Russ Winnie

Russell Griffith Winnie (August 17, 1906 – March 30, 1956) was an American sports commentator. A pioneer in his field, he was the first broadcaster for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL), announcing their games for WTMJ from 1929 to 1946. He also announced games for the Wisconsin Badgers football and basketball teams, as well as for the minor league Milwaukee Brewers baseball team.

Early life Winnie was born on August 17, 1906, in Racine, Wisconsin. He was the son of Professor Alonza Winnie, a superintendent at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf. At the age of seven, his family moved to Milwaukee. He attended Riverside High School and graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, being president of the university's dramatic group. Winnie initially had no interest in sports broadcasting or radio.

In November 1929, Winnie served as the announcer for the first commercially broadcast game of the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Rather than report from the stadium's press box, he was in a studio at another location, and announced based on telegrams he received from Milwaukee Journal reporter Pat Gannon, who was at the game. The Packers won the game, 20–6, and went on to win their first league championship that season. At a banquet following the Packers' 1936 championship, he re-enacted one of his touchdown calls, and a Green Bay Press-Gazette reporter noted afterwards that "the crowd rocked with pleasure." While announcing was usually a one-man task in his era, he was assisted by his wife Evelyn in the broadcast booth for the last 14 years of his career, even though women were not allowed in the press box at the time.

Winnie often said that his favorite game to call was the Packers' 17–14 comeback win over the Chicago Bears in 1935. He retired from announcing in December 1946, after having been the voice of the Packers for 18 seasons, the announcer for the Wisconsin Badgers football and basketball teams for 16 years and the Milwaukee Brewers for six years. He had also run a daily-except-Sunday sports talk show named "Sports Flash" for 18 years. He totaled between 7,000 and 8,000 sports broadcasts in his career.

At Winnie's retirement, Packers president W. Webber Kelly said "I would like to testify to the great value your broadcasts of the Packer games were in stimulating interest and building up attendance during those early trying days. Your contribution to our success in your personal interest and encouragement of the individual players must never be forgotten." Additionally, sportswriter Ray McBride wrote that "When it is considered that commercial broadcasting is only 26 years old, Winnie's 18-year career is phenomenal. No announcer in radio history has rolled up a record of sports broadcasting to match Winnie's. Some of them, like Ted Husing, have been in the game longer, but even Husing calls Winnie, 'The man who has broadcast more sports events than any other man in America.'" After retiring from announcing, Winnie worked in an administrative role at WTMJ until his death. He became manager for the radio station in 1946 and was also the assistant manager for the television station starting in 1953.

Personal life and death Winnie had two children with his wife Evelyn. He died while on vacation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on March 30, 1956, at the age of 49. He had dealt with heart problems prior to his death. 70 years after his retirement from broadcasting, Winnie was posthumously inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 2016.