100 years ago

 

Major J. Andrew White

History is messy. Never have we been more clear about that than now.

So let's deal with what we think we know.

One hundred years ago today, Jack Dempsey fought Georges Carpentier at an arena that was thrown together in Jersey City, NJ. Dempsey, the legendary boxer, was cast as a bit of a villain, having been seen as a draft dodger (truth: he was classified 4-F). On the other hand, Carpentier did fight in World War I for the French Army.

The bout took place at Boyle's Thirty Acres, a wooden arena concocted by Dempsey's promoter Tex Rickard, known as the man behind the New York Rangers hockey team (Tex's Rangers).

We know that Dempsey won the fight in the fourth round and retained the Heavyweight championship. 

We also know -- and this is the big point -- that radio played a huge role in relaying the fight and helped usher in a whole new era of sports coverage.

Things get dicey after this. There were apparently other attempts to broadcast sports, with reports of a football game in 1919 and a fight on a smaller scale on KDKA in Pittsburgh earlier in 1921.

So is this really the first play-by-play? I suppose it depends and we'll truly never know.

Either way, this was different. For one thing, a temporary station -- WJY -- was established explicitly for the fight.

Still, there were hiccups. WJY needed a transmitted and those in charge of the broadcast found one built by RCA for use by the Navy. A deal was worked out with the Secretary of the Navy -- a chap named Franklin D. Roosevelt -- to have it shipped from Schenectady, NY.

But a ruse was also created.

Major J. Andrew White (a key name in early radio) was supposed to be the play-by-play announcer. And, to a degree, he was. However, AT&T wouldn't allow a telephone line to be connected to the transmitter. So, a relay system was created, in which White called the action via telephone and a high-speed telegraph operator would relay the information to J Owen Smith, who even had a bell.

Listeners wouldn't know what White's voice sounded like anyway. So White called it -- for the telegraph operator. But the audience -- some 350,000 strong (the largest at that time) -- heard Smith.

So who is the godfather of play-by-play? White, certainly, as well as Harold Arlin on KDKA and, later on, Graham McNamee and Ted Husing (who was mentored by White) and a few others.

Still, with that, whether it was the "first" or not, sports play-by-play was officially off the ground.

A month later, on Aug 5 -- the date I'm really looking forward to honoring -- Arlin went to Forbes Field and called the first baseball broadcast.

It's a shame more isn't being done to honor this momentous occasion in broadcasting history but I'm trying to do my own small part.

Incidentally, I don't have a broadcast as of now on Aug 5 (the Renegades are in Brooklyn) and I do hope to find one. If not, we'll honor the moment in another way.

You know me. I'll work it in somehow.