Former Sox broadcaster Coleman dies
10:37 AM EDT on Thursday, August 21, 2003
PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) -- Ken Coleman, a radio and television play-by-play
voice of the Boston Red Sox for 20 years, has died. He was 78.
Coleman died at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth, hospital spokesman John
Looney said this morning. He did not provide further details.
Coleman, a Quincy native, also was the voice of the Cleveland Indians
and the NFL's Cleveland Browns between 1952 and 1965, calling every
touchdown Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown ever scored.
He began his Red Sox career in 1966, broadcasting games on WHDH radio
and television with partners Ned Martin and Mel Parnell. Coleman left
the Red Sox in 1975 for Cincinnati, where he called play-by-play for the
Reds through 1978. He returned to Boston in 1979, and stayed until his
retirement in 1989.
He called Red Sox games during their Impossible Dream run to the World
Series in 1967, as well as their heartbreaking loss to the New York Mets
in the 1986 World Series. In Cincinnati, he witnessed the rise of the
Big Red Machine, including their 1975 World Series win over the Red Sox.
Coleman was one of the founding fathers of the Red Sox booster club, the
BoSox Club, and was intimately involved with the Jimmy Fund, which
raises money for cancer research.
He wrote five books, including "So You Want To Be a Sportscaster."
