Former WBAL-TV sportscaster Vince Bagli, who became known as the “Dean of Baltimore Sports” in nearly five decades on air, died Tuesday at Lorien Assisted Living in Taneytown.
The former Finksburg resident was 93. His death was caused by complications from a pulmonary embolism, said his son Vince Bagli Jr., of Baltimore.
A former Baltimore Colts color commentator, the elder Mr. Bagli was an old-fashioned broadcaster who used handwritten notes instead of scripts on air. His inner fan — and his innate ability to connect with people from all walks of life — endeared him to generations of Baltimoreans.
“I really think I’m an extension of the fans,” he said in a 1988 Sunday Sun Magazine profile. “I started out being a fan. I say a lot of things you hear in the barber shop or drugstore or the checkout counter in the supermarket. I probably know a little more because I am closer to it and have been paying attention to it as a profession for a long time. But I started out a fan and in a lot of ways, I am still that same fan.”
