Jack Buck, who died recently, was a Hall of Fame radio announcer for the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. He started announcing the Cardinals games in1954, working back then with the legendary Harry Caray. Jack worked with many famous announcers over the years, most recently with his son Joe and with Mike Shannon.

I grew up a Cardinals fan partly due to Jack and Harry, and partly due to my dads liking for the team. I remember staying up late on many a hot summers night listening to endless games on the radio. Jacks descriptions of the action were so vivid that I felt as if I was actually watching the game through my radio.

When my dad would take us on a family vacation, we would listen late at night to the Cardinals 50,000 clear-watt radio station. We heard Jacks familiar voice from as far away as the mountains in Colorado and the flat lands of New Jersey. If the games lasted past my bedtime, sometimes my dad would let me stay up late to listen to the games end. Usually, Id fall asleep before the game would end and my dad would have to wake me up and make me go to bed.

I met Jack twice. The first time I met him was in a hotel lobby in Chicago about ten years ago. I had to say hello and ask him about the Cardinals prospects for winning the pennant. He was very polite and patient with me, a Cardinals fan but a stranger nonetheless.

The second time I met him was just after the Cardinals announced that the team had been sold to local business partners. I saw Jack when I entered a St. Louis restaurant and saw him eating his dinner in a corner booth. I didn't want to disturb him while he was eating, but I watched so I could speak with him before he left. As he was leaving, I blurted out, "Mr. Buck, what do you think of the Cardinals announced sale of the team?"

I half expected him to ignore me. He was on his way out the door and I was a stranger to him as I'm sure he didn't remember our first meeting in Chicago. For all I knew he may have been instructed not to comment on the announced sale since he was employed by the team. But, it was not Jacks way to ignore a loyal fan. He stopped, slowly turned to me as he measured his words as only he could. "Shocking, simply shocking," was his reply. Certainly I agreed with his sentiment and we spoke briefly about it.

Conversations with him were friendly and precise. Of course, he was a professional broadcaster and describing events as they unfolded was his forte. For him to be friendly and take the time to respond to a fan like me made an icon, such as Jack Buck, more human to me. Its another lesson learned for me, this time from a dynamic professional sports announcer.

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