Currie put 'outrageous' spin on sports

Bill Currie, a legendary Pittsburgh TV sports commentator known for donning brightly colored sports coats adorned with a boutonniere, has died.

Mr. Currie died of a brain hemorrhage on Monday, Feb. 11, 2008, in Yelm, Wash., where he was living with his daughter. He was 83.

"Between the outrageous outfits he wore, the toupee, the flowers in his lapel and his outspokenness, he was quite the character," said retired sportscaster Sam Nover, who worked at WPXI when Mr. Currie was on the air at KDKA from 1971 to the mid-1980s.

"When it came to sportscasting, we were on totally opposite ends of the spectrum," Nover said. "I took it all very seriously, while Bill saw humor in everything.

"Despite our differences, we became friends. He was the first person to call and congratulate me when good things happened in my career, like when I went to work for the network in 1979."

Prior to coming to Pittsburgh, Mr. Currie was the voice of University of North Carolina "Tar Heels" sports teams and was known by the nickname "the Mouth of the South." Most Pittsburghers, however, knew him as "Sweet Ol' Bill."

Steelers announcer Bill Hillgrove, who worked for competitor WTAE, said Mr. Currie's "act" was a key to his success.

"If I ever said anything funny on the air it was by accident," Hillgrove said. "But Bill was very humorous and had that homespun charm. He was entertaining, and people enjoyed that about him."

KDKA anchor Patrice King Brown, who was hosting the variety show "Pittsburgh Today" when Mr. Currie was on the air, recalls visiting the station's news operation, where Mr. Currie agreed to "sit down and talk to me about my interest in moving over to news."

"The first thing he said was: 'Put that notebook away because I'm not going to say anything important,'" King Brown said. "But then he went on to give me some advice that has served me well for the past 30 years. He told me: 'The people in this city will see through a phony in a heartbeat. So be yourself, and you will find your niche.'"

King Brown said Mr. Currie's take on sports was almost a secondary aspect of his appeal.

"At least for me, he was worth watching because he could be so hysterical on the air," she said.

KDKA reporter Mary Robb Jackson, who joined the station in 1980, said Mr. Currie "was the reason a lot of woman started watching sports."

"You just never new what he was going to say, and many times what he did say was just so unbelievable," Robb Jackson said. "I think a lot of women enjoyed watching him and as a result, their interest in sports was piqued."

Robb Jackson said there was more to Mr. Currie than his public persona.

"He was a cutup and liked to dress wild -- what you saw was what you got," she said. "But he also had a great deal of depth. He was an accomplished writer and had a melancholy side that many people never knew about."