Ray Christensen...Man, Were We Spoiled

Donate To GopherHole
C

Carlson 79

Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2008
Messages
251
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Hearing the pre-IU game "flashback" calls by Ray Christensen practically gives me goosebumps. What an incredible radio announcer he was...class, precision, and balance. We did not know just HOW good we had it with him doing the calls all those decades.
 

" We did not know just HOW good we had it with him doing the calls all those decades. "
I knew. The sound of the man's voice never failed to excite me.
 

I really wish we had Ray for football. Nothing like his voice for college athletics. Dave Lee is the absolute worst.
 

For those of us old enough to remember: Ray Christianson, the voice of Gopher Basketball. Julius Perralt, the voice of Williams Arena. How I wish the youngsters of today could have experienced BOTH. I did experience BOTH, and they were both outstanding.
 

Does anyone know if there are any recordings online for those of us youngin's who never experienced them?
 


However:
I am not so thrilled with him doing the Washburn McCreavy Funeral Home commercials as the official sponsor of the Golden Gophers. During the Monson years I had adjusted their the tag line: "Washburn McCreavy Funeral Homes and Golden Gopher basketball - both dead in the water!" and now I need to get that out of my head...
 

I still remember listening to games from the Behagen, Brewer era on my transistor radio and how Ray Christenson made them memorable!
 

How about Julie Perralt announcing at the MN State HS BB Tournament, a tall young man from Duluth Central, (or Duluth East) I believe....Como PONTLIAAAAAnnnnA
(Como Pontliana). Anyone else remember that????
 

Dr.Don said:
For those of us old enough to remember: Ray Christianson, the voice of Gopher Basketball. Julius Perralt, the voice of Williams Arena. How I wish the youngsters of today could have experienced BOTH. I did experience BOTH, and they were both outstanding.
Click to expand...

YOU GOT THAT RIGHT!
 



Carlson 79 said:
We did not know just HOW good we had it with him doing the calls all those decades.
Click to expand...

I think that is the key, Ray had been doing this since the mid 1950's, right?

Just think how long Ray had been in the booth before a lot of us here first heard him.
 


I'm only 20 and yet I have a couple of vivid memories of listening to Ray (obviously towards the end of his career) when the Gophs were on the road and I couldn't get to a TV. One of them was when Terry Jackson ran for all those yards at Michigan State.
 

Couple of related thoughts on this:
1) Ray was great. Even as a fan of the opposing team, it was always enjoyable to listen to him call a game.
2) I heard his interview regarding the his service in WWII during halftime of the Purdue game. What a great man!
3) Mike Grimm is really a good announcer for you guys on the hoops side. Unlike Dave Lee, he's great at describing the action; Lee either doesn't describe it or if he does, there is a good chance that his description won't be correct. One minute it is 2nd and 7, he says the pass was complete for 5 yards, and then he says it is fourth and 4. Also, unlike Lee, wthin a minute of listening to Grimm, you know the time and score. That, to me, is the most frustrating thing about Dave Lee.
 



BigTenaciousD said:
Check this out...a nice collection of basketball and football highlights as only Ray could present them. It gave me goosebumps.

http://www.pavekmuseum.org/christensen.mp3
Click to expand...


That's an excellent sampling. One thing about Ray, you could almost always tell how the Gophers were doing just by the sound of his voice. He was so passionate about the Gophers -- some would criticize by saying he was a "homer", but that's what made his broadcasts interesting and so entertaining.
 

As a child I remember the whole family sitting in the living room watching TV. My Dad would look at the time and go into the kitchen and turn on the radio. I would follow him and listen to the Gopher games on radio as described by Ray. My Dad loved listening to those games and I quickly learned to love them as well. The Gophers were terrible then but we loved listening to the games. Their best player was Eric Magdanz. Soon after Coach Kundla brought in Lou Hudson, Archie Clark and Don Yates. Listening to Ray got even better. My favorite game was listening to the Indiana game in 1997 as Ray described how Clem's Gophers came from 7 points down with 47 seconds left to beat Bobby Knight's Hoosiers. Wow!
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom