Where are they Now? Catching up with former area Sportscasters

As “notjimmelvin” pointed out in the comment box on Saturday afternoon, Time-Warner Cable has added the Big 10 Network to our local cable service. The network is dedicated to covering all things Big 10 so I decided to check it out and watched a little bit yesterday morning. Their “SportsCenter” type program is called “Big Ten Tonight” and as I watched a highlights package, I noticed a familar voice. It was former WFMY sportscaster Rick Pizzo.

It is always interesting to see folks who have been here and have moved on to “bigger and better things”. It got me to thinking about others who have passed through town on their way up the broadcasting ladder.

Here’s a few –

Mark Concannon – Concannon was a sportscaster at WFMY during the mid-1980s. In 1987, Concannon moved to Milwaukee as a sports reporter and since 1990 has been a staple of that market’s morning news coverage. He currently works as a news anchor on the morning show on Milwaukee’s Fox 6.

Chip Caray – Caray, the son of Skip Caray and grandson of Harry Caray, worked for WFMY in the late 1980s. Caray left Greensboro to do play by play work for the NBA’s Orlando Magic, where he stayed until 1996. He has also done plenty of work in baseball, having done play by play for the Seattle Mariners, Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves as well as the Fox Network. Caray still works for the Braves and is also the lead play by play man for the MLB on TBS.

Dan Rath – Rath was a sportscaster for WXII for a number of years. One of his staple bits was the “I dare Dan” segment where viewers would dare Rath to try a new athletic endeavor. You can now dare Dan to try and sell your house in our current unsure housing market. Rath works in Real Estate with Keller Williams Realty in Winston-Salem.

Mike Hogewood – The “Hog” was one of the staple broadcasters in the area for years, working at WGHP in the 1980s before moving to WFMY where he worked for 15 years. In 2001, Hogewood left WFMY to concentrate on other projects. Today, he works for Lincoln/Raycom on football and basketball games and hosts an number of ACC themed shows. Hogewood is also a pitchman for a Greensboro area car dealer.

Scott Pryzwansky – Pryzwansky worked at WFMY in the late 1990s and early 2000s. After leaving WFMY, he has served as a reporter and host for live telecasts of the Men’s ACC Basketball Tournament, ACC Football, and SEC Football. To go along with his broadcasting work, Pryzwansky now operates Pryzwansky Media Coaching and Communications.

Sam Crenshaw – Crenshaw worked at WFMY from 1991 to 1998 before moving to Atlanta. Crenshaw also served as the anchor for “Black College Sports Today” on ESPN. Crenshaw is still in Atlanta, where he works as a sports anchor for the market’s NBC station, Channel 11.

Woody Durham The long time Tar Heel play by play voice worked at WFMY for 14 years in the 1960s and early 1970s. Woody may or may not be related to GreensboroSports.com’s Andy Durham. Certainly the NC State part of Andy’s family hopes this is not the case.

Johnny Phelps – Phelps worked in this market for years, doing sports for WFMY, WXLV and WMAG-FM on their morning show with Bill Flynn. Phelps left WXLV to work for CNN’s new sports network, CNNSI. CNNSI ceased operations in 2002. Phelps now works in Real Estate with Harry Norman Realtors who deals with property in North Carolina and Georgia and is based out of Atlanta.

Rick Pizzo – Pizzo left WFMY for the Big Ten Network in 2007.

Marlo Klain – The former WXII reporter has worked with ESPN since 1997. She is currently the Indianapolis-based bureau reporter and IRL reporter for the network.

Chan Harrison – Master Control Operator at WXLV now MCO at ESPN in Bristol, Conn. (OK, Chan is not really famous or a sportscaster but he is definately infamous in some circles and likes watching sports on TV.)

I’m sure that I have forgotten a few but these were a couple of the folks that came to mind. If you have others, join the discussion in our comment box.

12 thoughts on “Where are they Now? Catching up with former area Sportscasters

  1. kevin connolly had another sidekick by the name of Jay ? he was a great sports reporter, I think he started selling nascar furniture or something like that.

    Sam Crenshaw was one of my favorite reporters. It would be great to hear some other names and what they are doing.

  2. Keith, I do believe that Jay was Jay Shurling and they had another guy with them at the time and that was Jim, Jim McSorley and he is now in the communications department at GTCC.

    There was another guy at WGHP 8 who moved on and became part of the Chicago Bulls broadcast team and his name was Steve Cashell and I lways said of Cashell, “Solid on Air, Solid on Hair”, he had that moppy rug laid down tight.

    Channel 12 had a guy named Hunter Finnell and he walked with a cane because the rumor was he was partially paralyzed. You could never tell on TV, they sit at a desk…. At one time Finnell and Dan Rath were a team and later on WXII had a weekend sports anchor named Tolly Carr….Anyone heard from Tolly lately??????

    WGHP 8 had a sports anchor who came in from Texas and was there for quite a while before Mike Hogewood came to the old ABC 8 and that guy’s name was Dan McReynolds and he always showed the solunar charts so the fisherman could get ready to hit the lakes, ponds and streams….

    Very good sports topic and we could go on and on….Doug brought up some great names from the past and I still remember in radio when Mark Concannon was doing some morning radio sports for BIG 102 Country and he got replaced by Gary Voncannon who used his wife’s last name and went with Gary Blue on BIG 102(his wife at the time was Lynn Blue). Gary later became BOOMER and did mid-days at OLDIES 93.1…….Now Boomer is doing traffic and a Saturday night Oldies show on 1110 WBT Charlotte.

    I can still remember when Sam Crenshaw did morning sports on the old POWER 97.1 and later did morning sports on AM1400 WKEW……

    Good topic from Doug, keep it rolling…….

  3. I dont remember Concannon or Voncannon, heck, I dont even rememeber Fieldcrest Cannon but I do remember Sam Crenshaw. Crenshaw was the best sportcaster in the history of this market. They should have fired Hogwood and made Crenshaw the top dog when he got the offer from the station in Atlanta. Instead, they let Sam walk but kept that moron Hoggie. What happened to the Norman Snidley guy that used to be at WGHP?

  4. You know you’re getting old when you know most of the people on the list. And I agree with the sentiments on Sam Crenshaw… what a great guy! I miss running into him at events around the market.

    Let me also add a few who have worked with me at WXII in the 20 years I’ve been here:

    Gus Johnson… now at MSG and CBS Sports;
    Derrin Horton… now at the NFL Network;
    Todd Lewis… now at the Golf Channel.

    Hard to believe it’s been 20 years.

    Keep up the great work guys!

    -Dave

  5. I remember the newsman that Jerry was speaking on. He was Calvin Sneedy and he was with Fox 8 and the last I heard he had become the area director for Farm Bureau Insurance down in Selma, Alabama.

    The were talking about him a few months back on a WGHP Fox 8 Where are they now blog.

    What ever happened to Don Johnson who used to do Sports on 2 on the weekends? At one time I saw him on WAAP 16 and then later he was on TV 61.

  6. These were some great additions. I believe Jim Connors of News 14 Carolina was the sports director at WXLV after Snyder was there. Gus Johnson is also on the much talked about Elite XC Saturday night fights on CBS. Sam Crenshaw gets a lot of love from those who remember him. I always liked him as well. He did a good job. I think the rumors about Calvin Sneedy and his position as the communications director for the Breeders Cup is false.

  7. andy you are correct it is jay shurling. Maybe we could all have a Bring Back Sam movement. But maybe someone can e-mail sam and let him know there is big love for him in the triad.

  8. Maybe we can get a call to Greg Kerr and Kevin Connolly to see if they could fill us in on the sports casters of the past. Since Dave Goren has filled us in on WXII , let’s get WGHP AND WFMY.

  9. There was another guy that I thought of late yesterday and that was Mike Pumo who was the man who worked in tandem with Mike Hogewood at WGHPiedmont 8. It was Mike and Mike doing sports on 8 at that time and then later on Mike Pumo left 8 and went into sales at TV45. He was married to a young lady who did news for 8 named Terry.

    Channel 2 WFMY had a young lady who was part of the Greg Kerr, Rick Pizzo, and then later on Noel Glasgow team and her name was Katie Felts. At one time WFMY also had Bill O’Neil, (who is now with WXII news), doing sports. Bill O’Neil did a good job with the weeekend sports.

    It was kind of crazy when Dan Rath first left WXII, they brought in a guy named Bill something or another and he got the job over Dave Goren in the beginning. Dave deserved the job but they went with this Bill guy who also used to be a newsman on Channel 2 but it was not Bill O’Neil. The Bill guy on 12 was not good at all and WXII realized it and then he was out and Dave Goren took over and the rest is history. My brain or what’s left of it just kicked in and the Bill guy was Bill Logan…..Logan did news for WFMY 2, left town and came back as a sports guy and he should have stayed away. I could never figure out where he was coming from on Sports. Bill Logan it was…..

    The truth of the matter is that there will never be another Gene Overby. He used to do the sports on WSJS TV 12 wearing a football helmet on Friday nights. As Keith said earlier in a round-about way, if we can’t have Sam, then at least we have Dave and DG does come by the site and we thank him for that.

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