Broadcaster C. Jones dies at 77

Sports Digest

June 14, 2008

Veteran sportscaster Charlie Jones died of a heart attack June 12 at his home in the La Jolla district of San Diego. He was 77. NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol called Jones, whose career as a play-by-play announcer spanned 38 years for ABC and NBC, "one of the great pioneers of NBC Sports." (AP photo / June 13, 2008)

Charlie Jones, the deep-voiced sportscaster whose career as a play-by-play announcer spanned 38 years for ABC and NBC, has died. He was 77.

Jones died of a heart attack Thursday at his home in the La Jolla district of San Diego, his longtime agent, Martin Mandel, told the Associated Press.

"Charlie is one of the legends of sports broadcasting, starting with covering the first Super Bowl," Mandel said. "He had a wonderful kettledrum voice. He was known for that and his versatility."

NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol called Jones "one of the great pioneers of NBC Sports. His work in particular on the NFL, golf and the Olympics left a lasting legacy."

Sports Digest Recent columns

• Hockey // Craig Hartsburg is the new coach of the Ottawa Senators, who were swept out of the playoffs in the first round this spring -- a year after reaching the Stanley Cup Finals. Hartsburg, who previously coached Anaheim and Chicago, took over from Senators general manager Bryan Murray, who finished the season behind Ottawa's bench after coach John Paddock was fired in late February. ... The Florida Panthers have hired Peter DeBoer as their next coach. DeBoer, a highly touted junior coach with the Ontario Hockey League's Kitchener Rangers, takes over for Jacques Martin, who was stripped of his duties as head coach in April but reached an agreement to remain as the team's general manager. ... The Pittsburgh Penguins offered salary arbitration to goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. The filing allows the Penguins to retain Fleury's rights to negotiate a multiyear contract in advance of arbitration hearings, which are scheduled from July 20 to Aug. 4.

• Tennis // Top seed Rafael Nadal beat Ivo Karlovic, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), to reach the Queen's Club semifinals, in which he will face defending champion Andy Roddick in London. Roddick, seeded third, advanced without picking up a racket when Andy Murray withdrew with a thumb injury. Also reaching today's semifinals was No. 2 Novak Djokovic, who defeated Lleyton Hewitt, 6-2, 6-2. Djokovic will play fourth seed David Nalbandian, who defeated Richard Gasquet, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3). ... Roger Federer extended his grass-court streak to 57 matches with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Marcos Baghdatis and reached the semifinals of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany. Second seed James Blake beat Andreas Beck, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5). He faces Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat Robin Soderling, 6-4, 7-6 (4).

• Soccer // A three-goal second half lifted the Netherlands to a 4-1 rout of France for a place in the European Championship's quarterfinals in Bern, Switzerland. In yesterday's other game, Gianluigi Buffon saved a late penalty kick to preserve Italy's 1-1 tie with Romania in Zurich.

• Colleges // Larry Leckonby, the chief financial officer for Maryland's athletic department, was named The Citadel's athletic director. Leckonby helped administrate a yearly athletic budget of more than $51 million with the Terps.