Joe Garagiola, Sr.      posted 3-24-16
Legacy.com

Joe Garagiola, a legendary broadcaster and former Major League Baseball catcher, died Wednesday, March 23, 2016 according to multiple news sources. He was 90. Outside of baseball fans, Garagiola is known best for his two stints as a panelist on NBC's "Today" show from 1967 to 1973 and again from 1990 to 1992. His colorful personality served him well during a broadcasting career that spanned seven decades. He had a 30-year association with NBC as a baseball announcer, providing both play-by-play duties as well as color commentary at various points during his career on television and radio. Garagiola was born Feb. 12, 1926, in St. Louis, Missouri. He grew up across the street from future baseball legend Yogi Berra in the Italian-American neighborhood known as The Hill. The block on Elizabeth Avenue became retroactively known as Hall of Fame Place. Of the two baseball prospects, Garagiola was projected to have the better major league career. The St. Louis Cardinals signed him when he was 16, and he made his MLB debut four years later, in 1946. He was the Cardinals' catcher when the team won the World Series in 1946. However, unlike the career of his childhood friend Berra, Garagiola's baseball career did not end up in a Hall of Fame trajectory. He was traded in 1951 to the Pittsburgh Pirates and later to the Chicago Cubs and New York Giants. He retired in 1954 with a .257 batting average, 42 home runs, and 255 RBIs. following the end of his playing career, Garagiola entered the broadcast booth, and it was here that his personality and often self-deprecating humor shined. He called radio broadcasts for the Cardinals from 1955 to 1962. He joined NBC's national broadcasting team in 1961 and was a fixture of the NBC baseball crew for decades. He called three World Series, in 1984, 1986, and 1988. Following his departure from NBC Sports, he joined the broadcasting booth for the California Angels cable-televised games in 1990 and did part-time color commentary for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 1998 to 2012. In addition to broadcasting baseball, he was a regular panelist on the "Today" show and occasionally guest-hosted "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." Other broadcasting jobs included hosting the Orange Bowl Parade and the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. In 1991, he was awarded baseball's Ford C. Frick Award for outstanding broadcasting accomplishments and honored at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. "Today" show host Matt Lauer tweeted this tribute: God I'll miss Joe Garagiola. Was part of the soul of our show, and told me stories that made me laugh till I cried. Hall of fame person.
Note: Joe owned WONN-AM 1230 and WPCV-FM 97.5 in Central Florida.

Carl Glicken     9-10-90
Carl Glicken, regional sales manager for WESH-Channel 2 television whose broadcast career spanned more than 30 years, died Wednesday September 10, 1990. He was 60. Glicken's career in the broadcast industry began with WALT-AM 1110 radio in Tampa. He was later a salesman for WYLD-AM 940 radio in New Orleans and then was named assistant manager at WFUN-AM 790 radio in Miami. He was national sales manager at WCIN-AM 1480 in Cincinnati, before returning to Tampa to serve as general manager at WDAE-AM 620 radio. He later joined Southern Broadcasting, working as manager of WKIX-AM 850 radio in Raleigh, N.C. In 1972, Glicken came to Orlando, where he was named president and general manager of Home Security Broadcasting, which owned WLOF-AM 950 and WLOQ-FM 103.1 radio. In 1980, Glicken joined WESH TV 2 in Orlando. Glicken was active in trade and civic organizations. He was a past president of the Orlando Area Advertising Federation, a member of the board of directors of the Florida Association of Broadcasters, and chairman of the board of trustees for Crime Watch. A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Altamonte Springs. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations to a scholarship fund established in Glicken's name. Donations should be addressed to the Carl Glicken Broadcast Scholarship Fund, Orlando Area Advertising Federation, P.O. Box 1614, Orlando, 32802.

John Gordon Passes    
Thanks to Dennis Snyder for this information on John.  
Over the years John worked for several of the area newspapers including the then FTU (now UCF) newspaper, The Winter Park Corner Cupboard newspaper, The Orlando Sentinel, The Sanford Herald, and others. He was a regular at Malcolm's Hungry Bear in Orlando back in the 1970s. Most recently he worked for Wal-Mart in Sanford. Just a few of those who attended a remembrance luncheon were: Dennis Snyder, Mrs. Malcolm Tate and Son (of Malcolm's Hungry Bear), Greg and Mary Anna Gentleman, Marty Stebbins, Gary & Bonnie Taylor & son Charlie, Lee Olson, Todd Persons and Henry Johns. 

Melvin Grace Passes  
'Little Daddy' Grace was voice of rock 'n' roll, gospel
Martha Phifer
Sentinel Staff Writer
December 6, 2008
Melvin W. Grace Sr., known as "Little Daddy" during his years as the morning disc jockey at WOKB-AM 1600, died of pneumonia Nov. 24. He was 79. Born and raised in Miami, Grace was in junior high school when he became curious about on-air radio personalities. During a time when black disc jockeys were unheard of, Grace asked his mother if he could meet a disc jockey she enjoyed listening to. Grace began observing the DJ on weekends, until the day he left Grace alone in the booth. When the record ended and Grace took over, the station's owner called, asking who the unfamiliar voice was. That day marked the start of Grace's lifelong career in radio, making him one of the first black voices on the airwaves in Florida. In high school, Grace continued his radio gig but made time to perform with the Melody Echoes, a gospel group he formed with three friends. The group made its on-air debut soon after and eventually performed live at Carnegie Hall in New York and in South Florida. Grace worked at stations in Miami, Jacksonville and Daytona Beach, often commuting between cities during his early years. It was while working in Daytona Beach that he made the switch to rock 'n' roll and took on "Little Daddy" as his on-air name. When the station was sold, he was hired as the morning disc jockey for WOKB in Orlando, where he remained from 1957 to 1978. In addition to radio, Grace hosted Harmony and Grace, a Sunday morning TV show that featured local gospel artists on WESH-Channel 2. He also was known for the dances he held during summers and on weekends. "He hosted teen dances . . . to give young people something positive to do," said Steve January, his former general manager at WOKB. They were yearly galas, where boys dressed up in tuxedos and girls wore their best dresses, he said. Francina Boykin remembers Grace as the disc jockey who kept youth out of trouble by hosting those dances throughout Central Florida. "Little Daddy, as we called him, brought us all together. We didn't have violence. It was just a bunch of kids dancing," Boykin said. Grace moved to Jacksonville in the early 1990s. He was back at WOKB from 1998 to 2004, when he left the station for good to return to gospel. He was known as Deacon Melvin Grace at a station in Brevard County. "Melvin meant a lot to everybody," January said. "He gave the wisdom that he had on the air and was very knowledgeable about music. He loved young people." Grace married Theodora LaFleur in 1945, his son Melvin Grace Jr. said. The couple had six children. She died in 1960. Melvin Grace Jr. said his father was a very kind, giving and compassionate man who loved people and would give his all to those in need. He was profound, knowledgeable and wise, he said. Grace is survived by more than 30 children, according to friends and family. Marvin C. Zanders Funeral Home, Apopka, is handling arrangements. 
Martha Phifer can be reached at mphifer@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5259. Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel

Joe Gratz     6-14-92
Ex-radio executive, Joe Gratz, dies at 76
The Tampa Tribune - Friday, June 19, 1992
Author: A Tribune Staff Report
Joe Gratz, a former radio station manager in Tampa, died Sunday while on vacation in Hamburg, Germany. He was 76. Gratz was a New York City native, but had lived in Tampa for more than 26 years, after retiring from radio and television broadcasting. Gratz graduated from Harvard in 1936 and became an apprentice in the sound effects department at CBS radio. He later was in charge of popular music programs at the network. Gratz was in the U.S. Army from 1942 until 1966, then became an assistant director at CBS television. He moved to Tampa in 1965 and managed radio station WYOU-AM 1550 until 1971. The station later changed its format to all-Spanish programming. After leaving WYOU, he bought radio station WELE-AM 1590  in Daytona Beach and WELE-FM 105.9 in Deland and retired from the business in 1975.

Jerry Greene  
Longtime Orlando Sentinel Sports Columnist Jerry Greene Passes
April 20, 2016 By Scott Powers
Florida Politics
Jerry Greene called his sports column in the Orlando Sentinel “From the Cheap Seats,” and that’s what he provided readers for decades: the fans-eye-view of the action, on and off the field. Greene, 74, an Orlando Sentinel sports reporter and columnist for most of the past 40 years, died Wednesday (April 20) morning after an extended illness, the paper reported Wednesday. Greene’s knowledge of sports from the NFL to Central Florida high schools came from his decades of professional reporting. But his humorous, everyman perspective came from his friendly, boisterous, larger-than-life, self-effacing personality. He was the guy in the chicken suit or some other goofy costume in a newsroom full of button-down journalists. He was the guy writing like the fan on the next barstool while everyone else was pursuing million-dollar athletes and coaches. But he also was a journalist who could work a deep and broad network of sources, get the facts, and make his points with inarguable precision. Greene also was a regular commentator on Orlando radio sports talk shows (on WYGM-AM 740 and WQTM-AM 740). “I’m sad to report that longtime sports columnist Jerry Greene passed away this morning. Jerry had been having some health issues the past couple of weeks and was in the hospital. His son says Jerry died peacefully in his sleep,” Sentinel sports editor Roger Simmons wrote. Greene came to the Sentinel in 1976 and retired in 2009, but returned in 2012 to revive his popular column on a weekly basis. “It was sports editor Van McKenzie who made the brilliant decision to make Jerry a full-time columnist, so Jerry could share his unique perspective on life and sports with our readers on a regular basis,” Simons recalled. “When I became sports editor in 2012, one of the first calls I made was to Jerry to see if he would revive his Cheap Seats column for us on Sundays. I’m so happy he agreed because he added a great dose of fun in print and online. Sundays just won’t be the same without him,” he added. Funeral arrangements are pending.