Jerry Keil

1936 - 2020

(News story) Jerry Keil, a sports broadcasting legend whose smooth and distinctive call for decades transported listeners to University of Toledo basketball and football games, home and away, died Feb. 13 at the Villages Regional Hospital in the Villages, Fla. He was 83.

He'd collapsed at home in the Villages as the result of an aortic aneurysm, said his wife, Sharon Keil. Formerly of Sylvania, the couple moved to the Villages in 2002.

Mr. Keil aspired to broadcasting from grade school, his wife said, and after stints at stations in southern Michigan early in his career, landed in 1961 at WSPD, 1370-AM, in his native Toledo. He remained for 34 years, much of that as sports director.

"You turned the radio on, there wasn't any question you knew who you were hearing," said Dave Hackenberg, a retired sports columnist for The Blade.

"He was from that era when Frank Gilhooley, Orris Tabner, and Jerry Keil were the big three in Toledo," said Mr. Hackenberg, referring to the late Mr. Gilhooley, long affiliated with WSPD-TV and its successor, WTVG-TV, Channel 13, and the late Mr. Tabner, longtime sports director of WTOL-TV, Channel 11.

"People got their information from local sportscasters and from local sports writers. He was part of a golden era in the broadcasting business," said Mr. Hackenberg, co-host with Mr. Keil in the early 1990s of a sports call-in show. "He was a character, which helped out, probably. He made a lot of friends and was a funny guy and didn't take himself too seriously."

Mr. Keil often had to arrive at the radio station before dawn to prepare for his segment of the station's morning newscasts, his wife said. He returned for the evening newscasts. He covered most major sporting events.

"He was blessed with what I think of as a natural radio voice," his wife said. "He was the same off the air as on the air."

Mr. Keil briefly was sports director in the late 1960s for Channel 13, but the demands of 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. sportscasts on top of his radio duties became too much.

"He loved the play-by-play, so he went with the radio," his wife said.

Mr. Keil had been the voice of UT sports from the start of the 1965 football season, when WSPD acquired exclusive broadcast rights, to the end of the 1993-94 basketball season.

Joining him in the booth for analysis were such luminaries as, for basketball games, Leroy "Cot" Marquette, a renowned Rossford High basketball coach, and for football contests, Tom Guitteau, who played at UT and was a high school coach, and former UT players Lee Pete and Bert Warrick.

He also broadcast a high school Game of the Week from across the region.

He developed a lexicon, especially when calling basketball games. A player would- n't get a free throw: Mr. Keil bestowed a "bend and send," in a game that might also bring a dip and flip, a down and out, or a spacer.

"Those are the things that stick with people when they remember Jerry," Mr. Guitteau said, adding that Mr. Keil paused to allow the analyst time to insert context and nuance. "He was a consummate professional."

Mr. Keil was on vacation in Ireland when new WSPD ownership dropped him from its roster. For several years in the mid and late 1990s, he announced Mid-American Conference basketball and football games. He did commercial voice-over work as well.

He was a charter inductee in 1996 to the MAC Media Hall of Fame. He also was an inductee to the City League Hall of Fame.

Mr. Keil was one break away from being a national announcer, said Jude LaCava, who started his career at WSPD as a sportscaster from 1981-89. When Mr. LaCava learned of an opportunity in Phoenix, Mr. Keil encouraged him to take it.

"Jerry was the guy who said, if you put the work in, you can't go wrong," said Mr. LaCava, who retires this spring as sports anchor for Phoenix's Fox 10 News, where he has worked since 1993. "His support was really key for me."

Born Nov. 13, 1936, in Toledo to Leona and Clarence Keil, he was a 1954 graduate of DeVilbiss High School, where he played baseball and basketball and took part in the talent show. He attended Bowling Green State University.

He and his wife traveled the world, visiting New Zealand three times. He liked to golf and at various times was a member of Heather Downs and Sylvania country clubs and Highland Meadows Golf Club.

"He was upbeat and fun to be with," said his wife, an acclaimed amateur golfer. "He made me a happier person."

Surviving are his wife, the former Sharon Klump, whom he married April 22, 1972; daughters, Kris Ballish, Cheryl Couturier, and Amy Keil Carroll; brothers, James and Jack Keil; eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

A service will begin at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in Hope Lutheran Church, the Villages, Fla. Memorial services will begin at 1 p.m. March 21 at Toledo Memorial Park's Chapel of Memories, Sylvania. A celebration of life will follow from 2-4 p.m. March 21 at Highland Meadows Golf Club.

The family suggests tributes to the Jerry and Sharon Keil Scholarship, which supports a BGSU student interested in sports journalism, in care of the BGSU Foundation.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.