Harry Wismer (June 30, 1913 – December 3, 1967) was a sports
broadcasterBroadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or video signals which transmit programs to an audience. The audience may be the general public or a relatively large sub-audience, such as children or young adults....
and charter owner of the
New York TitansThe New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the Northeastern New Jersey part of the tri-state New York metropolitan area. They are members of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays its home games in East...
franchise in the
American Football LeagueThe American Football League was a major Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when it merged with the established National Football League . The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
.
Early years
A native of
Port Huron, MichiganPort Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 32,338 at the 2000 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administratively autonomous. It is joined by the Blue Water Bridge over the St. Clair River to Sarnia,...
, Wismer displayed great interest and prowess in sports at an early age, earning letters in
footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
,
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
, and
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond...
at St. John's Military Academy in
Delafield, WisconsinDelafield is a city in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, along the Bark River, and a suburb of Milwaukee. The population was 6,472 at the 2000 census....
. He later played
college footballCollege football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies. It was the venue through which American football first gained popularity in the United States...
at both the
University of FloridaThe University of Florida is a public land-grant, sea-grant, space-grant major research university located on a campus located in Gainesville, Florida, in the United States. The university traces its origins to 1853, and has continuously operated on its present Gainesville campus since the fall...
and
Michigan State UniversityMichigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act. Its alumni include at least six winners of the...
, his playing career ending at the latter school when he damaged a knee severely during a game against the
University of MichiganThe University of Michigan, Ann Arbor is a public research university located in the state of Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university, the flagship campus of the University of Michigan, and one of the top public universities in the world...
. He then began broadcasting Michigan State sports on MSU's
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
station
WKARWKAR is a National Public Radio member station in East Lansing, Michigan; broadcasting at 870 kHz. It is owned by Michigan State University, and carries news and talk shows from NPR. It is part of MSU's Broadcasting Services Division, and is a sister station to the FM radio and television...
in a position arranged for him by his coach,
Charlie BachmanCharles W. Bachman was a Hall of Fame college football coach.Bachman played college football at Notre Dame from 1914 to 1916 alongside Knute Rockne, and was named an All-American at guard in 1916, making Walter Camp's second team. Bachman spent the 1917 season helping to coach the football team...
. In 1934 he was hired as the public-address announcer for the
Detroit LionsThe Detroit Lions are an American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in downtown Detroit....
, who were then owned by the same man, George A. "Dick" Richards, who owned
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
radio station WJR. Wismer soon began doing a ten-minute daily radio show covering the Lions in addition to his PA duties, while continuing as a student at Michigan State.
Broadcaster
After the 1936 season, Wismer was encouraged by Richards to abandon his studies and come to work for WJR on a full-time basis as the station's sports director. He stayed until 1941 when he was hired by the
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
"Blue" network, the predecessor to
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
. However, a subsequent management change at ABC led to a new regime that was hostile to sports, and Wismer became a free-lancer, selling his service to the highest bidder. Wismer became known for an enormous ego and developed a reputation as a "namedropper", preferring to announce the names of celebrities of his acquaintance who were in the audience to the actual game action, and was alleged at times to include them in the crowd of games which he announced when they were in fact elsewhere.
In the late 1940s he provided the voice talent to numerous 16 mm college football films. Wismer often added the sound commentary long after the games were over, and added a radio style commentary with sound effects such as referee whistles to recreate an authentic sound. He was owner of HarFilms, a short-lived New Orleans based sportsfilm production company.
Wismer achieved the height of his fame as the voice of the
Washington RedskinsThe Washington Redskins are a professional American football team based in the Washington, D.C. area. The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, which is in Prince George's County, Maryland. The team's headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn, Virginia, a community...
. His first game for the Redskins was a most inauspicious one, their 73-0 loss to the
Chicago BearsThe Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the NFC North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
' great "
Monsters of the MidwayThe "Monsters of the Midway" is most widely known as the nickname for the National Football League's Chicago Bears — particularly the dominant teams of 1940 and 1941...
" team in the
1940 NFL Championship GameThe 1940 National Football League Championship Game, was the 8th in NFL history. The game was played at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. on December 8, 1940. The Chicago Bears defeated the Washington Redskins, 73-0, the most one-sided victory in NFL history.Washington had defeated Chicago 7-3...
. At one point Wismer was a 25% owner of the club as well, with the majority of the stock being retained by founding owner
George Preston MarshallGeorge Preston Marshall was the long-time owner and president of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League .-Contributions:...
. However, the relationship between the two had greatly degenerated by the mid-1950s over several issues, not the least of which was Marshall's steadfast refusal to sign any
blackAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
players. The relationship dissolved in claims, counterclaims, and litigation, and Marshall then set out to destroy Wismer's future as a broadcaster, with some success. Wismer was also involved for a time in the broadcasting of
Notre DameThe University of Notre Dame du Lac is a private Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, Indiana, USA....
football.
In 1953, he was involved in an early attempt to expand football into
prime timePrime time or primetime is the block of programming on television during the middle of the evening.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period, for example, from 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm...
network televisionA television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number of broadcast networks. Many early...
, when ABC, now with a renewed interest in sports, broadcast an edited replay on Sunday nights of the previous day's Notre Dame games, which were cut down to 75 minutes in length by removing the time between plays, halftime, and even some of the more uneventful plays. (While this format was not successful in prime time, a similar presentation of Notre Dame football later became a staple of Sunday mornings for many years on
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
with
Lindsey NelsonLindsey Nelson was an American sportscaster best known for his broadcasts of college football and New York Mets baseball.-Early life and career:...
as the announcer.) Also that season was the first attempt at prime time coverage of pro football, with Wismer at the microphone on the old
DuMont NetworkThe DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
. Unlike ABC's Notre Dame coverage, DuMont's NFL game was presented live on Saturday nights, but interest was not adequate to save the DuMont Network, which had by this point already entered what would be a terminal decline (although it did mount a subsequent 1954 season of NFL telecasts, minus Wismer, which proved to be one of its last regular programs).
AFL owner
Wismer was a charter owner in the AFL, which was announced in 1959 and began actual play in 1960. He was the only owner with experience in sports team ownership and in broadcasting. He had been a part owner of the
Detroit LionsThe Detroit Lions are an American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in downtown Detroit....
and the
Washington RedskinsThe Washington Redskins are a professional American football team based in the Washington, D.C. area. The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, which is in Prince George's County, Maryland. The team's headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn, Virginia, a community...
. His New York franchise was
nicknameA nickname is a descriptive name given in place of or in addition to the official name of a person, place or thing. It can also be the familiar or truncated form of the proper name, which may sometimes be used simply for convenience A nickname (also spelled "nick name") is a descriptive name...
d the "Titans". Wismer devised a plan in which the proceeds from the broadcast rights to league games (initially with ABC) would be shared equally by all teams, very innovative at the time but setting the standard for all future professional football television broadcasting contracts. As Wismer owned what would seem to have been the most potentially lucrative franchise, especially with regard to broadcasting rights, in the nation's largest
mediaMass media denotes a section of the media specifically designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state. The term was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. However, some forms of mass media such...
market, the act seemed at first blush most generous for a self-described "hustler". However, Wismer realized that the fledgling league needed for all of the eight franchises to be successful in order to survive long-term. Unfortunately for Wismer, his own team, despite being located in the nation's largest city, was probably the most problematic in the league in its initial years. For one thing, the team was relegated to playing its home games in the rotting remains of the old
Polo GroundsThe Polo Grounds was the name given to four different stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City used by baseball's New York Metropolitans from 1880 until 1885, New York Giants from 1883 until 1957, the New York Yankees from 1912 until 1922, and by the New York Mets in their first two seasons of...
, which had been abandoned years before by the
New York GiantsThe San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California who currently play in the National League West Division. One of the oldest baseball teams, the Giants hold the honor of having won the most games of any team in the history of baseball...
baseball team for
San FranciscoSan Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the eighth most densely populated city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San...
and was never a particularly satisfactory football venue; in contrast, the NFL football
GiantsThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The team plays its home games at Giants Stadium, which also serves as its headquarters, and trains at an adjacent practice facility within the Meadowlands Sports Complex...
played in prestigious
Yankee StadiumYankee Stadium was a stadium at East 161st Street and River Avenue in the Bronx in New York City. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and after extensive renovations, from 1976 to 2008. The stadium had a capacity of 57,545 and hosted 6,581...
. Additionally, the New York media for the most part was derisive and dismissive of the Titans, when it deigned to mention them at all; for most New York sports reporters of the era professional football in New York City began and ended with the Giants. Wismer's volatile personality was of little help in this area; he resented not only other media figures but also
Dallas TexansThe Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
owner
Lamar HuntLamar Hunt was an American sportsman and promoter of American football, soccer, basketball, and ice hockey in the United States and an inductee of the first three sports' halls of fame...
, whom Wismer saw as a rich boy whose father had bought him a football team as a toy; Wismer also had an ongoing feud with the first AFL commissioner,
Joe FossJoseph Jacob "Joe" Foss was the leading fighter ace of the United States Marine Corps during World War II, a 1943 recipient of the Medal of Honor, a General in the Air National Guard, the 20th Governor of South Dakota, and the first commissioner of the American Football League.-Early years:Born on...
, and had at times a far-less-than-warm relationship with the Titan's first coach, the legendary former Redskins
quarterbackQuarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the center, in the middle of the offensive line. Quarterbacks are the leaders of the offensive team, responsible for calling the play in the huddle...
Sammy BaughSamuel Adrian Baugh was an American football player and coach. He played college football for the Horned Frogs at Texas Christian University, where he was a two-time All-American. He then played in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins from 1937 to 1952...
. (In fact, Baugh had been the losing quarterback in the 73-0 debacle back in 1940 that had marked Wismer's debut with the Redskins as noted above.) Wismer also lacked the truly "deep pockets" of some of the other early AFL owners, particularly Hunt, possessed; for the most part their wealth had come from sources outside the field of sports, which although already quite popular in the U.S. were not the major industry they were shortly to become. Wismer's wealth, such as it was, had come entirely from his sports involvement.
The Titans drew just 114,682 total paid admissions for the league's entire initial season in 1960; by 1962 this number had dwindled to a mere 36,161 and Wismer was broke. Supposedly it was loans from other AFL owners, notably the
Houston OilersThe Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the then-Houston, Texas, team began play in 1960 as a...
owner
Bud AdamsKenneth Stanley "Bud" Adams, Jr. is the owner of the Tennessee Titans National Football League franchise. He was a charter owner in the former American Football League with the Titans' predecessor franchise, the Houston Oilers...
, which kept Wismer and the Titans afloat, which was a necessity for the league to remain viable, as U.S. broadcasters have traditionally had a very limited level of interest in team sports leagues without a viable New York franchise due to the size of that market area. Wismer, who had long tended to live "hard-and-fast", began to drink even more heavily, and eventually ruined his relationships with all of the other AFL owners, even Adams. They arranged the 1963 sale of the team to more financially-stable
Sonny WerblinDavid Abraham "Sonny" Werblin was a prominent entertainment industry executive and sports impresario who was an owner of the New York Jets, Chairman of Madison Square Gardens, and who built and managed the Meadowlands Sports Complex.A graduate of Rutgers University, Werblin went to work for Music...
, who proceeded to change the name of the team to the "Jets" and move it the next year into the now-completed
Shea StadiumWilliam A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium or just Shea , was a stadium located in the New York City borough of Queens, in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets from 1964 to 2008...
, where it was to play for almost two decades. When Werblin signed
University of AlabamaThe University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1831, UA is the flagship university of the University of Alabama System. Within Alabama, it is often called "the Capstone"...
star quarterback
Joe NamathJoseph William "Joe" Namath , also known as Broadway Joe or Joe Willie, is a former American football quarterback...
after the 1964 season for a then-unheard of annual salary of $430,000, the Jets, and the AFL, were made; the Namath signing, and his subsequent stardom, along with a new, more lucrative television contract with NBC, led more than any other one single factor to the AFL-NFL merger. Wismer was left embittered and with debts totalling approximately $2,500,000, which he eventually struggled to settle for 78 cents on the dollar.
Final years
Wismer wrote a book,
The Public Calls It Sport, which was something of a combination
autobiographyAn autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
and explanation of his
philosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing these questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on reasoned...
of life. Sales were not particularly brisk. He got involved in the
Michigan SpeedwayMichigan International Speedway is a two-mile moderate-banked D-shaped superspeedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than near Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. The track is used primarily for NASCAR events. It is sometimes known as a "sister track" to...
project, which, to his great chagrin, was very slow to get under way. Wismer's health, far from brisk, broke completely from
depressionMajor depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
and
alcoholismAlcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions. In common and historic usage, alcoholism is any condition that results in the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, despite health problems and negative social consequences...
on top of his other problems after a trip overseas. In 1967 he sought treatment at the
Mayo ClinicMayo Clinic is a non-profit organization and internationally renowned group medical practice headquartered in Rochester, Minnesota. Its headquarters consist of the Mayo Medical School, the Mayo Graduate School, the Mayo College of Graduate Medical Education, and several other health science schools...
for
cancerCancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis...
before returning to his hometown of Port Huron, where he underwent more treatments, including the replacement of his cancerous hip. Largely given up on, he rallied, and soon fulfilled his desire to return to New York City. Once there, he found that he was no longer a celebrity or even much noticed, and of those who did notice, more held him in contempt than liked him. His drinking problem returned with a vengeance, and on December 2 he suffered a fall at a
restaurantA restaurant prepares and serves food and drink to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
while drunk, falling down a flight of stairs. Still weakened from his earlier heath problems, he died the next day. An
autopsyAn autopsy–also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction–is a medical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
gave a skull fracture as being the immediate cause of death. Today Wismer is remembered, when he is remembered at all, primarily as something of an eccentric rather than as a crucial founder of the American Football League and one of the creators of professional football's modern era through shared broadcast revenues.
Quote
"...no matter how good you think you are, how shrewd you are, there is always someone down the block, across the street, in the next town, who is a little better, shrewder, more ruthless." From
The Public Calls It Sport
In Popular Culture
In a song on
Commentary! The Musical, a bonus feature on the DVD of
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along BlogDr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a 2009 Emmy Award- winning musical tragicomedy short film produced exclusively for Internet distribution. It tells the story of Dr...
,
Simon HelbergSimon Maxwell Helberg is an American actor and comedian. Helberg is best known for his role as Howard Wolowitz in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. He was also a member of the recurring cast of comedians on sketch comedy series MADtv for one season.-Biography:Helberg was born to a Jewish family in...
mentions his character Moist's fear of stairs, commenting "That's how Harry Wismer died."
Sources
- The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present, Eighth Edition, by Jim Brooks and Earle Marsh, ISBN 0-345-45542-8.
- The Golden Voices of Football, by Ted Patterson, ISBN 1-58261-744-9.