 1944, he was assaulted on-air by fellow WINX personality Sam Brown. Brown hit Wakeman with a leg of a piano bench during a dispute over who should announce the results of a horse race. Brown alleged that he only hit Wakeman in self defense after Wakeman slapped him. Both men were let go by the station and Wakeman moved over to

WWDC The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is usually held at Apple Park in California. The event is usually used to showcase new software and technologies in th ...

. Brown, who was indicted on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of simple assault and was given probation. Wakeman hosted the ''Tony Wakeman All Sports Parade'' on WWDC until 1950, when he returned to WOL. His return to WOL was short lived as he left that summer to host a television version of the ''All Sports Parade'' on

WTTG WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA share ...

National work

Wakeman called the

1935 Major League Baseball All-Star Game The 1935 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the third playing of the mid-summer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July ...

for

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...

. He also Games 1 & 5 of the

1936 World Series The 1936 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1936 season. The 33rd edition of the World Series, it matched the New York Yankees against the New York Giants, with the Yankees winning in six games to earn the ...

and the

1937 Major League Baseball All-Star Game The 1937 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the fifth playing of the midsummer classic between the All-Stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 7 ...

for

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...

. He also served as a congressional correspondent for Mutual and

Capitol Broadcasting Company The Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. (CBC) is an American media company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Capitol owns three television stations and nine radio stations in the Raleigh–Durham and Wilmington areas of North Carolina and the Du ...

Death

In 1952, Wakeman moved to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, where he worked as a sports announcer at a radio station. On November 17, 1953, Wakeman died in Miami after a 7-month illness. He was 44 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakeman, Tony 1909 births 1953 deaths Major League Baseball broadcasters Penn State Nittany Lions football players Pennsylvania State University alumni Mass media people from Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pirates announcers Professional wrestling announcers Washington Redskins announcers