Quote:
Originally Posted by craigbraddick
That is the reason why I will not be covering the work of Dave Johnson or Tom Durkin in this although for sure I will reference it. So much has already been said that is so praiseworthy that even the slightest criticism will be blown out of proportion by people looking to score cheap points.
Can you tell me any more about the guy you mentioned who called Fresno and the guy who called the CA Fairs, please? What were they like?
And Vic, what is your view as to why race calling developed the way it did in the USA where for a long time the standard seemed to be "name, margin, name, margin" and then finish the call before they even crossed the line as opposed to the style that developed in the UK, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand which was more descriptive in style?
Thanks.
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Where do I start?
Who would write a book about baseball and not include Babe Ruth and Joe Dimaggio because they were worried about what people were going to say about them? Positive or negative. I totally don't understand that.
The guy who called Fresno is named Danny Alameda. He was a film flam man from the very beginning. One of those guys who would sell the same horse to three different people. He's ruled off every track in the state. He wasn't a bad race caller. His calls felt a little seedy and I know he didn't put in the proper preparation. But he had the ability to actually be pretty good.
Dick Riley was a great sweet man. He was a disaster as a race caller. Didn't pronounce the names correctly, long pregnant pauses, and many botched calls and finishes. Ironically as the intertrack/paddock host he was terrific. He really knew his stuff and was an excellent handicapper. He also worked in the racing office at most of the Fairs. People enjoyed his race calls BECAUSE he was so bad. Kinda like people go to particular Chinese restaurants solely because they KNOW the waiters are going to be super rude. Dick was always very nice, very gracious and kind to me. Even though when I was named the announcer at all the Fairs it cost him his job calling at Pleasanton, Vallejo & Ferndale. The man who hired him at Ferndale, Everett Nevin was so loyal to Dick that for one year he kept him on calling on track only. While my voice was going out over the entire simulcast system. RIP
Calling Craig "OK'" Ingram an announcer is a bit of a stretch. He called a few years at Vallejo and wasn't terrible but prone to big mistakes which were 100% due to the fact the he flat refused to do the work and practice that all good race callers are willing to do. He was more interested in being known as the announcer than actually caring about getting better. Super nice guy. I was calling at Golden Gate when he convinced the Fair Manager at Vallejo to give him a shot. I'm not sure but I think he may have been the first African American announcer in the U.S. He got the job a few months before that Fair started and came up to the booth at GGF. I congratulated him and offered to let him practice on the roof outside my booth so he could be super sharp and fine tuned for his big break. He said "Nah I don't need that. I already have my catch phrases ready to go" The first day of the fair a chestnut horse won a race and of course in the program it read Ch. G 3yo by So and So out of So and So. When he went into the winners circle OK said the winner is a " 3 yo charcoal gelding" I wish I could remember some of the others. But BY FAR he will be best remembered for the speech! On closing day he knew he wasn't coming back the next season. So at 8 minutes to post he came on the mic and said "folks I got something to say" as god be my judge he talked about his life, his successes and failures, his road to achieving his dream to call races and about 300 other things. This went on for literally 7 minutes during which he couldn't possibly be memorizing the field. Remember this was going out over the simulcast well. When the horses were about to go behind the gate at 1 minute to post he concluded by saying "my daddy told me OK you done alright. It's post time" Michael Wrona was there that day watching from the apron and literally fell down he was laughing so hard.
As for that differences in style. Way back in the day managements in the US wanted their announcers to be very bland, unemotional and matter of fact to a fault. In fact many were told to stop the call at the sixteenth pole. This was because in addition to the bosses the Stewards would get furious if a guy tried to call a close finish and call for his head if he got the finish order wrong.
That all changed with the emergence of Harry Henson, Dave Johnson, Trevor Denman and Tom Durkin. They all brought passion, color, excitement and fun to the races.
As for the differing styles between Europe and other places and the states I truthfully don't know how that evolved. What I do know is that to say the overseas caller are more descriptive is utter nonsense. Also the notion that they are better because they call 20+ horse fields is crap. Put Tom or Larry or Dave or Frank or me in that spot we could run thru those full fields just a good as the Euros.
Their accents have opened doors for many announcers to come here and get good jobs. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. There are many announcers who have accents who are very good. Trevor, Michael, Mark Johnson, Peter Berry and yourself and who do fine job. I've just never quite understood the American fascination with non American sounding announcers. And I've asked for 30 years why it doesn't go both ways? I think a race caller with an American style could be a huge hit in the UK or France or Ireland or even South Africa and Australia. I tried my darndest to get someone to give me a shot over there and couldn't make it work.
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