Release date: Sept. 12, 2003
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu

Sports Broadcaster Ernie Harwell to Receive Emory Medal

Baseball Hall of Fame member Ernie Harwell, longtime voice of the Detroit Tigers, will be honored during Emory University’s annual Alumni Weekend when he is presented the Emory Medal. Designed and first cast in 1987, the medal is Emory’s highest alumni honor.

The medal will be presented during a ceremony at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 18 at the Miller-Ward Alumni House. The three other 2003 Emory Medal honorees include: Rev. John L. Cromartie Jr., senior pastor of Cumming First United Methodist Church; Marianna Patterson, longtime Atlanta volunteer, and her husband, Solon Patterson, chairman of Montag & Caldwell.

Harwell received his bachelor’s degree from Emory in 1940 before heading on to fame for his 55 years as an announcer for Major League Baseball, most notably as the voice of the Detroit Tigers for 42 years, before retiring in 2002.

His first full-time job as a journalist was with The Sporting News, a national weekly that covered the Southeast, an association that lasted 30 years. While at Emory, he worked for The Atlanta Constitution, and after graduation, he became sports director of Atlanta’s WSB radio.

His first announcing job was with the Atlanta Crackers, with whom he had worked as a batboy. When sought by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an announcer, the Crackers obtained a Dodger’s catcher in exchange, making Harwell the only announcer ever traded for a player. He also worked for the New York Giants and Baltimore Orioles before signing on with the Detroit Tigers in 1960. During his career, he was the voice of the first coast-to-coast television broadcast of a major sporting event in 1951. He called the first American League championship series, and he has called three World Series and three All Star Games for CBS Radio.

Harwell was the first active broadcaster to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, from which he also received the Frick Award for meritorious service. Harwell is a member of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, Radio Hall of Fame and Emory Sports Hall of Fame. The “Guinness Book of World Records” recognizes Harwell as “baseball’s most enduring announcer,” citing the fact that he has broadcast more big-league games than any other announcer in history.

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