Pat Summerall, NFL Broadcasting Legend, Teamed Up With John Madden, R.I.P.

Longtime NFL play-by-play man Pat Summerall, who worked a record 16 Super Bowls and was a long-time broadcast partner with John Madden, passed away on Tuesday at age 82 according to multiple reports.




After playing a variety of positions at the University of Arkansas, Mr. Summerall played 10 years as a place-kicker in the NFL (Detroit Lions, 1952; Chicago Cardinals, 1953-57; New York Giants, 1958-61).



After retiring in 1961, Pat went to work for CBS Sports as a color analyst. By 1973, he moved to the play-by-play spot. He teamed up with ex-Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Tom Brookshier up to the end of the 1970s.



By 1981, he teamed up with former Oakland Raiders head coach John Madden and were, by many estimations, for the next two decades, television's best football broadcast team. Pat and John moved over to the Fox Network in 1994, when the upstart network took over National Football Conference games from CBS. Pat retired from broadcasting after the 2001 season, which culminated with Super Bowl XXXVI, won by the New England Patriots.

The Face Is America.............

The taste is Canada Dry.

This commercial is from the 1960-61 television season and probably aireed during an ABC Network telecast of Walt Disney Presents (formerly Disneyland; Walt will move over to NBC the following season).

At Least Mayhem Won't Be Featured In This One

1958 animated television for Allstate Insurance.

Be Sure To Watch "Disneyland" each week on ABC!

1957 ABC Network promo for both the show and the theme park in Anaheim, California.

Hey Guys, Why Not Freshen-Up Your Faces?

Here's a 1957 commercial for Old Spice After Shave Lotion.

Here's A Visit From Fresh-Up Freddie

Here's a 1958 commercial for Seven-Up with Fresh-Up Freddie, this time as a Texas oilman.  Animated by the Walt Disney Studio with voice by Paul Frees.

Wanna Have A Toy Rick-Shaw Race?

Here's a 1965 TV commercial for Post Rice Krinkles cereal, featuring So-Hi, a character seen on the front of the cereal box----and on the General Foods-sponsored Linus the Lion-Hearted CBS Network weekly television show.  This one features a little toy rick-shaw (and a toy minaturized version of Si-Hi himself) that was available inside every marked box of Post Rice Krinkles.

And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor

1962 commercial for Sanka Instant Coffee.

97% caffeine free, folks!

You The Man, Will: Perfectly-Placed Free Kick Carries Timbers Past Quakes

At Portland, Oregon:

Will Johnson scored the only goal of the match in the 78th minute on Sunday with a perfectly timed and placed free kick that beat goalkeeper Jon Busch as the Portland Timbers jumped four spots to third place in the Western Conference following their 1-0 Major League Soccer home win over the ten-man San Jose Earthquakes.

Farewell, Lumpy

Frank Bank, the actor best remembered for his portrayal of Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford on the classic late 1950s-early 1960s sitcom Leave It To Beaver, passed away on Saturday, the day after his 71st birthday (and on the day of friend and former co-star Tony Dow's 68th birthday).

Sharks Take Big Bite Out Of VooDoo

At Jacksonville, Florida:

Fullback Rendrick Taylor ran for four touchdowns while Terrance Smith return an interception 51 yards for another score as the Jacksonville Sharks (4-0), in their home opener on Friday, scored the first 35 points en route to a 76-30 demolition of the visiting New Orleans VooDoo (1-2) in Arena Football League action.  Jeff Hughley scored the first three touchdowns for the unbeaten Sharks.

Jonathan Winters, Rubber-Faced Comedian, R.I.P.

Jonathan Winters, the rubber-faced comedian whose unscripted flights of fancy inspired a generation of improvisational comics, and who kept TV audiences laughing their heads off with such characters as the prissy schoolmarm Maude Frickert,  passed away on Thursday at his home in Montecito, California at the age of 87.

Time For Goopy To Do His Stuff

Time for "Goopy Geer," a 1932 Merrie Melodies entry from Hugh Harman-Rudolf Ising Productions.  With animation by Friz Freleng and Rollin Hamilton and musical score by Frank Marsales, this Warner Brothers release was produced by Leon Schlesinger and directed by Rudy Ising.

Time For A Bosko Cartoon, Kids!

Here's a 1932 cartoon, "Bosko the Lumberjack," a Hugh Harman-Rudolf Ising cartoon produced by Leon Schlesinger and directed by Hugh Harman. Animated by Friz Freleng and Max Maxwell with musical score by Frank Marsales. 






Released by Warner Brothers as part of its' Looney Tunes series.

Time For A Banned Cartoon, Folks!

From 1931, we bring you "Hittin' The Trail For Hallelujah Land" a Hugh Harman-Rudolf Ising production directed by Rudy Ising (uncredited) as part of Warner Brothers' Merrie Melodies series.  Produced by Leon Schlesinger and released by Warner Brothers with animation by Friz Freleng and Paul Smith and musical score by Frank Marsales.


In this one, our hero Piggy (Mickey Mouse with pig ears, snout, and curly tail; his second and final cartoon) tries to rescue his girlfriend Fluffy and the dog-like Uncle Tom from perilous predicaments and villains.  The cartoon has been withdrawn from syndication since 1968 due to racial stereotypes, making it one of the infamous "Censored Eleven."

Enjoy!

And Now A Word From Our Sponsor

1964 commercial for Kraft Miracle Whip Salad Dressing.

Ed Wynn Matches Wits With The Three Stooges

Here's a 1950 CBS Network telecast of The Ed Wynn Show as Ed is joined by The Three Stooges (Moe and Shemp Howard and Larry Fine) and singer Helen Forrest, as well as a cameo appearance by TV's future Fred Mertz and "Bub" O'Casey himself, William Frawley.  Complete with original Camel Cigarettes commercials.  Aired live in Los Angeles and other coaxal cable-connect West Coast stations and shown on kinescope to the Eastern and Central time zones.

UConn Blasts Louisville To Win NCAA Women's Title; Another Crown For Geno's Girls

At New Orleans:

Breanna Stewart scored 23 points as the Connecticut Huskies (35-4) crushed the Louisville Cardinals 93-60 on Tuesday to win their eighth NCAA Women's Basketball Division I national title, all under head coach Geno Auriemma.  He and the Lady Huskies tied the record held by Tennessee under Pat Summit.

Cardinals Top Wolverines To Capture First NCAA Men's Basketball Crown Since '86

At Atlanta:

Luke Hancock, named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, scored 22 points as the Louisville Cardinals (35-5), who trailed by as many as 12 points late in the first half, won their third NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament championship (their first since 1986) 82-76 over the Michigan Wolverines (31-8) on Monday.  Cardinals' head coach Rich Pitino became the first coach to win the championship with two different schools (he won at Kentucky in 1996).

Annette Funicello, Iconic Mouseketeer Turned Co-Star Of Slightly Spicy 1960s Beach Movies, R.I.P.

Annette Funicello, best remembered as member of the cast of TV's Mickey Mouse Club in the mid and late 1950s before co-starring with Frankie Avalon in a series semi-spicy 1960s American Independent Pictures beach movies, passed away on Monday at Bakersfield, California at age 70.

Miss Funicello passed away from complications from multiple sclerosis.

Annette was the last of the 24 original Mouseketeers chosen for the Mickey Mouse Club, which premiered on October 3, 1955 as an hour-long late-weekday-afternoon show, produced by Walt Disney (who personally discovered Annette at a ballet performance), for the ABC Network.  The show, which debut on the same date as Captain Kangaroo, became such a big hit in the ratings that NBC's long-running Howdy Doody Show was exiled to Saturday mornings within a year.

After leaving MMC, Annette would go on to make several movies, most notably, a half-dozen beach movies starring opposite Frankie Avalon for American Independent Pictures during the early and middle 1960s, beginning with "Beach Party" (1963).

After her career in movies largely ended by the late 1960s, Annette became better known in the 1970s for her Skippy Peanut Butter television commercials.

It was in 1987 that she learned that she had MS.  She kept that a secret for five years until she spoke out after becoming concerned that the unsteadiness caused by the illness might have been misinterpreted as drunkeness.  She set up the Annette Funicello Research Fund for Neurological Disorders and underwent brain surgery in 1999 in an attempt to control tremors caused by her illness.

For many, though, Annette, survived by her second husband, horse breeder Glen Holt, three children, and three grandchildren,  remained forever young.  Some might even remember words from a ditty from long-ago telecasts:

Ask the birds and ask the bees




And ask the stars above



Who’s their favorite sweet brunette;



You know, each one confesses:



Annette! Annette! Annette!

Thanks for the memories and rest in peace, Annette.