It's been a whirlwind life for Jay Randolph, who traveled the world in a sportscasting career that spanned more than six decades and led him to the pinnacle of his profession in St. Louis as well as national prominence.Â
And now, with his 90th birthday having arrived Thursday, he is reflective. But while he has hob-knobbed with some of sports' and politics' biggest names, he talks more about family than his famous friends or many on-air accomplishments when asked about his fondest memories.
"It went too quickly," he said in a conversation this week at his home in Ballwin. "I met seven presidents, I had a remarkable father and a wonderful mother, I have a superb wife, an absolutely unbelievable wife, the children — even though two of them are gone — I love them very much."
While Randolph said his life overall has been "fabulous," the past few years have been rougher. The loss of those two sons has been hard on him; his wife, Sue; and their daughter, Becky.
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Jay Jr., well-known locally for his contributions on radio and in the golf community, died in late 2022 of cancer. He was 53. Then last April the other son, Brian, unexpectedly died — apparently of a heart attack. He was 52.
Randolph didn't say much about losing the boys, but the somber look on his face told more than his words.
"It's been tough, but what can you do?" he said. "Jay — we played golf all the time. Brian was a brilliant kid. Becky is our star in the hemisphere. And we have two grandchildren who are doing wonderful."
It also has been difficult in recent years for Randolph to get around, as mobility issues have him using a wheelchair.
"My health is great except for the fact I can't walk more than about 15 feet without tremendous pain," he said, adding that his outside activities are mostly limited to getting a haircut and going to doctors' appointments.
But he didn't dwell on his setbacks. He was upbeat as he looked back on his improbable sportscasting career, which developed by chance after being pointed toward being a pro golfer or politician early on.
Randolph's work accomplishments are numerous. After a short stay in the ’60s at KMOX (1120 AM) for his first job in St. Louis, he was the sports director at KSDK (Channel 5) — which was KSD when he started — from 1968-87, setting a record in the market for longevity in that position that later was eclipsed by Rich Gould's 34 years in that role at KPLR (Channel 11).
He became the primary TV play-by-play voice of the Cardinals when they were on Channel 5, a run from 1971-87. After the station lost the rights, Randolph had stints calling the Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins. He wrapped up his big league baseball broadcasting days where they started, by announcing Cards games from 2007-10 when Channel 5 had Sunday afternoon telecasts.
He called that "a wonderful way to finish" that part of his career.
What might not have been as wonderful is an assignment he had early in his St. Louis days — doing TV play-by-play of the Blues' first season, 1967-68.
He had not pursued the job, which was offered to him after conversations between Randolph's boss — KMOX general manager Robert Hyland — and Blues owner Sid Salomon Jr. They already had settled on Cardinals announcer Jack Buck to do the hockey radio play-by-play
"Offered" might be a stretch on how Randolph's new duties were presented to him.
"I was told I was going to do the television," he said, chuckling. "Jack and I only had one year of it, thank goodness. I didn't know much about it. Hockey's the hardest sport to broadcast."
For Year 2, Dan Kelly was hired and the telecasts used the radio audio, sparking Kelly's legendary career locally and internationally.
"In my estimation he was the finest hockey announcer who's ever lived," Randolph said.
Randolph's reaction when told that he was being replaced?
"I said, 'That's fine with me, I've got plenty of jobs.'Â Frankly I was glad to get out of that thing."
He also soared at NBC, for which he seemingly broadcast every sport it carried. Football. Basketball. Bowling. Horse racing. Boxing. Luge. Dog shows. Etc.Â
''It was always a pleasure to work with him," said legendary NBC broadcaster Bob Costas, who got his start in St. Louis. "His gentlemanly demeanor as a person carried over as a broadcaster.''
Randolph has been that way off the air, too.Â
"Shortly after I got to St. Louis, in 1974, I was eating lunch at (Stan) Musial's restaurant and Jay walks into the room. I was 22 years old, had just started doing the Spirits basketball broadcasts and I was a student of sportscasting, so I knew who he was. I thought I'd go over and introduce myself.
"Instead, before I was able to get up, he saw me and came over and put his arm around me and started talking and said he'd heard a broadcast of mine. That was really impressive for a kid who didn't have any idea a guy like that would know me. But Jay is sociable guy and a genuinely nice person. It's one thing to be a good person. It's another thing to be a genuine good person. He is the genuine good person."
So much so that NBC used him to break in announcers the network thought had potential.
"He takes pleasure in seeing somebody else succeed, which isn't the case with everybody,'' Costas said.
Unlikely career path
Randolph grew up in West Virginia, the son of longtime congressman and senator Jennings Randolph.
He was quite a golfer as a teenager, earning a scholarship in that sport to George Washington University. While in Europe as a member of the Army, he not only won several military tournaments but played in two British Amateurs and in 1956 won the Egyptian Amateur in Cairo.
He was so proficient that he once had an opportunity to turn pro.Â
"But my dad didn't want me to do that," Randolph recalled. "He would have liked me to have stayed in West Virginia and get into politics."
His father, who had served in Congress from 1933-1947, decided to run in a special election in 1957 to fill a senate seat that opened when a sitting member died. Randolph, a Democrat, won that election and then four more for full terms, and his son seemingly was being groomed for a political career.
"I had helped him in that (special election push) and campaigned with (John F.) Kennedy and LBJ (Lyndon B. Johnson)," two future presidents, he said. "I knew the political people he did."
But in those days, an unexpected job offer led to a stark change in his life. A fellow associated with Randolph's father ran a small-town radio station, in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and in 1958 approached the politician's son.
"Do you think you could do sports for us?" Randolph, who then was 24, recalls being asked. "We have Babe Ruth League baseball and five high schools we cover."
He accepted the job, which paid $1.25 an hour or $10 a game.
His big break came not long after, when radio rights to West Virginia University football and basketball games became available and the owner of Randolph's station won the bid. Randolph was named the play-by-play man for a statewide network.
The football team was 0-8-2 in 1960, his first major broadcasting job.
"Everybody blamed me," he said, smiling.
That network lost the rights after two seasons, and he found himself bouncing around while getting his bachelor's degree from what now is Salem (West Virginia) University. That's when his second big break came.
Dallas days
In late 1963, Randolph heard the Dallas Cowboys' radio play-by-play job was coming open for the following season, so he applied and was brought to Dallas for an interview. He arrived on a Friday afternoon and was told he would have a tryout — by calling the second half of the Cowboys' game two days later.
"I was flabbergasted," he said. "I had no idea it was going to be that kind of an audition."
So it was time to cram. There was no internet on which to do research, no videos to watch on demand. He headed to the team's office to gather information to pour over.
"Then I went to a hardware store and made up a spotting board," he said. "I spent all of my next 24 waking hours getting ready."
He did well enough on his tryout to be offered the job, which he took without even knowing the pay for the position that also entailed calling Southern Methodist University basketball games plus other duties. Randolph was unfazed.
"To get to do an NFL team and be in Dallas, I felt it was time to do it," he said. "I was kind of in a doldrum in West Virginia."
There were other considerations. He had just been turned down for a raise in West Virginia after recently becoming engaged, and when he found out his Dallas salary, he said "you bet it was" a nice increase.
St. Louis looms
A few drinks with Buck in 1966 led to Randolph's arrival in St. Louis, the most monumental move of his career. He and Buck were broadcasting a basketball doubleheader in Oklahoma City and afterward were chatting over several beverages when Buck mentioned that the football Cardinals' radio play-by-play job was going to be open.
Buck asked him if he knew of anyone who might be interested in it, and Randolph tossed out a few names while also inquiring about what the job would entail. It was a full-time position that included numerous other duties at KMOX (1120 AM).
"I asked him how much it paid, and it was a lot more than I was making in Dallas," Randolph said. "So I said to him, 'Jack, what's the matter with me?' "
He got the job, and the day after he and Sue married in Dallas, they were on their way to St. Louis, with a one-night honeymoon stop in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Randolph was No. 4 in KMOX's sports department, behind Harry Caray, Buck and Skip Caray. He had been there a little over two years when he was contacted to gauge his interest in jumping to Channel 5 as the sports director — meaning he'd be anchoring sports segments on newscasts.
"I had to think hard about it because KMOX was the gold standard," he said. "I'd never done a scripted news show on TV. When I finally got into negotiations, I asked, what they would pay me — it was four times what I was making at KMOX."
The answer about the offer might have seemed easy, but he wanted Buck's input. They had lunch. So with Buck's encouragement, he made the move.
"Jack had a great deal to do with my success," Randolph said. "He gave me a wonderful amount of time and advice over the years."
NBC assignments quickly followed, creating absences at Channel 5 — the network's local affiliate. That opened a path for Ron Jacober to also make the switch from KMOX to Channel 5, at which he worked with Randolph for 17 years and often plugged Randolph's gaps on sportscasts plus Cardinals telecasts.
"He was like an older brother I never had," said Jacober, now 85. "He changed my career; he changed my life. I don't think we had a cross word in all those years, while my life revolved around his schedule. He's still a dear friend."
Randolph remembers those chaotic times.
"That's when everything went crazy," he said. "I was working 40 weeks a year (for NBC) and doing everything but fixing the kitchen sink. I go from making nothing in West Virginia to NBC in about six years.
"The rest is history."Â
That history includes doing 19 seasons of Big Eight/Big 12 basketball on those leagues' TV package, and he considers the days then working with analyst Gary Thompson to be a highlight of his career.
"It was like a traveling road show, like 'Monday Night Football' was" in its early years, he said. "Marvelous, marvelous times."
Randolph also covered three Olympics for NBC and had a blast traveling with the Cardinals and announcer buddies Buck and Mike Shannon. There would be trips to play on top-notch golf courses and/or place some bets at big time horse tracks in the daytime, then evenings spent at ballparks. Plus there were many visits to fine restaurants.
"Unforgettable," Randolph said.
The later years
After his days of full-time work ended, he wasn't done broadcasting. He appeared on several radio local radio stations, did commercials and for 16 years was the in-house handicapper at Fairmount Park for its Tuesday afternoon cards, a run that ended in 2020.
Randolph long has loved horse racing, as did his dad — who introduced him to the sport as a boy at Charlestown Race Course in West Virginia. The younger Randolph spent a lot of time at Fairmount, now-defunct Cahokia Downs and many other tracks across the nation and now has the railbirds' lament: "I spent too much time betting on horses."
But it has been his hobby, as it has been for many in his circle.
In summing his now nine decades up, he again brought the conversation back to others and his family — not career accolades.
"I always tried to be prepared," he said. "I always tried to work with and be as helpful as I could to the people behind the scenes, because they really don't get the credit they deserve for helping us do the job.
"My wife, Sue, she's the greatest influence on me," he added. "She has guided me through so many treacherous waters. She's a brilliant woman, a great lady. I owe her so much."