CHICAGO / MIDWEST
Honorees
1997
Harry Caray
The taxi driver, the bartender, the waitress, the man in the street, those are my people,” Harry Caray once said. Caray was a larger-than-life figure who loved the game and broadcast it with enthusiasm. He was respected by colleagues for his play-by-play ability but unlike many sportscasters, he never hesitated to editorialize. A typical moment from Harry’s play-by-play: “Egan tries to pick the runner off first, and he throws the ball into right field! Now if he could only hit it that far.”
Caray had fun with the game, handing out bottles of beer to fans in the bleachers, singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and (sometimes purposely) mispronouncing players’ names on the air. “Let’s face it, a broadcaster has to be an entertainer. The game isn’t all balls and strikes,” Harry said in 1979. “You have to have a sense of humor and believe me, there’s nothing like having fun at the old ballpark.” In over a half-century of broadcasting, Caray led the fun in St. Louis, Oakland, and Chicago, describing the games of the Browns, Cardinals, Athletics, White Sox, and Cubs. Mr. Carey passed away on February 18, 1998.
Author: Matt Bohn. From: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/harry-caray/
Scott Craig
Scott was a television producer, director and writer who started as a radio disc jockey, then went on to work for NBC- and CBS- owned television stations in Chicago. Craig and his work have won more than one hundred awards, including a National Emmy® and thirty-two Emmy® Awards from the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Mr. Craig passed away on April 18, 2024.
Russ Ewing
Russ worked as a reporter at ABC 7 for 14 years, and years before that at NBC.
He was especially well-known for his ability to convince crime suspects to surrender peacefully to police. In fact, more than 100 suspects surrendered with Russ's help over the years. He passed away on June 25, 2019.
If he hadn't become a journalist, he could well have been an accomplished musician. Even in his teens, Russ Ewing was making a name for himself in Chicago on the piano, but the lifestyle was not for him.
"I didn't smoke, I didn't drink, I didn't like nightlife, so after a while, I said, 'This isn't for me'" he said.
Every year, Russ would join his friend, jazz great Ramsey Lewis to give us a musical treat.
In 1992, Peter Jennings on ABC News would name Russ Ewing as their "Person of the Week."
He was an author as well, telling the story of mass murderer John Wayne Gacy in a book titled "Buried Dreams." But one story in particular, Russ liked to recall, the story of how he convinced a deeply religious woman to allow her ill daughter to receive a medical procedure to save her life.
He received many awards, noting his accomplishments over the years and when he retired from ABC7, in 1995, he made it clear it was on his terms.
"I think it's as important to know when to quit as it is to know when to start - and it's time to quit," he said.
But Russ, Chicagoans truly grew accustomed to your face, your work and your one-of-a-kind life. It's a tune we won't forget.
From ABC7 Chicago: https://abc7chicago.com/russ-ewing-abc7-dead-died/5364781/
Howard Shapiro
Howard was a multiple Chicago/Midwest Emmy award winning director of news and sports events. His career spanned 50 years with ABC/WLS TV, including four Olympics. While he was an accomplished director, Howard’s greatest pride was his family. Mr. Shapiro passed away on January 25, 2024.
Reinald Werrenrath, Jr.
Reinald was a television pioneer in his native New York City, and in 1940 he helped start the first experimental TV station in Chicago, WBKB (now WLS). He created, produced, and directed many of the earliest TV shows, including "Zoo Parade", and "Ding Dong School". Reinald served as a Navy Lieutenant Commander in World War II, as Fighter Director Officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Cabot in the Pacific Theater, and later aboard the USS Oriskany during the Korean War.
After serving his country, Reinald resumed his career in television, and was involved in such projects as televising The 1964 Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies in Oslo and Stockholm, and The World Series of Golf . A long time human rights champion and education advocate, Reinald served as Chairman of the Highland Park Human Relations Commission, and as Chairman of the local school board. Reinald and Elizabeth teamed up to make over 100 educational films with nationwide distribution. After retirement, they kept busy connecting with people, traveling, and continuing to make educational films. Reinald passed away August 8, 2019.
From: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/chicagotribune/name/reinald-werrenrath-obituary?id=2826053
Jules Herbuveaux
Jules Herbuveaux, charged with putting NBC's Chicago owned-and-operated station on the air, was the first general manager of WNBQ (the predecessor call-letters of today's WMAQ-TV). His tasks included the generation of local programming and development of shows for the NBC network which, not long after WNBQ took to the air, was extended west as far as Saint Louis.
Herbuveaux had a remarkable eye for talent appropriate to the new video medium. The personalities he put on the air, and the programs they were part of, defined television as a unique, pure medium of its own. It was not theater. It was not film. It was television, plain and simple. Jules passed away February 9, 1990.
From Rich Samuel's The Chicago School of Journalism https://www.richsamuels.com/nbcmm/chschool.html