Barber, Red, 1908-

Variant names

Dates:

Birth 1908-02-17

Death 1992-10-22

Language: English,

Biographical notes:

Walter Lanier "Red" Barber is a legend in the field of sports broadcasting. He began his career sixty-one years ago while studying English education at the University of Florida. In his junior year, while filling in for a reporter on the University's radio station WRUF, Barber realized that broadcasting was the profession he would pursue. He left school in 1930 to accept a full-time job announcing for WRUF where he worked for four years. In 1934, when the Cincinnati Reds decided to air their games on radio, Red Barber accepted his first major league broadcasting job doing play-by-play announcing. It was in Cincinnati that Red Barber announced the first night baseball game. Five years later, in 1939, he accepted an announcing job with the Brooklyn Dodgers where he worked for fifteen years. In 1954 Barber left the Dodgers to work for the New York Yankees. He broadcasted the Yankees' baseball games until 1966.

During his sportscasting career, Barber covered thirteen World Series, four all-star games, five Army-Navy games, one Sugar Bowl, two Rose Bowls, eight Orange Bowls, and four National Football League championship games. When he was appointed Director of Sports at CBS Radio in 1946, he created their unique "Football Roundup" coverage. From 1951 to 1955, Barber also served as Counselor on Sports for CBS.

In 1978 Barber won the first Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. In 1979 he was given a Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Florida and a Gold Award by the Florida Association of Broadcasters. In the same year he was also inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame. Barber retired from sportscasting in 1972, but returned to radio as a sports commentator in 1980. He also was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio's "Morning Edition." Red Barber lived in Tallahassee, Florida, from 1974 until his death in 1992.

From the guide to the Walter Lanier "Red" Barber Papers and Book Collection, 1925-1992, (Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida)