We continue with tributes to those that have recently passed with one that was surprisingly around our house for years with his work and voice.Goodbye to Howard Finkel at the age of 69.
"THIS NEXT Match is for the WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION CHAMPIONSHIP"!
The booming voice that represented the -then WWF looked like the man that would be in charge of your utility bill, but for the everyday looks of the smallish and balding Howard Finkel, the voice of Finkel was as memorable to so many of the fans of the promotion as the grapplers in the ring.
Finkel certainly deserves the title of the best ring announcer in the history of wrestling and even ranks with the best to hold the mike in boxing as well.
Finkel was able to exude such drama and anticipation in his introduction and as he would name the winner of a battle that throughout the average card, a dramatic announcement by Finkel could often be the best-remembered portion of an evening.
Finkel was hired as the first-ever employee of the then-WWWF in 1975 and would take command of the lowering mike from the ceiling of Madison Square Garden in 1977.
Since almost all the title changes occurred in New York City, it was the voice of Howard Finkel that would be heard with the announcement of the new champion, when the title change would be televised on delay on the WWF's syndicated weekly programming.
Finkel began to announce almost all the WWF television programs in 1984 and kept that pace until 2000 when his schedule was divided among others.
By 2006, Finkel only made occasional appearances on special occasions, although he was employed by the company until his passing.
Howard Finkel's announcements were often standard through the years as his introductions were often copied at our house through the years.
Some of my best memories with Ryan when he was little, were shouting out "THIS NEXT MATCH, etc" and waiting a few seconds for this little fellow to come running out of his room or the living room to "attack" the bad guy with punches and moves that would send me bouncing around, bumping off beds, couches, and everything that I needed to make him have a good time.
I was not only younger then, but smaller too, so I was able to keep things moving pretty well against my "opponent", who almost always won in the end unless the dastardly bad guy hooked his foot on the couch for "leverage" for a temporary win.
I always smile thinking about those times with Ryan, which included one time that saw our hero wind up and knock the villain into the air and land on a bed- which promptly broke the endboard and resulted in the wrestlers coming together to get the bed out of the apartment before the "commissioner" got home for trouble that went beyond grappling!
Goodbye to Brian Dennehy at the age of 81.
Dennehy was known for playing tough guys in films and television and while the role that I've seen many remember him for was as Chris Farley's father in "Tommy Boy", I'll always remember his work as the first man to screw with "John Rambo" in "First Blood", which was the first and best film in the Rambo series.
Dennehy brought depth to "Sheriff Will Teasle" as the small-town Oregon lawman who decided to mess with what he thought was just another drifter and discovered that he was far over his head.
Still, you could feel Teasle's belief that he was only protecting his town from troublemakers crossing through in the early stages of the film and the anger-filled revenge hunt for Rambo after the accident that killed a deputy.
You could feel the rage in his voice as he grabbed a young David Caruso as another deputy and screamed "That's Art Galt, boy, we were friends when your momma was still wiping your nose!
Now he's dead and I'm going to pin that Medal of Honor to his (Rambo's) liver!"
And the relief when Rambo could have killed him and didn't or his arrogance when he believed Rambo had been blown up in a mine and the eventual acceptance that he was helpless against the dynamo that was destroying his town and was coming for him.
Brilliant and even though the stars of the film were Sylvester Stallone and Richard Crenna (In the European release of First Blood, it was Crenna with top billing), in my opinion, it's Brian Dennehy who stole the film.
Sports fans might remember Dennehy's attempt at portraying Bob Knight in the first of the few ESPN attempts to make sports movies.
Knight has to be a hard person to get right and Dennehy didn't quite get it, although he came closer than Tom Berenger did in his attempt to be Bear Bryant.
Goodbye to Doug Sanders at the age of 86.
The "Peacock of the Fairways", Sanders won twenty events on the PGA Tour but never won a major despite finishing in second place in four major tournaments.
Sanders is most remembered for his 1970 British Open loss to Jack Nicklaus, where he led entering the final hole but took four shots from inside 80 feet to finish the hole including a three-foot miss that would have clinched the win.
Nicklaus would defeat Sanders by one stroke in the following day's eighteen-hole playoff.
Sanders also is remembered fondly for his loud clothing on the course and Sanders made the claim that the lead character in the Dan Jenkins book Dead Solid Perfect is based on him.
HBO made a film based on the book with Randy Quaid in the lead role (Sanders) in 1988, which is hard to find currently and ranks with the best and better-known golf films.
Goodbye to Tom Webster at the age of 71.
Webster coached the Kings and Rangers in the 80s and 90s and was one of the better players in the World Hockey Association's history.
Webster played six years for the then New England Whalers and scored 220 goals for the green and white but would play only one game in the NHL after the merger for Detroit.
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