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
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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