Gil Berry

Gilbert Irwin Berry Sr. (March 21, 1911 – April 20, 1974) was an American football halfback who played collegiately for the University of Illinois in the early thirties and for the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) during the 1935 season. In later years he was the director of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network, for which he was honored with an international broadcasting award by Sports Illustrated magazine.

Biography Early life

Gil Berry was born March 21, 1911, in Lewistown, Illinois. He attended Abingdon High School in Abingdon, Illinois.

College career

Berry enrolled in the University of Illinois in 1929, where he was a member of the Fighting Illini freshman football team that same year and the varsity squad from 1930 to 1932. As a freshman halfback, Berry made clear his bona fides to head coach Robert Zuppke by breaking a 65-yard touchdown run against the varsity in the team's annual freshman–varsity scrimmage — said to be the only touchdown run made against the older squad in several years.

Berry earned All-America consideration in 1931 and 1932, He graduated from Illinois with a degree in journalism.

Professional career

After graduation, Berry relocated to Hollywood, California and briefly attempted to break into the motion picture industry. He returned to the Midwest in time to sign a contract with the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) for the 1935 season.

Life after football

After leaving the NFL, Berry began to make good on his journalism degree by taking a position with the Chicago Herald and Examiner as a classified advertising salesman. He remained in that capacity until 1940, when he moved to radio, working as an advertising salesman for stations WMAC and WENR through 1942. He became sales manager for WENR in 1942, where he remained through the years of the Second World War. He was tabbed as sales manager for the Chicago division of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1946.

In 1949, Berry moved from radio to television, managing the Chicago division of the Dumont Television Network until 1951. He then joined WIBC in Indianapolis as a vice president and general sales manager. There he established the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network, a project which he headed until his retirement in 1970. For his work with the Motor Speedway Network, Sports Illustrated magazine honored him with its International Broadcasting Award.

Death and legacy

Berry died April 20, 1974, in a nursing home in Indianapolis. He was 63 years old at the time of his death. He was survived by a wife and five children.