Graham mcnamee biography

Thomas Graham McNamee (July 10, 1888 – May 9, 1942) was an American radio broadcaster, the medium's most recognized national personality in its first.
Thomas Graham McNamee was an American radio broadcaster, the medium's most recognized national personality in its first international decade.
Thomas Graham McNamee, their only child, was born in DC on July 10, 1888.

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A pioneer in the world of sports broadcasting, Graham McNamee was born on July 10, 1888 in Washington, DC, and had aspirations to become an opera singer before joining the staff of WEAF/New York in 1923.

In an era when most sports broadcasts were helmed by newspaper writers, McNamee quickly made a name for himself through his vivid descriptions of the activity taking place. McNamee worked as a broadcaster for a dozen World Series broadcasts and was asked by NBC to perform play-by-play duties for the 1927 Rose Bowl game, the network's first coast-to-coast broadcast. As a sports broadcaster, McNamee covered everything from the Indianapolis 500 to the famous 1927 boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney.

McNamee's ability to work spontaneously landed him several other high-profile broadcasts, including the second inauguration of President Calvin Coolidge and Charles Lindbergh's return to New York following his transatlantic flight.

During the 1930s, McNamee worked as an announcer on variety and comedy shows that starred Ed Wynn and Rudy Vallee. In the early 1940s, he hos

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Graham McNamee

Red Barber described how Graham McNamee helped break the ground for him and other great baseball voices, starting in the early 1920s. “There was no lamp of experience for the pioneer broadcasters. They had no past by which to judge the future. This is what made McNamee and the others so great. Nobody had ever been called upon before to do such work. They had to go out and do it from scratch. If ever a man did pure, original work, it was Graham McNamee.”1 Though his busy schedule included many other announcing duties, in sports and beyond, McNamee’s opera-trained baritone became synonymous with fall and the World Series.

Thomas Graham McNamee was the son of John and Anne (Liebold) McNamee, both of Irish ancestry and Ohio residents when they married in 1885. The couple moved to Washington, DC, after John accepted a position as a legal assistant to the Interior Secretary during the Cleveland administration. Their only child was born in DC on July 10, 1888.

The family relocated to St. Paul, Minnesota, when Graham was two years old, after his dad accepted a position

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Graham McNamee

American radio broadcaster (1888–1942)

Graham McNamee
McNamee c. 1932
Born	Thomas Graham McNamee (1888-07-10)July 10, 1888 Washington, D.C.
Died	May 9, 1942(1942-05-09) (aged 53) New York City
Occupation	Radio broadcaster

Thomas Graham McNamee (July 10, 1888 – May 9, 1942) was an American radiobroadcaster, the medium's most recognized national personality in its first international decade.^[1] He originated play-by-play sports broadcasting^[2] for which he was awarded the Ford C. Frick Award by the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016.^[3]

Early life and career

Graham McNamee's father, John B. McNamee, was an attorney and legal advisor to President Grover Cleveland's cabinet, and his mother, Anne, was a homemaker, who also sang in a church choir. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, McNamee had early aspirations of being an opera singer. He studied voice as a youth and sang in churches, and in 1922 gave a concert in Aeolian Hall, New York.

In 1922, while se