User:Ron Pinkney

Ron Pinkney, WEBB Radio Disc Jockey, 1960

Robert Theron "Ron" Pinkney (May 26, 1935 - present) was an American pioneer sports announcer and commentator who was credited as being the first African American to do a live play by play broadcast in America.

Early Life

Ron Pinkney was born to Robert Pinkney and Catherine Staton at Freedmans Hospital in Washington, DC on Sunday, May 26, 1935. He was raised in Annapolis, MD and attended Stanton Elementary School and graduated from Bates High School in Annapolis. He attended in Morgan State University in Baltimore and later the Baltimore School of Engineering.

Early Career

Ron’s first job as a journalist was an Annapolis correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper in 1955.

His first broadcasting job was on radio station WANN in Annapolis, MD. From 1960 to 1962, he was a Dee Jay at WEBB in Baltimore, MD.

In 1963, while a Dee Jay in Maryland, he began a career in sportscasting at his high school alma mater, Bates High School. He hosted two daily sports shows and did play by play at football and basketball games. He did his first college broadcasts at Maryland State (University of MD-Eastern Shore) and Delaware State University in 1964. Coaching legend Vernon “Skip” McClain led the MSU Hawks teams that were aired twice on WANN Radio in Annapolis. The MSU teams were Black College Football National champions during this era.

1966-73

Ron was the Drive time morning newscaster at WOL, the top rated station in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. He became the News Director that employed three other on-air newscasters. From 1968 to 1970, he was the voice of Morgan State football on WEBB, when the Golden Bears were coached by the legendary head coach Earl Banks, and featured future NFL stars Raymond Chester (Oakland Raiders), CB Mark Washington (Dallas Cowboys) and prominent alumnus William Rhoden (track), New York Times columnist.

The Bears had a 33-game winning streak from 1967 to 1970 when Sam Lacy, Pittsburgh Courier sportswriter and George Taliaferro, a former star halfback and Big Ten All-American at Indiana (NFL Baltimore Colts), and Ralph Jones (son of Grambling president R.W.E. Jones) were color commentators of the broadcasting crew. Ron was fortunate to have worked at three different black colleges when their football teams won the Black College National Football Championships.

Television Years

1970

Ron was the first black sportscaster to work a televised broadcast when he covered the famed Orange Blossom Classic, the Black college football spectacular set in Miami, Florida in the Orange Bowl arena. It was a closed circuit television production pitting the host Florida A&M University versus Jacksonville State University, Alabama. The FAMU Rattlers Hall of Fame head coach and then athletic director Alonza “Jake” Gaither handpicked him to work with another popular Atlanta broadcaster, Chico Renfro. The game was piped into the campus of the Florida A&M and Jacksonville State University, Alabama (the first white school to play in the All-black classic.

1969-1974

Pinkney was hired as a sportscaster at WTTG, channel 5 (Washington, DC) to host a weekly half hour black news program on Saturday nights from 10:30 pm to 11:00 pm. He became the weekend sportscaster on the 10:00 pm newscast from 1970-73. The weekend news anchors were Connie Chung and Maury Povich anchored the week night sports.

From 1971-74, Ron performed play by play duties for the syndicated Grambling College football games. He worked with the iconic sports information director Collie Nicholson, who masterminded the Tigers rise to national prominence. Grambling was under the guidance of the legendary Hall of fame coach Eddie Robinson, who went on to become one of the top all-time winningest coaches in all of football.

He replaced another famous athlete and actor Fred “The Hammer” Williamson who was the lone announcer in 1970. Ron assumed the solo role in the Tigers booth in 1971. In 1972, former Dallas Cowboys runningback Don Perkins was added as a color commentator. Betty Smith from Los Angeles, considered the first woman sideline reporter was brought onboard. The Grambling football games were seen in ninety-four markets on a one–hour taped delay.

1974

Ron became the Sports Director of the Mutual Black Network in Washington, DC. He was the play by play voice of the MBN Black College Game of the Week. The fourteen- game package was a historic first for Black college sports coverage. Joining the broadcast team were former NFL star Roger Brown in 1975 and Tom Gatewood(Notre Dame)in 1977. The games were aired through 1979.

1976

ABC TV broadcasted three HBCU games with Ron and Don Perkins handling the play by play and color commentary, thus earning Pinkney the distinction of being the first African American play by play announcer on a major television network. That game pitted Mississippi Valley State versus Jackson State in Jackson, Mississippi.

Ron was selected to head the MBN coverage of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. (Dr. Leroy T. Walker, North Carolina Central University was named head coach of the US contingency). He also covered the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles for MBN.

1979

Ron was the color commentator for the CIAA Invitational Tournament held at the Norfolk Scope in Virginia in 1978 (Les Keiter did play by play). In 1979, NBC TV was in the second year of coverage of the Black college historic tournament when he did play by play. It was also a first for the Peacock Network, a regional television broadcast. Joining Ron in the broadcast booth were ex-North Carolina Central great and Boston Celtics Hall of Famer Sam Jones.

The tournament highlight was Virginia Union’s men’s victory over Norfolk State. It was Dave Robbins, a white coach, first CIAA title which came at the expense of the Spartans under another Hall of Fame coach Lucious Mitchell (he guided Kentucky State’s men’s team to the second three-peat championships in the NAIA, 1970-72).

Note: Pinkney was a good luck charm for nearly all of the teams he covered as they claimed at least two conference/national championships:

Morgan State Head coach: Earl Banks, 1967-70/Football Grambling State Head coach: Eddie Robinson, 1971,'74/Football Hampton University Head coach: Joe Taylor, 1997-98, 2000/Football Steve Merfeld, 2001-02/Men’s Basketball Pat Bibbs, 2003-04/Women’s Basketball

Ledger

Pinkey doing play by play at the MEAC Tournament, Hampton University 2005

New York Urban League Classics: Pinkney covered the first Whitney M. Young Urban League Classic in Yankee Stadium in 1968. It featured Morgan State vs. Grambling State and was carried by WEBB in Baltimore. 1971-75: Hosted Black Associated Sports Enterprise football coverage 1983: Did play by play st the Circle City Classic 1984: Coverage of BET Game of the Week BET 1987-88: Tempo Television Productions, Oklahoma did CIAA Game of the Week (Hall of Famer Willie Lanier joined him in the booth) 1989: National Black Network Sports Director 1990: Home Team Sports CIAA Football Game of the Week 1993: Atlantic City Holiday Classic, the John B. McLendon, Jr. Invitational (with Jackie Bowe) 1996-2005: Hampton University Football and Basketball play by play, WHOV-FM

Honors

CIAA Sportscaster of the Year, 1974, 1978 Capital Press Club Award, 1969 Voice of Radio documentary, the Death of Martin Luther King, 1968 Honorary Alumnus Award, Grambling University (for television coverage of Grambling football), 1971

References

Virginian Pilot Story of the Week, CIAA Tournament 1979