• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Alex Karras--final days?

B

bpatrick

Saw in my local paper this morning that Alex Karras, 77, known not
only as a football great but, for our purposes, Don Meredith's replacement
for a time on "Monday Night Football" and later a star on the sitcom "Webster," is
suffering from kidney failure and apparently his doctors aren't giving him much
time; the article said he's spending his final days with his family. Let's keep a
watch and say a prayer for him.

Probably Karras' classic line was his identification of the shaved-head Otis Sistrunk
as "Otis Sistrunk of the Unversity of Mars."
 
I'd heard that he was also suffering from dementia, which I hadn't known. Say a prayer indeed.

He made a fine transaction from the playing field to acting, which many have not been able to do.
 
He is no longer with us. Many sites have confirmed.

I did not know that it was Karras who commented on Otis Sistrunk....but that line stuck for a long time on MNF.

cd
 
Betcha didn't know that Karras was not ABC's first choice for the "MNF" booth in 1974. That seat was originally intended to go to Fred Williamson, but after watching his preseason work that year with Howard and Frank, ABC executives decided "The Hammer" didn't hurt 'em...

@Mitchell: He had joined other former NFL players in a lawsuit against the league citing player safety, just this past spring.
 
Sad to say Alex Karras is gone. He will be remembered mostly for his acting talent and sense of humor, rather than for his considerable accomplishments on the football field before ever entering TV and film (he was a four time Pro Bowler with the Detroit Lions).

Had the chance to spend an enjoyable hour talking with him once for broadcast--he was warm, cordial and gifted with a quick wit, as you'd have expected him to be. What you saw with Alex Karras was what you got.
 
Re: R.I.P., Alex Karras, 1935-2012

According to the book Monday Night Mayhem, authors Bill Carter and Marc Gunther wrote that when Don Meredith left "Monday Night Football" and jumped to NBC in 1974, Alex Karras was in fact ABC Sports chief Roone Arledge's first choice to succeed Meredith.

However, according to the book, Karras at the time was writing a column called "Pro In The Know" which dealt with how to bet on pro football games. According to Carter and Gunther, the then-NFL commissioner, Pete Rozelle, did not want Karras doing the telecasts for that reason.

Fred Williamson, another pro football star turned actor, was reportedly Arledge's second choice and got hired. But during a couple of pre-season games that August, Williamson's unusually blunt commentary turned off everyone at ABC so much that Williamson got dumped before the regular-season began.

With little time left before the first Monday Night game of the year, Arledge made Karras an offer, but with one condition: Karras had to stop writing the football-bettting column. Realizing that was the only way to get the job, Karras agreed, and was in the booth for the 1974, 1975, and 1976 seasons.

His exposure on "MNF" got him many acting gigs. One of his first was a 1975 TV-movie about 1930's sprinter-turned-golfer Babe Didrikson, with Karras playing her husband, George Zaharis. Karras not only got rave reviews for his acting, but he eventually married co-star Susan Clark (who played Didrikson and won an Primetime Emmy for it), whom he remained married to until his death.

Of course, his best-known role was playing the Dad on "Webster" (Clark played the Mom), and little Emmanuel Lewis, in the title role, became a big star.
 
Re: R.I.P. Alex Karras, 1935-2012

Bob1370 wrote: said:
Had the chance to spend an enjoyable hour talking with him once for broadcast--he was warm, cordial and gifted with a quick wit, as you'd have expected him to be. What you saw with Alex Karras was what you got.
Click to expand...

I had long known that during his football days, Karras was aggressive on the field but the nicest guy in Detroit off the field.

One of the real class acts in the NFL, broadcasting, and Hollywood.
 
...Karras also was a pro wrestler in some of the NFL off-seasons. One day, Ed "The Sheik" Farhat decided to try to create a new storyline by attacking Karras in a Detroit department store, without bothering to clue Karras in on what was going on. The incident made the local papers...
 
I'm sad that he's gone, but glad that he and Susan Clark had a happy, long-lasting marriage, in spite of the early tension on the Webster set.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom