Joe Tait
| Joe Tait | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Joseph Tait May 15, 1937 Evanston, Illinois, U.S. |
| Sports commentary career | |
| Team(s) |
Cleveland Cavaliers Cleveland Indians Cleveland Rockers |
| Genre(s) | Play-by-play |
| Sports | Basketball (NBA, WNBA) Baseball (MLB) |
Joseph "Joe" Tait (born May 15, 1937) is a retired American sports broadcaster, who called the radio play by play for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA and both TV and radio for the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball. With the exception of two seasons in the early 1980s and illness during his final season, he was the Cavaliers' radio announcer from the team's inception in 1970 through the 2010-11 season. He won the Basketball Hall of Fame 2010 Curt Gowdy Media Award.
Tait was born in Evanston, Illinois. He attended Monmouth College in western Illinois, where he began his radio career. He did various jobs, including play-by-play on a local radio station in Monmouth (WRAM), sports reports, and operations manager. He graduated in 1959. After college, Tait spent three years in the United States Army Security Agency.
After the Army, Tait bounced around, spending time in Decatur, Illinois. From 1966 to 1968 he was the official voice of the Ohio Bobcats, served as sports director for WOUB, and taught sportscasting at the Athens institution. He next served as the network voice of Indiana University football, and was the pre-game host for the Indiana Pacers in 1969.
In 1970, Tait began his longtime association with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were in their first year of existence. The games were broadcast on WERE for the first two years. After then-owner Nick Mileti, who also owned the Cleveland Indians, bought Cleveland's most powerful radio station, WWWE (now WTAM) in 1972, he moved both teams' radio broadcasts to WWWE. Tait was the radio announcer for the Indians from 1973 through 1979 along with Herb Score, and their TV announcer with a variety of partners from 1980 through 1987.
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