101 ESPN host Randy Karraker and show partners Dan McLaughlin and Brooke Grimsley welcomed Wes Edwards, Assistant Director of the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame to their show in St. Louis this morning. Karraker believed Edwards was on to promote the winter enshrinement the Hall of Fame is having in a few weeks.
It turned out, Edwards had a special invitation for their event coming up later in the year. “By unanimous decision, we have someone we would like to invite to come into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame,” he said. “Randy Karraker, we hope that you are able to accept our invitation to be inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of fame at our enshrinement dinner later this year.”
Karraker, who celebrated his 40th year as a sports broadcaster in May, said, “That’s awesome. I am humbled and thrilled. Totally unexpected. Yes, absolutely I would love to be a member of the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame.”
Karraker continued, “I really appreciate it and thank you to the people who nominated me and who voted for me. This is my town, I’ve been here my entire life. It’s an absolute thrill because I know what a big deal the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame is.
Later in the show, McLaughlin and Grimsley asked Karraker questions about his long career, which started when he received an internship at KMOX and then was hired as a producer in 1983. He talked about the influence of two other members of the very Hall of Fame he will enter – Jack Buck and Bob Costas. He relayed a story where he had been laid off due to budget cuts in 1996 and Buck put in his resignation as a way to protest. Karraker was brought back about a month later.
When asked what he was most proud of, Karraker talked about several people who he had worked with that went on to have great careers. “I’m most proud of the fact that people can say, ‘Randy Karraker made me better,’ that’s what I am really proud of.
The winter induction event for the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame includes longtime University of Missouri play-by-play voice Mike Kelly and Dewayne Staats, the television voice of the Tampa Bay Rays since their inception, who grew up and started his career in the St. Louis area.
