James Griffith Wetzel[1][2] (March 24, 1929 – July 31, 2024), known on-air as Jim West, was an American sportscaster who worked in Baltimore and Chicago. He was a play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Cubs, and Washington Capitals.
Biography[]
West was born in Pittsburgh on March 24, 1929.[2] He grew up in Baltimore, and graduated from Towson State College.[2][3] In 1962, he was hired to handle play-by-play for Baltimore Clippers games on WITH radio.[4] The following season, both the Clippers and West moved to WBAL, where West also hosted the Baltimore Orioles pre- and post-game shows.[4][5] In 1967, West received the James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding media coverage of the American Hockey League.[6]
In 1970, West became the television announcer for the Chicago Black Hawks.[7] From 1971 to 1976, he also called Cubs games for the station.[8]
In 1978, the Washington Capitals chose West to call the team's games on WDCA-TV.[3] From 1983 to 1990, West co-hosted the Jones and West Morning Show with Bob Jones.[9] From 1984 to 1986, West was the play-by-play announcer for Maryland Terrapins football games.[10] His final full-time job in broadcasting was the sports anchor role for WBAL Radio's morning show. He retired in 1995 and was replaced by Pam Ward.[11]
Jim West died on July 31, 2024, at the age of 95.[12][13]
References[]
- ↑ Klein, Alyson (2003-07-11). Seniors slug it out in home run derby (en-US).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 James "Jim" Griffith Wetzel.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Capitals Pick West for TV", August 21, 1978.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Hockey Clippers get air coverage", Baltimore Afro-American, September 17, 1963.
- ↑ (2007) "The Bad Case". Scoring from Second: Writers on Baseball. Bison Original.
- ↑ James H. Ellery Memorial Award. AHL Hall of Fame.
- ↑ "Jim West", The Hockey News, October 9, 1970.
- ↑ Cubs Broadcasters. MLB Advanced Media, LP..
- ↑ "Robert 'Bob' Jones of WBAL's 'Jones and West' has passed away", WBAL, October 1, 2020.
- ↑ (March 11, 2009) The 46th Annual Scholar Athlete Awards Dinner. The Greater Baltimore Chapter National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.
- ↑ Kent, Milton (1995-03-14). WBAL’s West will settle into busy ‘semi-retirement’ (en-US).
- ↑ Ink, Radio (2024-07-31). Former Baltimore Morning Host Jim West Passes Away At 95 (en-US).
- ↑ Rasmussen, Frederick N. (2024-07-31). Jim West, former WBAL radio host of ‘Jones & West,’ dies (en-US).
| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Jim West (sportscaster). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA). |