Glenn Brenner (January 2, 1948 – January 14, 1992) was a broadcast journalist and

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 ...

in Washington, D.C., in the United States from 1977 to 1991. He was best known as the sports anchor for

WUSA-TV WUSA (channel 9) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of Tegna Inc. (based in the nearby Virginia suburb of McLean). WUSA's studios and transmitter are located at Broadcast House on ...

from 1977 until 1991. At the time of his death in 1992 from a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

, he was not only the most highly paid broadcast journalist in Washington but also the most popular broadcaster in the D.C. metropolitan area.

Life and career

Early life

Glenn Brenner was born on January 2, 1948, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, to Bill and Edie Brenner. At the age of four, he wanted to be 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), ...

player. Brenner attended Abraham Lincoln High School. By the time he was in his senior year, however,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

seemed to be in Brenner's future, as he was already tall. He led his high school basketball team to 26 straight victories. In his senior year in 1965, Lincoln High School lost the city championship game to Bishop Neumann High School, 75 to 66. Baseball remained Brenner's dream, however. Even though he only had one good pitch (a

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thro ...

), the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

signed him to a

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

contract after he graduated from high school. He played for the

Marion Mets The Marion Mets were a minor league baseball team based in Marion, Virginia that played in the Appalachian League from 1965 to 1976. They were affiliated with the New York Mets and played their home games at the Marion High School baseball field. ...

in the

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wood bats, its season runs from ...

, and eventually was brought up to play

Class AA Double-A (officially Class AA) is the second-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946, below only Triple-A. There are currently 30 teams classified at the Double-A level, one for each team in Major League ...

baseball. But in 1969, Brenner hurt his arm while playing in the

Florida Instructional League The Florida Instructional League (FIL), sometimes known informally as "instructs", is an American professional baseball league. The league was founded in 1958. Young major league prospects hone their skills in the FIL, while experienced players may ...

, and the Mets sold him to the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. He played

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL ...

baseball in the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

, but continuing problems with his throwing arm forced him to quit baseball in 1972. Brenner knew early that he was not going to have much of a career in professional baseball. While still playing with the Mets, coach Birdie Tebbetts watched him pitch a terrible game. When Tebbetts came out to the mound, Brenner asked him what was wrong. Tebbetts replied, "Horse-spit pitcher"—and Brenner knew his time in the big leagues was finished. While playing minor league baseball, Brenner attended

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

and then

Saint Joseph's University Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a private Jesuit university in Philadelphia and Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College. Saint Joseph's is the seventh olde ...

in Philadelphia. He graduated from Saint Joseph's with a bachelor's degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and

Communication studies Communication studies or communication science is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differen ...

Early broadcasting career

Brenner sold cars for a few months before turning to sports broadcasting after leaving the Phillies. His first job was with

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

WMVB WMVB (1440 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Variety format. Licensed to Millville, New Jersey, United States, the station is currently owned by Martin Muniz and features Hispanic programming. The station is a mostly local operation; the o ...

Millville, New Jersey Millville is a city in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the city's population was 28,400, He read an advertisement for the position, and applied. He later said, "I lied so bad to get that first job. I told the boss I was an announcer from Philadelphia, and he took that to mean I was a Philadelphia announcer. I had never even been inside a radio station." Brenner was paid $79 a week, and commuted from Philadelphia to Millville very day. The lasted only a short period of time, and Brenner moved to

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, to seek work. After living there only a short time, he returned to Philadelphia and joined radio station

WFIL WFIL (560 AM) is a radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, with a Christian radio format consisting of teaching and talk programs. Owned by Salem Media Group, studios and transmitter facilities are shared with co-owned WNTP ...

, where he worked for two years as a news reporter and in promotions. Brenner turned to sportscasting in 1975, and took a position at

WOWK-TV WOWK-TV (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Huntington, West Virginia, United States, serving the Charleston–Huntington market as an affiliate of CBS. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on Quarrier Stree ...

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...

. Brenner's big break came in 1976, when he joined

KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel 57 ...

in Philadelphia. Brenner developed his on-air personality during his stint at KYW, becoming well known for his humor and irreverence. He often called the

scoreboard A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards in the past used ...

the "boreboard", and made jokes about himself, sports teams, and athletes on the air (much to management's discomfort). In one well-known incident, KYW introduced a flashy, high-technology set that resembled the bridge of the Starship ''Enterprise''. When the news anchor turned to Brenner to ask for the sports report, Brenner stood and announced, "We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty!" The angry news director resolved to fire Brenner as soon as a replacement could be found.

Career at WUSA

KYW's news director happened to know Jim Snyder, the news director at WTOP-TV (as WUSA was then known) in Washington, D.C. He mentioned Brenner's on-air stunt, and told Snyder that Brenner would be let go in a short time. Intrigued with Brenner's on-air personality, Snyder reviewed tapes of Brenner's work and liked what he saw. WTOP-TV was seeking a new sports anchor to replace local sports broadcaster

Warner Wolf Warner William Wolf (born November 11, 1937) is an American television and radio sports broadcaster, perhaps best known as a local news sports anchor in Washington, D.C. and New York City, and for his catchphrase "Let's go to the videotape!" He w ...

, who had left the WTOP-TV for a job with

ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. The station had hired Mike Wolfe as the weeknight sportscaster, while weekend duties were held by Klaus Wagner. But Wagner wasn't working out, and WTOP-TV declined to renew his one-year contract. Brenner made his D.C. debut on March 4, 1977. Wolfe was fired on March 22, and Brenner appointed his replacement. Wolfe adopted a very

macho Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1930s and 1940s best defined as hav ...

and aggressive style on the air, including an unbuttoned dress shirt and a "take it or shove it" attitude towards fans and athletes that grated on many viewers. When evening news ratings began to decline, the station dismissed Wolfe with nine months left in his contract. Brenner was named the weeknight sportscaster. Brenner's on-air style was to mix humor with sports. He told ''The Washington Post'', "I'm talking to a group of people who are not that interested in what I have to say. They've proven that statistically. So what I want to do is keep their interest. And the way I can best do that is to relate to them." One of his signature bits included the "Weenie of the Week", in which he poked fun at bombastic professional athletes or unsportsmanlike behavior. When egotistical athletes did things which embarrassed others, Brenner often took them to task during the "Weenie of the Week" segment. In November 1987,

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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

players

Clarence Verdin Clarence Verdin (born June 14, 1963) is a former American football wide receiver and kick returner in the National Football League (NFL) for the Washington Redskins, Indianapolis Colts and Atlanta Falcons. He also was a member of the Houston G ...

and

Ricky Sanders Ricky Wayne Sanders (born August 30, 1962) is a former American football wide receiver who played professionally for 12 seasons from 1983 to 1994, two with the United States Football League's Houston Gamblers and ten in the National Football Le ...

performed "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...

" at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

(forgetting the words and singing off-key) on

Veterans Day Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces (who were discharged under conditions other than di ...

; Brenner mixed footage of their performance with footage of actress

Pia Zadora Pia Zadora (born Pia Alfreda Schipani, May 4, 1954) is an American actress and singer. After working as a child actress on Broadway, in regional theater, and in the film ''Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'' (1964), she came to national attention ...

similarly mangling the national anthem at a

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

game. Hundreds of angry fans complained, and Brenner apologized at both the 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. newscasts the next day. But he refused to read an additional statement on the air, and was given a one-day suspension. Jibes at athletes, sports team owners, and others were common during Brenner's career, and yet he was so respected and well-liked that few people ever became angry with him. Another of Brenner's gimmicks was his Friday night "mystery picker"—a local or national celebrity who would be asked to pick winners of various athletic contests. Among the "mystery pickers" were

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

co-anchor

Connie Chung Constance Yu-Hwa Chung (born August 20, 1946) is an American journalist. She has been an anchor and reporter for the U.S. television news networks NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC. Some of her more famous interview subjects include Claus von Bülow ...

, former Washington Redskins quarterback

Sonny Jurgensen Christian Adolph "Sonny" Jurgensen III (born August 23, 1934) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins. He was inducted int ...

, boxer

Sugar Ray Leonard Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as "Sugar" Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer, motivational speaker, and occasional actor. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professiona ...

, CBS News anchor

Dan Rather Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. Rather began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hurr ...

, comedian

Paul Reubens Paul Reubens (; born Rubenfeld; August 27, 1952) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and children's entertainer. He is known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s, an ...

, Redskins quarterback

Mark Rypien Mark Robert Rypien (born October 2, 1962) is a Canadian-born former American football quarterback who played 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Washington State and was drafted by the Washington Redsk ...

, actor

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

, singing group

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

, and local

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

Sister Marie Louise Kirkland. Sister Marie Louise turned out to be a phenomenally good sports prognosticator, and Brenner's repeated use of her became an international story. ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' magazine made it a cover story. Viewers also enjoyed Brenner's banter with WTOP-TV news anchor Gordon Peterson, an authoritative figure in a three-piece suit with much on-air gravitas. Brenner often ribbed Peterson for his lifelong support of the also-ran

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

major league baseball team. Brenner and Peterson became best of friends, and their jokes at one another's expense became local legend. One of Peterson's favorite bits was to keep speaking, using up the five minutes allotted to Brenner for sports news. Brenner would be forced to read the sports news as fast as he could, and then collapsed on the desk as if exhausted. In another common gag, Brenner would turn to Peterson and say, "You can ask me anything you want because you're the anchor"—at which point Peterson would attempt to stump Brenner with sports trivia or ask some embarrassing question. Later at WTOP-TV, Brenner invented "Encore Wednesday". Since sports news was slow during mid-week, Brenner decided to highlight great sports moments each Wednesday night as a means of filling time and giving sports fans knowledge about their sport's great moments. Brenner also moved beyond nightly news. In the early 1980s, Brenner teamed with former Redskins quarterback Sonny Jurgensen to host the popular ''Redskins Sidelines'' Sunday afternoon sports show, which focused on the Redskins

team. Brenner became one of the city's most popular broadcasters. His fans included President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

(himself a former sportscaster), Reagan's successor as president,

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

, his wife Barbara, and CBS News anchor Dan Rather. In 1981, Brenner signed a contract with what was by then WDVM-TV (which WTOP-TV had changed its call letters to on June 26, 1978) that paid him $750,000 a year, paid his children's college tuition, and included a $1 million

life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death ...

policy. The long-term contract was believed by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' to be a record for both the high level of pay and benefits as well as the long number of years it covered. On July 4, 1986, WDVM-TV changed its call letters to WUSA. Brenner signed a five-year contract with WUSA in 1991 which paid him almost $1 million a year. The contract included a deferred salary, and paid his children's college tuition. Brenner was nominated for and won numerous

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 ...

and

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

local broadcasting awards. The National Association of Sportswriters and Sportscasters named him "Washington Sportscaster of the Year" in 1989 and 1990.

Death

On November 3, 1991, Brenner participated in the

Marine Corps Marathon The Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) is an annual marathon held in Washington, D.C. and Arlington, Virginia. The mission of the MCM is to promote physical fitness, generate community goodwill, and showcase the organizational skills of the United State ...

in Washington, D.C. He fell ill after crossing the finish line, and his physicians diagnosed a "vascular event". Two blood vessels in his head had ruptured and he had numbness on his left side, slight slurring of speech, and double vision. His doctors at

George Washington University Hospital The George Washington University Hospital is a for-profit hospital, located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is affiliated with the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. The current facility opened on ...

ruled out a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

, however. Brenner began physical therapy. But on November 17, 1991, ''The Washington Post'' reported that Brenner's doctor, Arthur I. Kobrine, confirmed the broadcaster had suffered a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

. He underwent an

MR angiogram Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is a group of techniques based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to image blood vessels. Magnetic resonance angiography is used to generate images of arteries (and less commonly veins) in order to evaluate ...

and a radiographical angiogram, but neither showed anything abnormal. Brenner's physical condition initially improved. He was released from the hospital after Thanskgiving. He began to regain use of his left arm, he was walking again, and the double vision had largely gone away. Although he was expected to return to the air in early January, Brenner began suffering from vomiting and dizziness. WUSA said he would not return to the air for another four to six weeks. On Friday, January 10, 1992, Brenner's physical condition declined rapidly and he was taken to George Washington University Hospital. An

MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves ...

later that day revealed a large mass in the

brainstem The brainstem (or brain stem) is the posterior stalk-like part of the brain that connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord. In the human brain the brainstem is composed of the midbrain, the pons, and the medulla oblongata. The midbrain is cont ...

. At 9:30 a.m. on January 11, surgeons operated on Brenner for four hours and discovered an inoperable malignant

. Bleeding in the brain had masked the tumor in previous exams. His prognosis was "poor," and he was listed in

critical condition Medical state is a term used to describe a hospital patient's health status, or condition. The term is most commonly used in information given to the news media, and is rarely used as a clinical description by physicians. Two aspects of the pati ...

. On Sunday, January 12, the

dedicated their

NFC Championship game The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semi-final playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the world. ...

to Brenner. The Redskins handily defeated the

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 ...

, 41-to-10, and went on to win

Super Bowl XXVI Super Bowl XXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

two weeks later. Redskins coach

Joe Gibbs Joe Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former professional football coach. In football, he was head coach for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 to 1992, and a ...

brought the Championship game ball to Brenner in the hospital. Brenner died at 7:58 a.m. on Tuesday, January 14, 1992 (just 12 days after his 44th birthday) at George Washington University Hospital. WUSA aired a half-hour special that night covering his career. Many citizens in the D.C. area were in shock for several days. President

issued a statement upon Brenner's death, which said, "Barbara and I are greatly saddened by the untimely death of Glenn Brenner, a man whose wit and ability has endeared him to so many Washingtonians. The suddenness of his death, and the warmth of his personality, leave all of us with a painful emptiness." Former President

also issued a statement, in which he said, "Today the entire Washington community mourns the loss of Glenn Brenner, a dear friend to all of us who knew him. He truly was a broadcasting great, bringing sports to life with his talent and dedication. Glenn set a wonderful example by his constant involvement in local causes and displayed a real concern for his community." Brenner's funeral was held at

National Presbyterian Church The National Presbyterian Church is a Christian congregation of approximately 1,500 members of all ages from the greater metropolitan Washington, D.C., area. The mission statement of the church is "Leading People to Become Faithful Followers of J ...

in Washington, D.C. on January 17, 1992. More than 1,500 mourners attended. He was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in the Georgetown neighborhood of the city.

Legacy

In a 2010 retrospective, former

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 ...

and WUSA sportscaster

Brett Haber Brett Haber is an American sportscaster. He is a host for the Tennis Channel and several other national and regional sports outlets. Sportscasting career In the mid-1990s Haber was an anchor on ESPN's flagship news program '' SportsCenter''. ...

noted that Brenner was well known outside the mid-Atlantic region. Brenner also continued to be the standard to which all regional sports broadcasters aspired, even 18 years after his death. The ''

Washington City Paper The ''Washington City Paper'' is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The ''City Paper'' is distributed on Thursdays; its average circulation in 2006 was 85,588. The paper's editorial mix is focused ...

'' said that sportscaster

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

might have been better-known nationwide due to his '' George Michael's Sports Machine'', but that Michael remained the Salieri to Brenner's

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

. The newspaper's Dave McKenna noted, "I worshipped Brenner. Everybody I knew around here when Brenner was on the air worshipped the guy." The Washington, D.C. chapter of the

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, edu ...

named its Glenn Brenner Award for Excellence in Sportscasting after him.

References

;Notes ;Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brenner, Glenn 1948 births 1992 deaths American television sports announcers Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.) Deaths from brain cancer in Washington, D.C. Saint Joseph's University alumni Television anchors from Washington, D.C.