John Francis Buck (August 21, 1924 – June 18, 2002) was an American sportscaster, best known for his work announcing Major League Baseball games of the St. Louis Cardinals.

His play-by-play work earned him recognition (or induction in some cases) from numerous halls of fame (Baseball, Pro Football, and Radio).

[3] Part of his childhood coincided with the Great Depression, and Buck remembered his family sometimes using a metal slug to keep a coin-operated gas meter going during the winter to provide heat for their home.

In addition to his work with the Cardinals, Buck also earned assignments on many national sportscasts, including radio coverage of 18 Super Bowls and 11 World Series.

[15] Declining to re-enlist, and turning down requests to enroll in the Officers Training School, Buck joined his compatriots in guard duty of German prisoners of war.

He spent the 1953 season as voice of another AAA Cardinals affiliate, the International League Rochester Red Wings on WHEC radio.

Buck started broadcasting Cardinals games for KMOX radio in 1954, teaming with Harry Caray, Milo Hamilton (1954), and Joe Garagiola (from 1955).

Buck was dropped from the Cardinals booth in 1959 to make room for Buddy Blattner; the following year, he called Saturday Game of the Week telecasts for ABC.

[21] Buck can be heard calling a (fictional) 1964 Cardinals broadcast in the 1988 film Mississippi Burning,[22] and makes a cameo appearance in a 1998 episode of the television series Arliss.

After the network moved away from dedicated team announcers, Buck continued to call regional NFL action through 1974, as well as several NFC Championship Games and Super Bowl IV.

In 1975, Buck temporarily left his Cardinals baseball duties in order to host the NBC pregame show, GrandStand, alongside Bryant Gumbel.

On August 16, 1976, Buck called the first-ever NFL game played outside of the United States, a preseason exhibition between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Chargers held at Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.

In addition to MNF, Buck called numerous playoff games for CBS Radio, including 17 Super Bowls (the most of any announcer).

Buck also served as a local radio broadcaster for the football Cardinals in 1980 and 1981, and returned to calling Sunday NFL games for CBS television from 1982 to 1987.

Late in the 1990 NFL season, Buck's onetime CBS broadcasting partner, Pat Summerall, was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer after vomiting on a plane during a flight after a game, and was out for a considerable amount of time.

While Verne Lundquist replaced Summerall on games with lead analyst John Madden, Buck (who was at the time the network's lead Major League Baseball announcer) filled in for Lundquist, teaming with Dan Fouts to call two games (both of which coincidentally featured the Cardinals, who had moved from St. Louis to Arizona by that time).

Buck was paired with Jay Randolph and Gus Kyle on Blues broadcasts and covered the 1968 Stanley Cup Finals for KMOX radio.

Buck also broadcast for the St. Louis Hawks and Rochester Royals of the National Basketball Association, and called professional wrestling, boxing, and bowling at various times in his career.

This occurred as Roger Maris[26][27] was poised to tie and subsequently break Babe Ruth's regular season home run record of 60.

Buck, along with his CBS Radio colleagues Johnny Bench and John Rooney, was on hand at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on October 17, 1989, when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit.

Originally assigned to the network's #2 crew (and therefore, work with Jim Kaat), he was promoted at practically the last minute after Brent Musburger[28] was fired on April Fools' Day of 1990.

[32] Buck made controversial statements about singer Bobby Vinton prior to Game 4 of the 1990 National League Championship Series.

Health concerns played a factor in this, as Buck suffered from such ailments as Parkinson's disease, diabetes, requiring a pacemaker, cataracts, sciatica, and vertigo.

[34] In the final years of his life, Buck became recognized for writing poetry, culminating in national attention for his poem "For America", written after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Sick with lung cancer and also showing the signs of Parkinson's disease, Buck looked frail and struggled to maintain his composure.

He had stayed in the hospital since January 3 of that year to undergo treatment for lung cancer, Parkinson's disease, and to correct an intestinal blockage.

The flags at St. Louis City Hall and the St. Louis County Government Center were lowered to half-staff, the local television news anchors all wore black suits for the next several days, and a public visitation was held in the stadium before the next baseball game after his death, with free admission to the game for all the mourners who filed past his coffin.

Hagin, who went on to the New York Mets after his stint in St. Louis, moved over to television, and his spot was filled by one of Buck's protégés, former Chicago White Sox announcer John Rooney.

The pair bookended a 50-year championship drought for the Kansas City Chiefs, with Joe announcing the team's victory in Super Bowl LIV.

[42] The Jack Buck Award, presented by the Missouri Athletic Club "in recognition of the enthusiastic and dedicated support of sports in St. Louis", is named in his honor.