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Veteran West Tenn broadcaster Jim Cawley dies

P

PedroOrange

Guest
Sad to hear about the passing of Mr. Cawley.

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Source: http://www.wztv.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.tn/2ed9bc00-www.fox17.com.shtml

UNION CITY, Tenn. (AP) -- Veteran broadcaster Jim Cawley of Union City has died after a two-year battle with brain cancer. He was 55.

Cawley, who died at home Wednesday, had been a disc jockey, newsman and sportscaster who called more than 2,500 high school ball games on the radio. He began covering Obion County and Union City sports in 1971.

[EDIT]

PeDrO



[EDIT-post truncated because original material is copyrighted.]
 
Heard about it this morning. I didn't know him, but have heard of him.
Sorry to hear about it.
 
The truly inspiring part is that he did the play-by-play for the Union City Boys State Championship basketball win just a few months ago for Thunderbolt Broadcasting.

PeDrO
 
I knew Jim Cawley. I was fortunate enough to call local football and basketball games with him for a couple of seasons. During my tenure at WENK/Union City in the early to mid-70's, Jim was News and Sports Director. Being a hometown boy, he was among the best I ever saw at "keeping his finger on the pulse" of the local happenings.

Some may have considered Jim to be perhaps less than the most engaging personality they ever met, but that would only serve to prove that they probably didn't really know him. The sense of humor was a bit different, but still funny as hell at times.

Jim was also a professional broadcaster in many ways. I remember one year Union City had an awfully good football team...which was (and still is) fairly standard for Union City High School. The Tornadoes were undefeated when they ventured into Kentucky to take on Caldwell County. During the somewhat lengthy ride (by comparison) to the game, Jim expressed his concern about how he hoped U.C. didn't get "home cooked" during the game. He made only one reference to it on the air...during the pre-game show. Late in the game, Union City was driving for what would be the winning score when three successive major penalties pushed them out of the red zone. It clearly played a part in what would be Union City's only loss of the season. Still, Jim made no further reference to the home cooking...but I did. Jim was from Union City, and this was HIS team. I wasn't from Union City, but I could still tell when the referees were stinking it up. Jim let me rant about it, but refused to join in. I always thought that it took a true pro to park his inner feelings in favor of a quality broadcast.

Jim called EVERY game. The ONLY time I got to do play-by-play was during the second half of a basketball game when Jim's voice failed him. At all other times, he was as steady a performer as there ever was.

During those days, WENK was clearly the area leader in many, many phases of our industry. Those were special times at 1240 and several very special people made it happen. Jim Cawley was a big part of it.

He will be missed.
 
I certainly hope WENK has, or will, do something in his memory. It would be a shame if WENK just glossed over his death, and never mentioned it, just because Cawley was at Thunderbolt at the time of his death. I listened to Cawley deliver many newscasts, and call many ballgames, over the years.

Does anyone know when, or why, he went to Thunderbolt? Seems like WENK has lost many of their finest to Thunderbolt in recent years.

And it hasn't been that many years since Jim's brother Kim Cawley died. Kim was bitten by a spider many years ago, and had a leg amputated! :'(
 
Was Jim the one up there who was the huge wrestling fan or was it with someone else?
 
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