HARMON, Merle Reid

HARMON

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 8/24/2013 at 02:55:28

HALL of FAME

Merle Reid Harmon
Graceland University, Lamoni, Iowa

Born on June 21, 1926 and raised in Salem, Illinois, Merle Reid HARMON served with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during World War II. Taking advantage of the G.I. Bill, HARMON attended Graceland College and obtained his Associate of A Arts degree in 1947, and his B.A. in radio and television broadcasting in 1949 at the University of Denver in 1949.

HARMON began his broadcasting carreer after graduation in 1949 with the Topeka Owls, a minor league baseball team. In 1953, HARMON broadcasted the University of Kansas football and basektball games, the Kansas City Blues in 1954, and moved up to the major leagues to broadcase the Kansas City Athletics in 1955. He became the main foive for the Phillies.

HARMON moved into national television broadcasting when he was hired by ABC Sports in 1961. He anchored various studio programs and called college football games. Beginning in 1964, he was the primary broadcaster for the Milwaukee Braves until the team moved to Atlanta, Georgia.

HARMON broadcasted for the Minnesota Twins from 1967 to 1969 then became the voice for the New York Jets for nine years which included the team's 1968 Super Bowl Championship.

During the 1970's HARMON was the Milwaukee Brewers' lead announcer and covered play-by-play for Thursday night coverage of the World Football League games. In 1980, HARMON began working for NBS Sports. He spent eight seasons broadcasting for the Texas Rangers before retiring after a career spanning over 40 years. He had broadcasted over 1,000 football gamed, 2,000 basketball games, and 5,000 major league baseball games.

HARMON was the third recipient of the NAIA Outstanding Alumnus Award. HARMON was an active member fo the National Speakers Association and was a successful keynote speaker at various conventions and association meetings.

Harmon self-published his book entitled Stories a collection of humorous escapades from his career as a broadcaster. He founded Merle Harmon's Fan Fair a nationwide chain of over 100 sports gift shops.

He died at Arlington, Texas, on April 15, 2009

Merle E. HARMON was inducted into Graceland University's Hall of Fame in 1988.

SOURCES: gujackets.com/f/Hall_of_Fame.php; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merle_Harmon

Submission by Sharon R Becker, August of 2013

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Biography of Merle Harmon, Sr.
Graceland University, Lamoni, Iowa

Merle Reid Harmon, Sr. was born on June 1, 1926, in Orchardville, Illinois [Salem, Illinois by some accounts], the son of a greengrocer.

During high school, Merle sold magazines door-to-door to help his family out during the summer. He kept #2.00 for himself which enabled him to go to St. Louis [sixty miles from his home] to see the Cardinals play a Sportsman's Park. A round-trip train fare cost $1.00, two-way street car tickets cost a dime each way, a bleacher seat cost a quarter, and a hot dog, soft drink and a bag of peanuts set Merle back an addition 30 cents. Merle was left with a quarter which purchased a team pennant and a Cardinals pencil. He later said, "I protected that pencil with my life, making sure my friends saw it and asked me where I got it. As a poor kid in the Depression years, that pencil was my status symbol. It was proof I had been to St. Louis to see a big league baseball game."

He served with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during World War II, enlisting in 1944. He served on a troop landing craft.

A 1947 Graceland graduate, Merle is one of the college's most successful alumni in the field of broadcasting. He attended Graceland on the G.I. Bill, earning an Associate of Arts degree in 1947. During his sophomore year, Merle met a freshman by the name of Jeanette Kinner. Upon seeing her, before introductions were made, Merle said to his cousin, "Glen, you see that girl over there? I'm going to marry her!" Little did Merle know that Jeanette was unofficially engaged to another man. However, Merle won Jeanette's heart and the couple were married on December 31, 1946. They became the parents of five children: Merle Reid Jr., Keith, Kyle, Bruce and Kara.

He obtained his bachelor's degree in radio and television broadcasting and marketing at the University of Denver in 1948 [1949 by some accounts], during which time he initiated his broadcasting career at KSFT in Trinidad, Colorado. After graduation, he started announcing minor league baseball games [Topeka Owls] in 1949 over station KJAY at Topeka, Kansas. From 1953 to 1955, Merle broadcasted the University of Kansas football and basketball games, the first-ever voice of the KU Radio Network. In 1954, Merle called baseball for the Kansas City Blues of the American Association.

He was working as an announcer at KMBC in Kansas City when the Kansas City A's baseball team arrived, and Merle was able to land his first assignment in major league broadcasting. This initiated Merle's 43-year-long association with major league baseball, as he later gained prominence among sports fans as the announcer for the Milwaukee Braves, Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers [with Bob Uecker in the 1970's, and was replaced by a youthful Bob Costas in 1982] and Texas Rangers [1982-1989]. He also broadcasted football and basketball at network [ABC in 1961] and regional levels, and had assignments with the Super Bowl, college bowl games, NCAA championship events, Wide World of Sports and Sportsworld. Merle's broadcast partner for the network baseball coverage, Game of the Week in 1965 was Jackie Robinson. He was slated to work on NBC's coverage of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow before the U.S. boycotted those games.

Merle was the voice of the New York Jets from 1964 to 1970 on WABC-AM, then on WOR-AM from 1971 to 1972. Merle's highlight during his time with the Jets was the team's run to the Super Bowl Championship in 1968.

Merle made a cinematic appearance, playing one of the two NCAA Finals announcers in the 2006 Disney feature film Glory Road, about the Texas Western College basketball team.

In 1977, he founded the Merle Harmon's Fan Fair, a chain of more that 150 franchised retail stores specializing in officially licensed sports merchandise; the chain was renamed Prime Sports Fan Fair after he sold it in 1995.

Merle received Graceland's Distinguished Service Award in 1978.

He retired from broadcasting in 1992, the same year he joined the Graceland College Board of Trustees [serving for 12 years] and became ordained an evangelist in the RLDS Church. He was inducted into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2004, the Salem Community High School, his alma mater in Illinois, inducted him as a charter member in its Salem Wildcat Hall of Fame.

NOTE: Merle was fired after the 1961 Kansas City A's season by Charlie Finley, who had purchased the ball club the previous year. Merle was fired for refusing to participate in a campaign that was intended to spite Ernie Mehl, the sports editor of the Kansas City Star.

Merle was an active member of the National Speakers Association and self-published a book, Stories, a collection of humorous adventures from his career in broadcasting. He appeared as a successful keynote speaker at numerous conferences and association meetings.

Merle and Jeanette celebrated their 60th anniversary in December of 2006 with a cruise through the Panama Canal. Merle remained active with his daily treadmill exercises, volunteering one day of the week at a local soup kitchen, performing an occasional wedding ceremony, and working part-time as a sportswriter for a Lees Summit, Missouri newspaper.

In March of 2009, Merle was hospitalized with pneumonia at Arlington Memorial Hospital, Arlington, Texas. He died at the age of 82 years on April 15, 2009.

"Every day I do exercises on the treadmill," Merle once said after recovering from a stroke. "Richard Nixon once said, 'I get up every morning to confound my enemies. I get up every morning to help my friends."

SOURCES:
Goehner, David. “The Graceland College Book of Knowledge: From A To Z.” p. 413. Herald House. Independence MO. 1997.
sabr.org/bioproj/person/b6f3c1f4
Merle Reid Harmon obituary

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, August of 2013; updated January of 2016

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