Sports broadcaster, radio host Jerry Healey
Services are planned for 10 a.m. Sunday at St. George’s Episcopal Church in La Cañada for Jerry Healey, lifelong announcer, lover of all things Irish, and genuine, kind-hearted Good Guy, who died peacefully Tuesday, Feb. 3, at City of Hope.
Born in Scranton, Pa., in 1932, Healey began his career in Philadelphia when a scout came to his elementary school classroom and auditioned youngsters for a children’s serial radio show, “The Magic Lady.” All the boys in the cast wore knickers except Eddie Fisher, whose mother allowed long pants.
The dominant areas of Healey’s career were as a sports broadcaster and as a radio morning show host. A product of Syracuse University, he was the voice of football for the University of Illinois, Ohio State, the University of Akron, Kent State University and UC Davis. In basketball, he was the voice for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Buffalo Braves.
His morning shows concentrated on Chicago and Northeastern Ohio, where he dominated the market with his two ‘alter egos’, Sam and Serena, voices and personalities which he totally fabricated daily.
In Los Angeles, he was part of the original TranStar/UniStar team, at one time broadcasting American standards music to over 200 markets.
Whimsical and imaginative by nature, he created “Golf with Sam Snead,” which ran on both ABC and NBC networks in the 1960s.
He was also a man ahead of his time; he created and patented Quickie Golf, which is very similar to target golf today, and Frame Game, an interactive TV concept involving bowling that went to pilot years before today’s many interactive shows.
A resident of La Cañada since 1991, Healey largely involved himself in the life of St. George’s Episcopal Church, where he was a Eucharistic lay minister and a member of the vestry. La Cañada Unified School District youth may know him from presentations he made regularly to seventh grade speech class students.
Healey also loved entertaining dear friends at the piano and on the harmonica, and the fellowship of his monthly poker group. He was possibly the oldest person to be named Rookie of the Year by the La Cañada Kiwanis Club.
Jerry Healey is survived by his wife of 35 years, Judi, an educator with LCUSD, and their daughter Kathryn, a teacher for Conejo Valley Unified School District and for the summer school program of the Assistance League of La Cañada Flintridge.
He is also survived by his father-in-law, Ted Davis, and daughters Gale Hoert of Middleburg Heights, Ohio; Linda Evans of Macedonia, Ohio; and Jill Clarkson of Paradise, Calif. His grandchildren are David, Brian, Leah, Taylor, Justin, and U.S. Marine Sargent Vince Clarkson, plus great-granddaughter Cabrie Clarkson.
St. George’s Episcopal Church is located at 808 Foothill Blvd. A mimosa reception will follow the service on Sunday morning. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate contributions to St. George’s or the Salvation Army.