Anyone remember Milo Hamilton and Merle Harmon?

[Mace]

I had an opportunity to meet Milo Hamilton last weekend at the Iowa High School Baseball Coach's Association banquet where he was being inducted into the Hall of Fame. He's already in Cooperstown, so I don't know what took the association so long to induct him here. Anyway, I remember him as being a Cubs broadcaster back in the early 80's and thought he was the best that the Cubs had ever hired (far better than Harry Carey). He's suffering from leukemia at age 90 but still has a great voice. He's been the voice of the Houston Astros since leaving the Cubs and had previously worked for the Braves back in the 70's and made the call for Hank Aaron's 715th HR. He had a lot of stories and gave the best induction speech I've heard in 20+ years of attending the banquet.

Merle Harmon was broadcasting Big Ten basketball for NBC when I was a kid and also did broadcasts for the Brewers, Royals, and Chiefs. He ended his career with a long run with the Texas Rangers, which is when I met him in 1986. He and his wife were graduates of Graceland University (where I coached baseball in 1986) and I met him when we made our spring trip to Dallas. Harmon, whose daughter was a student at Graceland at the time, hosted the entire team at his home for a cookout and got us tickets to the Ranger game that night. He had a beautiful home in Arlington and pointed out to me that his next door neighbor was B.J. Thomas (Hooked on a Feeling...for those of you old enough to remember that song). He was a great broadcaster and a very nice and generous man. He also had the best collection of baseball memorabilia that I've ever seen and spent a lot of time telling me when and where he collected each piece. He died in 2009 and I feel fortunate to have had an opportunity to meet him.

I'm not sure why I posted this, other than the fact that after meeting Hamilton on Saturday it got me thinking about Harmon and that the only two big time sports broadcasters I've met seemed like really great guys.