Jack Whitaker will be remembered for his wide range of coverage, dignified essays on sports, and style reminiscent of Alistair Cooke and Heywood Hale Broun.
Born in Philadelphia, Whitaker joined WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, where he broadcast weather and sports. His colleagues included Ed McMahon and John Facenda. Whitaker also did color commentary for the Philadelphia Eagles in the late 50s. He also became a play-by-play broadcaster in 1960, when the Eagles won the NFL Championship.
Whitaker (center) covering horse racing (photo courtesy IMDB)
In 1961, Whitaker joined CBS Sports, where he covered the first Super Bowl, Secretariat’s Triple Crown, golf’s majors, and boxing. He also served as a studio host for The NFL Today. Of all the sports Whitaker covered, golf was the sport he enjoyed the most. Whitaker did get in a bit of trouble at the 1966 Masters when he offended the Masters chairman, Clifford Roberts, by referring to the gallery at the 18th hole as a “mob.”
Whitaker covered Ruffian’s life-threatening injury and fatal breakdown in 1975. It inspired a passage Whitaker commented on. “A false step here and the years of planning and breeding and training and loving came to an end. A horse with speed, stamina, and heart. A horse, like the Bible says, ‘whose neck is clothed in thunder.’”
Whitaker moved to ABC in 1982. Whitaker participated in the Olympic Games in 1984 and 1988. He also covered sports for World News Tonight, 20/20, and Nightline. He provided historical imagery while broadcasting, including what he said during the 1982 British Open in Scotland: “Playing in the British Open is like reading American history at Independence Hall or studying opera at La Scala. It’s golf at its most simple, its most pure, its most magnificent.”
Whitaker was also honored with numerous awards, including an Emmy in 1979, induction into the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame in Philadelphia in 2003, and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sports Emmy Awards in 2012. Another accolade was that Whitaker was the only living play-by-play announcer from the first 21 Super Bowls.
Jack Whitaker passed away in 2019 at the age of 95.
