Peter R. Gross (December 28, 1936 – December 2, 1992) was an American

sports announcer 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 ...

known in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

, as the "Voice of the Seahawks" for 17 years. He spent most of his career as a radio play-by-play announcer with

KIRO (AM) KIRO (710 kHz "Seattle Sports") is a commercial AM radio station in Seattle, Washington, owned by Salt Lake City–based Bonneville International. The station airs a sports radio format and is an ESPN Radio Network affiliate. The station's stu ...

. His most memorable call line was "Touchdown Seahawks!" Before announcing for the Seahawks, Gross called football and basketball play-by-play for the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

in Seattle as well as for the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. He was the play-by-play announcer on KIRO-TV

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

telecasts from 1976–78. The Seahawks inducted Gross into their Ring of Honor in 1992, attending the ceremony just two days before his death.

Early years

Born and raised in the

San Francisco Bay area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, Gross graduated from

Tamalpais High School Tamalpais High School (often abbreviated as Tam) is a public secondary school located in Mill Valley, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is named after nearby Mount Tamalpais, which rises almost above Mill Valley. Tamalpais High Scho ...

in 1954. He attended the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

(USC) and graduated from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

, where he competed as a swimmer.

Career

Gross began his career in sports broadcasting as high school play-by-play announcer in

Watsonville, California Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, located in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 according to the 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and Democratic, Watsonville is a self ...

. Later, he worked as a Top 40 disc jockey at

KSRO KSRO (1350 AM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a News-Talk radio format. KSRO is licensed to Santa Rosa, California, and serves the Sonoma County area. The station is owned by Lawrence Amaturo, through licensee Amaturo Sonoma Media G ...

Santa Rosa, KXOA Sacramento (using the on-air name "Tony King"), and

KJOY KJOY (99.3 FM) is a commercial radio station in Stockton, California. The station is owned by Cumulus Media and broadcasts an adult contemporary radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. The radio studios a ...

Stockton. While in Sacramento, Gross also served as Director of Public Relations for the

Sacramento Capitols The Sacramento Capitols were a professional American football team based in Sacramento, California. Formed as the Sacramento Buccaneers, the team's inclusion in the Pacific Division of the Continental Football League was announced in May 1967. Th ...

of the Continental Football League, while also doing football play-by-play for

American River College American River College (ARC) is a public community college in unincorporated Sacramento, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System. History The college was opened in 1955 as American River Junior College, on the site ...

. At K-JOY Gross was play-by-play broadcaster for the University of the Pacific football and basketball. He later continued broadcasting sports on KIRO 710 Radio in Seattle in 1973, covering University of Washington football and basketball, and radio and TV broadcasting of the NBA SuperSonics. When the expansion Seattle Seahawks began NFL preseason play in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

, Gross became their play-by-play announcer, an assignment which eventually stretched out 17 years. His original broadcast partners on the Seahawks radio broadcasts were

Don Heinrich Donald Alan Heinrich (September 19, 1930 – February 29, 1992) was an American football player, coach, and announcer. He played professionally as a quarterback in National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys, and in ...

and

Wayne Cody Wayne (Wendel) Cody (September 4, 1936 – June 7, 2002) was an American popular radio and television sportscaster who spent the bulk of his career in Seattle, broadcasting on KIRO and KIRO-TV. In all, he spent 14 years on KIRO TV and 21 on ...

. In addition, Gross covered Pac-10 basketball broadcasts for TCS/Metro and ESPN, color analysis for Philadelphia 76ers broadcasts, and color for the Mutual radio network's coverage of the NBA championships (1978). Gross broadcast 331 Seahawks' games as the Voice of the Seahawks; in seventeen seasons, he called almost every game, only missing five games in 1992 due to cancer. In the

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

season, Gross was in the broadcast booth as the Seahawks came within one game of the Super Bowl. His trademark call was "Touchdown, Seahawks!" Steve Raible, who served as

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main ( play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and ...

with Gross for much of his 17 years, continues to call that line as the Seahawks play-by-play announcer today.

Death and legacy

Gross died of cancer in 1992 at age 55, two days after his entry into the team's Ring of Honor. The

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, formerly known as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and also known as Fred Hutch or The Hutch, is a cancer research institute established in 1975 in Seattle, Washington. History The center grew out o ...

created the Pete Gross House, a 69-unit housing complex that provides living space for families of patients undergoing treatment at the Center, in his memory.Pete Gross House
/ref> Pete Gross House also houses an administrative office for the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

Personal life

Gross was married with three daughters.

References

External links

Seahawks Ring of Honor biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gross, Peter R. 1936 births 1992 deaths American radio sports announcers Deaths from cancer in Washington (state) College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers Philadelphia 76ers announcers Seattle Seahawks announcers Seattle SuperSonics announcers Tamalpais High School alumni Sportspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area Washington Huskies football announcers Place of birth missing