Curt Gowdy

One of the most honored sports journalists of his era, Curt Gowdy began fly fishing at age 8 with his father, Edward Gowdy, on the rivers of their native Wyoming. As his career unfolded, Gowdy brought the joy and excitement of fly fishing and other methods of angling to millions of Americans as host and producer of The American Sportsman. 

A towering figure in American broadcasting, Gowdy is widely known to generations of sports fans. He covered eight Olympic games, nine Super Bowls, 16 World Series and 24 NCAA championship tournaments. He was at the microphone when Ted Williams homered in the final at-bat of his career, when the Mets beat the Orioles in the 1969 World Series, when Joe Namath and the Jets beat the Colts in the 1969 Super Bowl and when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record. He was the first sports figure to win the coveted Peabody Award for Outstanding Journalistic Achievement.

Gowdy is celebrated in the Catskill Center’s Hall of Fame for his legacy in fishing. He was especially enthusiastic about the fishing in the Florida Keys, beginning in 1949 when he fished with Ted Williams during spring training. He served as the celebrity host of the Redbone Celebrity Tournament Series (for cystic fibrosis research efforts) and the Boy Scout Backbone Celebrity Classic. Six of his 13 Emmy Wards were for his work on The American Sportsman. In tribute to his many years with the Cheeca Redbone, the Curt Gowdy Lounge, a popular sports and anglers oceanfront bar, was named after him at the Cheeca Lodge in Islamorada in the Florida Keys. Of the 21 halls of fame into which he has been inducted, five, including the Catskill Center, are dedicated to fishing and conservation. 

Gowdy was a tireless advocate for sportsmanship and the protection of fish and fish habitat. He was a founding member of Bonefish and Tarpon Unlimited, the chairman of the American League of Anglers and a trustee of the International Game Fish Association. He served on Board of Advisors for the National Foundation for Conservation Environmental Officers; was the Chairman of American League of Anglers, a conservation group to preserve the outdoors and fishing, and was a trustee of the International Game Fish Foundation and the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association. Perhaps most fittingly for a lifelong sportsman, an outdoor reserve bears his name: Curt Gowdy State Park near Cheyenne, Wyoming.