Emmy-Award Winning Sportscaster Jack Whitaker Passes Away at 95
Monday, August 19, 2019
Jack Whitaker PHOTO: Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame
He is survived by his wife Patricia, his daughters Marybeth Helgevold and Ann Hasan, and his sons Gerry, Jack and Kevin.
He also has 11 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
About Whitaker
Whitaker entered the network sportscasting business with CBS in 1961, where he did play-by-play for the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles.
He covered the very first Super Bowl championship. With the death of Dick Enberg in 2017, Whitaker was the only living play-by-play man from the first 21 Super Bowls.
He also covered golf’s four major championships, horse racing’s Triple Crown events, boxing and more.
Whitaker was banned from covering the Masters for CBS for five years after referring to a patron gallery at Augusta National Golf Club as a "mob" at the end of the 18-hole playoff in 1966.
He was allowed to return in 1972.
In 1982, Whitaker moved from CBS to ABC, where he served as a reporter for both news and sports.
He was a part of ABC's sports team at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games and the 1984 Winter and Summer Olympic Games.
He retired from broadcasting in 2004, after leaving ABC.
In his career, Whitaker won three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Host or Commentator in 1979, for writing in 1990 and the Lifetime Achievement award in 2012.
He was inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame in 1997, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 2001.
Whitaker was born on May 18, 1924.
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