Read an updated version of Gene's introductory speech at the 2002 Texas Baseball Hall of Fame banquet entitled The State of the Game.

"I think all that are working on this are doing a great thing. Since the Frick Award is hardly handed out like candy--virtually every honoree has been behind a mic doing major league baseball for at least 30 years--it is only right that a man who worked for nearly 45 years calling games...and was the FIRST MLB Announcer in Texas...should be properly recognized."
-Greg Lucas - Houston Astros Announcer

PURPOSE:
The purpose of this website is to act as a voice of the grassroots movement of Gene Elston fans, building momentum for Gene to be considered as the next recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, given to a single, active or retired sportscaster annually by the National Baseball Hall of Fame. We feel that Gene has exceeded the qualifications needed for the award and that the award nominating committee and baseball fans everywhere will agree with us that he has indeed "made significant contributions to baseball" in his 47-year baseball broadcasting career and beyond.

PLAN:
Our plan is to use the site to honor Gene's career and drive to get as many signatures on our online petition as we can by the end of 2002 and deliver the petition to the Ford C. Frick award nominating committee, who will hopefully consider Gene for the honor in 2003.

click here for a printable version of petition

PROFIT:
This is a non-profit fan-based effort. We are doing this to benefit Gene and no one else. I've heard from so many people about all the wonderful memories that people have of listening to Gene, Loel Passe and the rest broadcasting Colt .45's & Astros games on TV and radio through the years. Well, it's only right that we try and give something back to the man that brought all those memories to us. Please sign our online petition and help get Gene into the HOF!

- Webmaster

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GENE ELSTON BIOGRAPHY �  

GENE ELSTON, always had an inclination to enter the field of radio. This desire led him to take a speech course at Beloit College in Wisconsin-and it is one of the ironies of his life that he flunked the course.

Elston broke into radio in 1941 at Fort Dodge, Iowa, doing general staff announcing and high school basketball play-by-play. He obtained the job by writing a letter to Station KVFD-and lo and behold passed the audition.

Gene entered the Navy in World War II and served as a radar instructor. He took his boot training in San Diego and after graduation from the radio school there was sent to the Naval Air Station at Memphis, Tennessee, where he was given a course in airborne radar. He suffered a broken leg in an automobile accident in Memphis and remained in a hospital for nine months. He was discharged in the winter of 1944, leaving the Service as an Aviation Radioman Third Class.

Upon his return to civilian life, Elston went back to KVFD in Fort Dodge and then began to jump around to small stations until 1945 when he joined WRRN in Warren, Ohio. From there Gene got a big break when he went to WJW in Cleveland to handle the color for the games of the old Cleveland Rams of the National Football League.

Gene did not handle baseball until 1946 when he announced games of the Waterloo, Iowa, club in the Three I League. He remained there for four years and then moved to Des Moines, Iowa, doing play-by-play of the Western League club's games there for four years.

In 1954 Elston went to Chicago as No. 2 man on the team announcing the Chicago Cubs' games. He got a network job with Mutual's "Game of the Day" in 1958 and worked with Bob Feller in the broadcast over some 350 stations around the country. He also was with the Mutual Network in 1959 and 1960, the latter year with Van Patrick.

In 1961, Gene was brought to Houston to do the American Association games. When Houston received its National League franchise, Elston was the first announcer signed to do the Colt .45 play-by-play.

His counterpart for 15 years was Loel Passe, the master of such sayings as "Now you chuckin' in there," and "Hold me, boys, chain me to my chair." They were joined that first season of 1962 by Al Helfer, who was the primary voice of Mutual's Game of the Day in the 1950s. Harry Kalas, now with the Phillies, joined Elston and Passe from 1965 through 1969. Passe was replaced in 1976 by Bob Prince, who had just been fired after decades as the voice of the Pirates. Prince left after a year and was replaced by Dewayne Staats, and Larry Dierker came aboard three years later.

As the names changed, Elston's style remained consistent. "I wanted to be a reporter, to let my listeners know what was going on," he said. "I was never a homer. I was a fan of the Houston Astros and I wanted them to win, but my job was to report the game."

Gene also worked other sports in the off-season, mainly basketball and football. He covered football for the Big Ten (Iowa & Northwestern), the University of Houston and the Southwest Conference Games of the Week. During the 1962-1980 period, he did cable TV broadcasts of SWC football and basketball.

Elston left the Astros in 1987 and worked for another decade, calling games for the CBS Game of the Week. He works today for Tal Smith Enterprises, but people still enjoy talking to him about the days when the Astros were the new team in town. "People meet me and say they were youngsters at the time and used to listen to me in bed," he said, smiling. "I ask them, 'Well, how many times did I put you to sleep?'"

Gene was inducted to the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.  He has authored two books on baseball, a calendar and crafted a unique scorebook for use in scoring baseball games. 

Gene currently lives in Houston is on a book tour and writes an online baseball column for Astros Daily where he is taking fans "back in time" to 1962, writing a series of daily updates to commemorate 40 years of major league baseball in Houston.  He is also a member of Team SABR, a group of baseball luminaries who are spreading the word that the Society of American Baseball Research is the place for those who love baseball.

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