Florida Gators
NCAA Championships (Day 4)
A friend of the Gators and Dodgers, Dick Crago to be honored with moment of silence Saturday
Friday, September 2, 2011 | Football, Women's Tennis, Scott Carter
The last time Norm Carlson saw Dick Crago was during a Gators game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium last season.
Crago was sick and in a wheelchair, but that didn't stop the UF graduate and longtime spring training PA announcer of the Los Angeles Dodgers from making his way to Gainesville from his home in Vero Beach.
Richard Leon Crago's roots at UF go all the way back to 1929 when his family moved from Nebraska to Gainesville after his father became a professor at UF. That's when Crago's love for the Gators first blossomed and it remained in full bloom for the rest of his life.
He was a regular at UF sporting events over the decades since, first as a student play-by-play announcer for the Gators and in later years as a regular in the press box on Saturdays.
The 85-year-old Crago passed away in July and will be honored with a moment of silence in the press box before the Gators face Florida Atlantic on Saturday night.
"Dick Crago was an institution in the press box for decades, from being a member of the radio crew dating clear back to World War II to helping in a variety of roles as a PA announcer, spotter, running statistics for the media,'' said Carlson, UF's former sports information director who now serves as official historian. “It didn't matter, he would do anything to help. His stories about major league teams training in Vero Beach were legendary.
“He will be missed.''
After graduating and starting his radio career at UF, he later served as the play-by-play voice of Mississippi State and Ole Miss. Crago settled in Vero Beach in the 1960s and from 1969 to 2008, Crago was the PA voice at Holman Stadium, spring training home of the Dodgers.
He not only made an impact at UF, but in baseball circles as well, becoming friends with legendary Dodgers such as manager Tom Lasorda and radio voice Vin Scully.
When Crago passed away, former Major League Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent wrote this memorial in his honor.
Crago was also the longtime owner of WAXE radio station in Vero Beach and was married to his wife, Harriett, for 64 years.
For more on Crago, click here to read his obituary page on Legacy.com.
(Photo: Crago and Lasorda courtesy of the Dodgers).
