Voice of ‘Tony the Tiger’ and AWA professional wrestling, Lee Marshall, has passed away(Once nearly got his brains kicked in)

from KFBK radio in Sacramento, California:
(Lots of Lee Marshall wrestling history in this post.)

Reports say that Lee Marshall, voice of Tony the Tiger, respected newsman, and World Championship Wrestling/AWA announcer has passed away.

Friends on his Facebook are posting comments of memories and their condolences.

Marshall worked at various stations in his career such as K-ABC and KHJ in Los Angeles.

He was the voice of Kellog’s iconic Tony the Tiger, succeeding Thurl Ravenscroft when he passed away in 2005.

from www.wikipedia.com on Lee Marshall:

American Wrestling Association……Joined the broadcast when the AWA Championship Wrestling show was on ESPN. A big deal was made by Rod Trongard about Marshall being from Los Angeles. During his AWA stint he called matches alongside the likes of Eric Bischoff, Verne Gagne, Greg Gagne and Ray Stevens.

World Championship Wrestling…..He later joined WCW (World Championship Wrestling), where he was known as “Stagger Lee”. Marshall was the co-host of WCW Thunder alongside Bobby Heenan and Tony Schiavone. He interviewed and announced alongside Mike Tenay and Scott Hudson on WCW Saturday Night as well. A staple of WCW Monday Nitro was his regular cracking of “Weasel” jokes directed at Heenan, which would conclude his road reports. He was also known for traveling across the country to host Nitro parties for WCW, while keeping in contact with WCW Monday Nitro through updates by telephone.

Marshall was also one of the announcers at the 1996 World War 3 pay-per-view at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia, working Ring #3 with Larry Zybysko. During the early stages of the three-ring, 60-man Battle Royal, the Four Horsemen and the Dungeon of Doom battled outside the ring and in the ensuing fight, Marshall was knocked down and repeatedly kicked legitimately to the head and chest by the Dungeon’s Faces of Fear (The Barbarian and Meng) while lying on the floor and could be heard yelling “What the heck is going on out here?”. After the fight moved back toward the locker room, Marshall managed to get himself up and, after some difficulty (and questioning why former wrestler Zybysko didn’t come to his aid), finished commentating the match from his designated announcing position.

Exchange between Marshall and Zybysko after Marshall managed to get back to announcing.

Zybysko “How you doing?”
Marshall “How’m I doin’? What do you mean how am I doin’? How do you think I’m doin’ with you standing there while I get my brains kicked in? That’s how I’m doin’!”.