Legendary 'Voice of the Jackets' dies

By Bobby Sauer
Assistant Sports Editor
photo by Carrie Chin

After countless years calling Georgia Tech sports through the radio, a magnificient Yellow Jacket voice will be heard no more. Al Ciraldo, a broadcaster from the days when words meant more than pictures, died last Friday of complications arising from heart failure. At age 76, he had served his beloved Georgia Tech for 43 years.

Ciraldo's radio career spanned seven decades, starting at the age of 15 when he called games for his hometown Akron, Ohio minor-league baseball team. He arrived at the Flats in 1954 and after 43 years, he will always be remembered as one of the finest fans the Institute has ever seen. His longevity with Georgia Tech represents one of the top ten periods of loyalty for a broadcaster with a college.

Over his many years of service, Ciraldo announced 416 basketball and 1,031 football games. In 1992, he retired from play-by-play duties to host football pregame, halftime, and postgame shows. Last spring, he retired from all on-air duties, but he maintained the post of selling Georgia Tech athletics to his longtime radio sponsors. "I love selling Georgia Tech," he asserted in an interview with The Technique last May.

Ciraldo's lasting impression among followers of Tech sports carries on with the many sayings he coined. Having grown up playing street football, basketball, and baseball in East Akron, he would recall those gloriful days in his broadcast lingo. Ciraldo credited his famed expressions such as "Toe meets leather" for kickoffs and "Goottt!" for made baskets to those days of his childhood when those events elicited strong emotions in the kids. The same goes for his other sayings: "Brothers and sisters" for Tech fans, "barking the count" for quarterbacks' calls, and "bunny shots" for open jump shots. The last reference came from his hunting experiences in Ohio, where there were so many rabbits "you didn't even have to aim."

Throughout his time at Tech, Ciraldo maintained a very strong relationship with the Tech coaches. Whack Hyder, basketball coach of 21 years and a longtime friend from Ohio, first invited Ciraldo to Tech back in 1954. The two knew each other from the days of minor-league baseball, when Hyder played on the Akron club. Hyder heard how Ciraldo graduated from the University of Florida in radio broadcasting and took a radio job at UGA. Hyder loved the idea of reuniting with his old friend and invited him to do play-by-play for his basketball team. Soon, Al was handling both basketball and football radio duties for the Jackets.

Since then, Ciraldo kept in close contact with many coaches, including current football coach George O'Leary and basketball coach Bobby Cremins.

"Everyone knows how much Al Ciraldo meant to Georgia Tech," commented Cremins. "But he meant so much to Bobby Cremins as well. When I first came here, he was instrumental in helping me get a feel for Tech. As far as I'm concerned, he's a legend and a part of Georgia Tech that can never be replaced. The Al Ciraldos of his time only come around once in a lifetime."

O'Leary added, "It's a sad day in Georgia Tech history. From the first day I arrived at Georgia Tech, Al Ciraldo always gave a friendly handshake, always a smile, and always had Georgia Tech in his heart. He'll be greatly missed."

Kim King, quarterback for Tech in the 1960's as Ciraldo called play-by-play, teamed up with him for 17 years of Yellow Jacket football broadcasts. He perhaps knew Ciraldo the best. "I've lost a good friend, Georgia Tech lost a good friend, and college football has lost a good friend," the color commentator expressed. "He was a throwback to the old days, in terms of virtues and values. He was a man of great loyalty and honesty and integrity. We talk about those virtues in this day and age, but rarely see them."

Ciraldo, inducted into the National Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1993, served a total of 62 years in radio sports. His fondest memories include the 1990-91 season when Tech won the football natiional championship and reached the NCAA Basketball Final Four. But these memories go on forever, as will his legenday voice. He became as much a part of the school as Buzz, the Ramblin' Wreck, and the "T."

Earlier this year at halftime of the Clemson - Tech game, Ciraldo received many honorary distinctions. The Bobby Dodd Stadium broadcast booth was renamed "The Al Ciraldo Radio Booth" and Ciraldo was given his own "T" for his outstanding service to the Tech community.

The spirited Ciraldo represented Georgia Tech valiantly over his extensive career. One of the nicest guys to ever don the Old Gold and White, Ciraldo and his resounding voice manifested a true love for Georgia Tech.

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