{{Short description|American sports broadcaster}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} '''John Henry Drees''' (February 8, 1917 – July 27, 1988)<ref name=Biography>{{cite book|title=Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: 1992-1995 Supplement for Baseball, Football, Basketball, and Other Sports|year=1995|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn= 9780313284311|pages=343–344|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lHJrkIxwhMcC&pg=PA344|editor=David L. Porter}}</ref> was an American sportscaster who worked for ABC and CBS, as well as various stations in Chicago.

==Early life and career== Drees was born on February 8, 1917, in Chicago.<ref name=Biography /> He attended Austin High School and the University of Iowa, where he was an all-Big Ten center on the Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team.<ref name=obituary>{{cite news|title=Jack Drees, Tv Sports Announcer|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1988/07/28/jack-drees-tv-sports-announcer/|access-date=18 May 2012|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=July 28, 1988}}</ref> After graduating, he went to work for WJJD in Chicago as a secondary baseball play-by-play announcer to John Harrington.<ref name=Baseball>{{cite book|last=Patterson|first=Ted|title=The Golden Voices of Baseball|year=2002|publisher=Sports Publishing LLC|isbn= 9781582614984|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uzh6vqrdzMIC&pg=PA46}}</ref> His first day on the air was May 23, 1938.<ref name=obituary /> In addition to baseball, Drees also called National Football League games and horse races from Sportsman's Park for WJJD and sister station WIND.<ref name=obituary /><ref name=Baseball /> Although he had never seen a horse race prior to calling one, Drees became "the most accurate and respected horse race announcer in the country" according to Jack Brickhouse.<ref name=obituary />

==US Navy== During World War II, Drees served 35 months in the United States Navy.<ref name=Baseball /> He served 33 months at sea as a gunnery officer on a merchant ship and rose to the rank of lieutenant.<ref name=obituary /><ref name=Football>{{cite book|last=Patterson|first=Ted|title=The Golden Voices of Football|year=2004|publisher=Sports Publishing LLC|isbn= 9781582617442|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j6lMgCHHmIwC&pg=PA142}}</ref>

==Los Angeles== After the war, Drees returned to WJJD and WIND, but the stations had dropped their sports coverage.<ref name=Football /> He later moved to Los Angeles, where he called horse races and served as Public Relations director for the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference.<ref name=Baseball /> After the league folded in 1949, he returned to Chicago, where he called horse races and college football.<ref name=Baseball /><ref name=Football />

==Television==

===National=== Drees first television role was co-hosting ''Pabst Blue Ribbon Bouts'' with Russ Hodges.<ref name=Baseball /> His television broadcast of the 1963 Sonny Liston-Floyd Patterson world heavyweight championship fight drew the largest audience in history up to that point.<ref name=obituary /> In 1954, he was hired by ABC to announce college football games with Tom Harmon. In 1960, he was hired by CBS to call St. Louis Cardinals football games.<ref name=Football /> In 1967/68 he called Super Bowl I and II for the CBS Radio Network.<ref name=obituary /> In addition to NFL games, Drees also called college football, golf, and horse races for CBS. He was the broadcaster for the 1971 contest between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions which would see Detroit wide receiver Chuck Hughes collapse toward its conclusion, eventually becoming the only NFL player to date who died during a game.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1971 Detroit Lions |url=https://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/controller/controller.php?action=teams-season&team_id=DET&year=1971 |publisher=The Gridiron Uniform Database |access-date=January 16, 2023}}</ref> Drees returned to ABC, and in 1972, hosted a 5-minute daily broadcast on the American Information Radio Network.

===Chicago=== During the 1960s, Drees broadcast the Illinois state high school basketball tournaments on WGN-TV. He also hosted a program on WGN-TV called "Sports Unlimited".<ref name=obituary /> He was the play-by-play voice for Chicago White Sox telecasts on WFLD from 1968 through 1972. His broadcast partners were Dave Martin (1968), Mel Parnell (1969), Billy Pierce (1970) and Bud Kelly (1971&ndash;1972).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070226205523/http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/cws/history/broadcasters.jsp All-time Broadcasters (pre-2009) &ndash; Chicago White Sox.]</ref>

==Later career and retirement== In 1974, Drees and James C. Mullen published a book entitled ''Where Is He Now? Sports Heroes of Yesterday - Revisited''. From 1977 to 1985, he worked for WKRG-TV in Mobile, Alabama.<ref name=Biography /> In 1986, he retired to Dallas.<ref name=obituary />

Drees died on July 27, 1988, of cancer at his Dallas home. He was 71 years old.<ref name=obituary /><ref name=Football />

==Personal life== Drees and his wife Mary were married on August 16, 1939. They had three children.<ref name=Biography /> Drees' son Brian was also a sportscaster, notably working for KMGH in Denver.

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Thoroughbred Racing on CBS}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Drees, Jack}} Category:1917 births Category:1988 deaths Category:American horse racing announcers Category:American television sports commentators Category:American boxing commentators Category:Chicago Bears announcers Category:High school basketball announcers in the United States Category:Chicago Cubs announcers Category:Chicago White Sox announcers Category:College basketball announcers in the United States Category:College football announcers Category:American golf commentators Category:Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball players Category:Major League Baseball broadcasters Category:NBA broadcasters Category:New York Giants announcers Category:Television personalities from Chicago Category:Medical doctors from Dallas Category:People from Mobile, Alabama Category:St. Louis Cardinals (football) announcers Category:American men's basketball players Category:Austin Community Academy High School alumni Category:20th-century American sportsmen