Voice of the Wildcats: Claude Sullivan and the Rise of Modern Sportscasting

Product Description

As one of the first voices of the University of Kentucky men’s basketball program, Claude Sullivan (1924–1967) became a nationally known sportscasting pioneer. His career followed Kentucky’s rise to prominence as he announced the first four NCAA championship titles under Coach Adolph Rupp and covered scrimmages during the canceled 1952–1953 season following the NCAA sanctions scandal. Sullivan also revolutionized the coverage of the UK football program with the introduction of a coach’s show with Bear Bryant―a national first that gained significant attention and later became a staple at other institutions. Sullivan’s reputation in Kentucky eventually propelled him to Cincinnati, where he became the voice of the Reds, and even to the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome. His success was tragically cut short when he passed away from throat cancer at forty-two.

In
Voice of the Wildcats: Claude Sullivan and the Rise of Modern Sportscasting, Claude’s son Alan, along with Joe Cox, offers an engaging and heartfelt look at the sportscaster’s life and the context in which he built his career. Featuring dozens of interviews and correspondence with sports legends, including Wallace “Wah Wah” Jones, Babe Parilli, Cliff Hagan, Ralph Hacker, Jim Host, Billy Reed, Adolph Rupp, and Cawood Ledford, this engaging biography showcases the life and work of a beloved broadcast talent and documents the rise of sports radio during the twentieth century.

Review

“What an absorbing tribute to this man who in his prime was a legendary figure in broadcasting a trio of sports within a geographical region that extends several hundred miles. The son has done his daddy proud as he reminds his readers often of his father’s ties to family activities ahead of those highlighting his passion for work. It is a fascinating read, inclusive of all the detail one would anticipate, and written in a breezy style that doesn’t drag as it flows chronologically.”―Jim Cox, author of
Radio Speakers: Narrators, News Junkies, Sports Jockeys, Tattletales, Tipsters, Toastmasters and Coffee Klatch Couples Who Verbalized the Jargon of the Aural Ether from the 1920s to the 1980s – A Biographical Dictionary

“Alan Sullivan recounts the story of his father’s broadcasting career covering University of Kentucky sports, horse racing, and Cincinnati Reds baseball at the midpoint of the Twentieth Century. The author meticulously researched the details of the UK sports covered by his father and skillfully uses oral history interviews to provide insightful and entertaining stories.”―Terry Birdwhistell, Dean of University of Kentucky Libraries

“‘If Claude had lived, no one would have heard of Al Michaels’. Those were the words of Hall of Famer Broadcaster Lindsey Nelson prior to a UK vs Tennessee game in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was correct. Coach Adolph Rupp once said to me, ‘if Claude were alive I am not certain they would have filled Rupp Arena’. Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration? In either case these men who knew him and those of us who listened and worked with him knew he was a man of extreme talent. Before television he was the eyes of the fan. He made you hear every crack of the helmet, bounce of the ball, feel the temperature and the wind in the air, hear the squeak of the shoes, smell the sweat of the game. He took you inside the game, through him you knew how Joe Nuxhall or Bob Perky was pitching, Ed Bailey was catching and Frank Robinson and Veda Pinson were hitting, or if Johnny Temple and Roy McMillian were going to turn the double play. Without being a ‘homer,’ with his special use of the English language you knew who he was for. Before The Cincinnati Reds, HE WAS THE VOICE OF THE WILDCATS.”―Ralph Hacker, University of Kentucky basketball announcer

“Claude Sullivan could paint a picture with words. . . . [H]e could transport you to the center of the action. . . . [W]hen you listened to Claude Sullivan call a game . . . it was if you had the best seat in t