Talk:Jack Whitaker

Moving unsourced info talk page
Please feel free to add these back to the article after adding reliable sources. -- D Big X ray ᗙ  09:39, 22 August 2019 (UTC)

Career
The Whitaker character, played by Gary McKillips, appears in the June 2007 ESPN Original Entertainment production Ruffian. The film is based upon the storied 1975 match race between unbeaten filly Ruffian and Kentucky Derby-winning colt Foolish Pleasure. Ruffian broke her leg during the race and was later euthanized. The Whitaker character is shown introducing the race in the paddock area of Belmont Park in Queens, New York.

While Whitaker is best known for having been a sportscaster, he was also a game show host. In the summer of 1966, he hosted The Face Is Familiar, a celebrity panel show for CBS.

In the latter part of his career, Whitaker moved away from play-by-play or color commentary, and became known for his pre-game and post-game essays at major sporting events.

Awards
Received the Maryland Jockey Club's Hilltop Award for outstanding coverage of thoroughbred racing. He was named "Best Announcer" by Sports Illustrated in 1976. He was inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame in 1997, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Saint Joseph's University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005. He received a Sports Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

Whitaker has a bowling center named for him and fellow broadcaster John Facenda. Facenda-Whitaker Lanes is located in East Norriton, Pennsylvania, and was named for Facenda and Whitaker in 1959, when the two were broadcasting news and sports, respectively, at WCAU. It is not clear whether or not either Facenda or Whitaker had any ownership interest in the center.