Harry Kalas, long time voice of the Phillies and of NFL films died a couple of days ago and I’ve been remiss in failing to mention it. My friend Zurek reminded me today when I was looking at his blog.
Another great voice stilled. This has been some year.
For those who live in the Philadelphia area (as I do), there will be a small memorial ceremony prior to Friday night’s game (the game starts at 7:05 EST, and the club is encouraging fans to get there early for the ceremony). Friday’s game will kick off a series of games dedicated to Harry, with events chronicling life of the Phillies’ biggest fan.
More information can be found here:
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillies_zone/Details_of_Friday_Kalas_tribute.html
http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2009/04/13/daily25.html
Additionally, the Kalas family is holding a memorial tribute where friends and family can both come together at the ballpark for a memorial tribute on Saturday, April 18 from 8AM – 12:45PM, with a ceremony being held inside the park at 1PM.
More details of that event can be found here:
http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20090414&content_id=4269428&vkey=pr_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi
Greg,
Thank you for the excellent information.
Be well,
Bob
No problem Bob,
I do not know whether or not my girlfriend (and season ticket holder for 25+ years; she’s been doing this since grade school) will be at the ceremony inside the park, but I expect that we will both be at the park to pay our respects.
Harry was literally the biggest Philly baseball fan in the city (and nobody questioned it… the man was a little nuts for the team, the fans, and the game). If you check the local papers, you realize that his loss is something which has brought the city to a halt.
The great thing about him is a trait I’ve found in most of the “greats” within our merry band of VO folks. He viewed what he did as a gift from God, a blessing to be shared, and regardless of who you were, Harry always treated you as an equal who was deserving of his time, respect, and attention.
And if you were at spring training, he’d probably drink you under the table as well, lol.
His loss is literally a loss to us all.