Phillies Broadcasters Announce Creation Of The Kalas Award

It is fitting that on the night that the Philadelphia Phillies inducted Harry Kalas into the Phillies Hall of Fame (he has already been enshrined in Cooperstown) that the Phillies broadcasters announce the creation of the Kalas Award, an award and a scholarship that will be given away each year to a college junior in the Philadelphia area looking to enter the broadcasting field. Via a PR Newswire.

The Kalas Award will be given annually to a rising college junior at Philadelphia-area colleges and universities who has expressed a desire and shown initiative toward a career in sports broadcasting.

Phillies radio and TV broadcasters Larry Andersen, Scott Franzke, Gary Matthews, Tom McCarthy, Chris Wheeler and Jim Jackson together have funded the Philadelphia Broadcasters Foundation, a charitable trust whose primary purpose is the funding, selection and distribution of scholarship awards for local students.

"We were looking for a way to establish a lasting legacy in Harry's honor," said Andersen, "and the scholarship seemed like the right way to go. Harry touched so many lives with his work, with his soothing voice and his generosity of spirit; we believe this is a fitting way to continue that generosity for years to come."

Without a doubt, this is a great thing and an awesome way to help young broadcasters while honoring the late, great Harry Kalas. Who knows, maybe the next legendary voice will be discovered in part through this award?

I've probably told this story before, but it bears repeating. I was at the Phillies parade and was situated right at the start of the parade root at 20th & Market (I won't get into why, but keen readers of my past writings will pick up why I was there). Anyway, they had essentially brought up the floats and started the parade a bit but then for some reason, a reason of which to this day I do not know, stopped the parade for 20 minutes. Seeing as I was right at the start of the parade, we actually had a float stop right in front of us. And in that float was, you guessed it, Harry Kalas, Jim Jackson, and all the other Phillies broadcasters and such. As more or less of an announcing junkie if there ever was one, being 10 feet away from Harry Kalas and Jim Jackson, the Flyers PbP guy (who also hosts the radio pre and post-game show for the Phillies) was about as big a thrill for me as seeing any of the players. And then to have them right in front of me like that for what had to have been 20 minutes was simply a phenomenal experience that I will never forget. RIP Harry Kalas and to all the future recipients of the Kalas Award: treasure it for the rest of your life as Harry was a special person in so many ways.