Kansas City has lost another Chiefs icon. Former announcer Bill Grigsby died at the age of 89.
In 2010, Grigsby retired from broadcasting after a 62-year career that included doing play-by-play for Super Bowls I and IV. Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said in a statement: "Like all Chiefs
fans, our thoughts and prayers are with Fran and the entire Grigsby
family at this difficult time. Bill's voice brought some of the most
memorable action and exciting plays in Chiefs history to our fans. He
will be truly missed."
Sports Illustrated writer Joe Posnanski penned a nice send-off for Grigs for The Kansas City Star. It's a good read. Here's an excerpt in which Posnanski recalls Grigby's trademark line:
In Grigsby's career, he called everything from pro football, baseballHe became known in town mostly for the way he said the word "Beautiful" before Chiefs games. That was his trademark. He would growl a bit at the beginning, and stretch out the vowels as long as he could -- especially the E -- so it sounded like BEEEEEEEEEEEE-yooooooo-teee-fuuul. Every day was beautiful, of course, even when the rain turned the field to mud, even when cold turned the streets to ice, even when the sun and humidity turned Kansas City into a sauna, even when the economy was bad and the news was bad and there was sadness lingering in the air. It was OK to feel sad, he thought. But nothing could keep the day from being beautiful.
and hockey games to professional wrestling. (During the premiere of the KC
on the Mat documentary, Grigsby recalled
racing to Kansas City from calling KU basketball games to call
wrestling matches and making up backgrounds for wrestlers,
including saying a woman midget wrestler was from South Africa when she
was really a meat packer from Armourdale. He had the crowd laughing with the story.)
The Chiefs have put together a short tribute video. You can watch it by clicking here.
Grigsby's death comes less than a month after longtime Chiefs bandleader Tony DiPardo died at age 98.
like
dislike
