Ty TYSON [332]

   Another name for Ty was Edwin L. TYSON.

  General Notes:

Ty Tyson, 1924-50 wsa a radio announcer for the Detroit Tigers and the University of Michigan Football Team. In 1924 he made the first live broadcast of a UofM football game from the stands of Ferry Field. A few years later, in 1927, he made the first broadcast of a Detroit Tigers game.

On April 19, 1927, Ty Tyson was first heard broadcasting a Detroit Tiger's game throughout the Motor City. Tiger owner Frank Navin agreed to allow Tyson to broadcast games live even though he feared it would hurt the team at the gate. Instead, the exact opposite happened as Tyson's broadcasts sparked added interest in the team.
Edwin "Ty" Tyson hailed from Tyron, Pennsylvania and attended Penn State University. After serving in World War I, a childhood friend got him a job announcing weather, introducing bands, and reading news on station WWJ in Detroit.
Tyson was renowned as a baseball broadcaster for his faithful reporting, dry humor, and knowledge of the game. Bob Latshaw remembered in a 1966 Detroit Free Press story, "by the late 1920s and early 1930s, there wasn't an afternoon the Tigers played that anyone could escape hearing Tyson. It was possible for a youngster to leave school, walk a mile home, and never miss a pitch, because every house…had its radio tuned to WWJ."
When Kenesaw M. Landis announced Tyson would not be allowed to announce the 1934 World Series due to partiality to his hometown Tigers, 600,000 fans petitioned the Commissioner to get Tyson on the air. Landis relented and allowed him to announce locally on WWJ.
Tyson's local broadcasting rival was former ballplayer Harry Heilmann, who broadcast on WXYZ. They competed from 1934 through Tyson's retirement after the 1942 season. In 1951, when Heilmann was forced to retire due to illness, Tyson came back to work for his ailing pal.
Ford Frick Award winner Ernie Harwell paid tribute to Tyson by bringing him on the air one more time in 1965 to call an inning of his beloved Tigers. Harwell later described the event as one of his most popular broadcasts.
The earliest recording of a regular season game that survives today features Tyson calling the Tigers vs. the New York Yankees on September 20, 1934.
Tyson died December 12, 1968.
The Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association has an award named in Tyson's honor.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Manager of WWJ Radio Station: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States. "He (Ty Tyson) had made his success by being a sportscaster. And the Tigers were a great baseball team that he covered and he was known, well-known all around the whole area as the sportsman. But they made him the manager of the station, the station was owned by the Detroit News. And when they started the station, it was to be an advertising adjunct. And the reason that they started it was because one of the men who owned the Detroit News, a Mr. Scripps, decided that—well, he liked things, he liked to monkey with things, and he thought radio was really something interesting. And the decision was made in cooperation with the News advertising department that the broadcast power would be limited to the News' circulation area. And to this day, it is still limited. So that WWJ cannot reach more than five thousand watts, and all of the rest of the competition was ten thousand, fifty thousand, and all that sort of thing. So it's all a rather select little group that can listen to WWJ. But of course, it was the pioneer and eventually the advertising people recognized that this was of value and maybe they'd sell a little time too, you know, so that worked out."

--- Fran Harris Interview #1, (pp. 1-37), September 29, 1990, Westland, Michigan, Washington Press Club Foundation <wpcfhome.htm>, Anne Ritchie <arbio.htm>, Interviewer

• Occupation: The first play-by-play sports broadcast from the scene, 25 Oct 1924, Ann Arbor, Washtenaw, Michigan, United States. The first play-by-play sports broadcast from the scene was done by WWJ Oct. 25, 1924, when Ty Tyson described a University of Michigan-University of Wisconsin football game.

• Occupation: Began radio broadcasts of Detroit Tigers games on station WWJ, 19 Apr 1927, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States. He made the first radio broadcast of a regular season Detroit Tiger game, an 8-5 win over the Cleveland Indians. He went on to broadcast Detroit Tiger baseball seasons from 1927-1942 and 1951-1952.

• Occupation: Called the first telecasted Tigers game in Detroit on WWJ, 3 Jun 1947, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States. Tigers lose to Yankees 3-0, Spec Shea was the winning pitcher while Hal Newhouser took the loss.

• Honors: Michigan Sports Hall of Fame induction, 15 May 1996, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, United States. Inscription:

Edwin "Ty" Tyson

Edwin "Ty" Tyson made history by doing the first play-by-play coverage of a sports event by broadcasting the University of Michigan-Wisconsin football game from Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1942. He broadcast Tiger baseball games from 1927 through 1942. He returned to the airways in 1947 to cover the first telecast for a Tiger team in '47. Ty also did U of M football games. He was a great announcer, very articulate and had a great wit. He was extremely popular and a true gentleman who was loved by all Detroit fans. Inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Ty married Catherine [2092] [MRIN: 166] in 1923.