Edwin Lloyd "Ty" Tyson (May 11, 1888 – December 12, 1968) was an American sports broadcaster and

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

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 ...

announcer.

Early life

Tyson was born in Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania and he attended

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

. As a young man, he played baseball and acted in nearby

Tyrone, Pennsylvania Tyrone is a borough in Blair County, Pennsylvania, northeast of Altoona, on the Little Juniata River. Tyrone was of considerable commercial importance in the twentieth century. It was an outlet for the Clearfield coal fields and was noted for m ...

. While acting in a play, he met another young man from Tyrone,

Fred Waring Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing". He was also ...

. The two became fast friends. Tyson spent his early years jumping from job to job, including stints in the coal, wallpaper, and papermaking industries, a time in stationery with his father, and as a mercantile appraiser. In addition, he spent two years of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in the

U.S. 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, cl ...

, including eleven months of that time overseas. Fred Waring, meanwhile, formed his famous band, the Pennsylvanians, and began touring the country. After playing at the University of Michigan in 1922, Waring was invited to perform on radio station WWJ in Detroit, then just a few months old. Bill Holiday, the station's manager and its first radio announcer, was looking for someone to replace him. Waring suggested Tyson, and Holiday immediately telegraphed a job offer, which Tyson accepted.

Radio career

Tyson handled announcing chores for various events at WWJ, including broadcasting the

Detroit Symphony Orchestra The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood. Jader Bignamini is the current music d ...

and the opening of the

Ambassador Bridge The Ambassador Bridge is a tolled international suspension bridge across the Detroit River that connects Detroit, Michigan, United States, with Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1929, it is the busiest international border crossing in North ...

and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. What he is best known for, however, is his pioneering work on

of live sports broadcasts for the station. On October 25, 1924, Tyson broadcast the first

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

football game aired on the radio.

Fielding H. Yost Fielding Harris Yost (; April 30, 1871 – August 20, 1946) was an American football player, coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at: Ohio Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska, the University ...

had given WWJ permission to broadcast the game against Wisconsin only because the game had been sold out. He was afraid broadcasting would hurt sales, but before the next home game Michigan was inundated with ticket requests. Sensing a good thing, Yost agreed to more broadcasts. On April 19, 1927, Tyson called his first

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

game, inaugurating the first full season of radio broadcasts for a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

team. He quickly became a popular figure with the team's fanbase. When the Tigers reached the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

, baseball's then-commissioner,

Kenesaw Mountain Landis Kenesaw Mountain Landis (; November 20, 1866 – November 25, 1944) was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death. He is remembered for his h ...

, barred Tyson from appearing on any of the network radio coverage, citing the risk of partiality in his commentary. After Tiger fans sent more than 600,000 letters of protest, Landis compromised by allowing Tyson to announce the Series locally on WWJ. Tyson went on to call the

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

Series (which involved the Tigers, and ended in their first-ever world championship) and the

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

Series nationally for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

, and broadcast the 1941 All-Star Game (played at Detroit's

Briggs Stadium Tiger Stadium, previously known as Navin Field and Briggs Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Corktown, Detroit, Corktown neighborhood of Detroit. The stadium was nicknamed "The Corner" for its location at the intersection of U. ...

) for WWJ. Tyson continued broadcasting Tigers games on WWJ through 1942; the next year, the team granted exclusive broadcast rights to rival station WXYZ, with

Harry Heilmann Harry Edwin Heilmann (August 3, 1894 – July 9, 1951), nicknamed "Slug", was an American baseball player and radio announcer. He played professional baseball for 19 years between 1913 and 1932, including 17 seasons in Major League Baseball with ...

announcing. For the previous eight years, the Tigers had employed an unusual arrangement for their broadcasts, with Tyson broadcasting to metro Detroit while Heilmann's broadcasts anchored a network that stretched across Michigan. Tyson returned to call the Tigers' television broadcasts in 1947, and shifted back to radio in 1951 after Heilmann developed lung cancer. Tyson founded the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association in 1948 after what was considered "second-class treatment" for the broadcasters (by the baseball writers) in the Briggs Stadium pressbox in Detroit. Tyson also called

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

radio for one season (1951); broadcast the Gold Cup powerboat races, boxing, and other sporting events in Detroit; and founded the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association in 1948, also serving as its first president. He retired from broadcasting in 1953. On

Father's Day Father's Day is a holiday of honoring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. In the United ...

in 1965, Tyson was invited by the Tigers' then-current radio announcer,

Ernie Harwell William Earnest Harwell (January 25, 1918 – May 4, 2010) was an American sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games. For 55 seasons, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the actio ...

, to return to the booth as a guest commentator. In 2000, the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association established an annual Ty Tyson Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting. Among its recipients are former Tigers announcers

, Ray Lane,

Josh Lewin Josh Lewin is an American sportscaster who works as a play-by-play announcer for the UCLA Bruins football and basketball teams. Early life and career Lewin is originally from Rochester, New York, but lived outside of Boston for several years ...

Frank Beckmann Frank Carl Beckmann (November 3, 1949February 12, 2022) was a German-born American broadcaster and talk radio host on WJR in Detroit, Michigan. He also was the radio play-by-play announcer for University of Michigan football from 1981 to 2013. ...

, and

Mario Impemba Mario Impemba (born ) is an American sportscaster, best known as the television play-by-play announcer for the Detroit Tigers from 2002 to 2018. Before working for the Tigers, he announced for the Los Angeles Angels on both television and rad ...

, and current announcer

Dan Dickerson Daniel Hill Dickerson (born November 13, 1958) is an American sportscaster, best known for his current position as the lead radio play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers on the Detroit Tigers Radio Network. Early life and ...

. Tyson died December 12, 1968, at Cottage Hospital in

Grosse Pointe Farms Grosse Pointe Farms is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,479 at the 2010 census. As part of the Grosse Pointe collection of cities, it is a northeastern city of Metro Detroit and shares a small wester ...

, from an arterial ailment. He was 80 years old. He has been nominated on several occasions posthumously for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's

Ford C. Frick Award The Ford C. Frick Award is presented annually by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the United States to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball". It is named for Ford C. Frick, former Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Before h ...

and is yet to be named.

External links

*
Detroit News article

Tyson announcing a game
September 20, 1934 NY Yankees Vs Detroit Tigers

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyson, Ty 1888 births 1968 deaths American radio sports announcers Boxing commentators College football announcers Detroit Lions announcers Detroit Tigers announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Michigan Wolverines football announcers National Football League announcers Pennsylvania State University alumni People from Philipsburg, Centre County, Pennsylvania Radio personalities from Detroit United States Army personnel of World War I

Early life

Radio career

See also

External links