Field: Media Inducted: 1993 Country: United States Born: September 10, 1886
in New York, New York Died: July 10, 1979
Sam Taub was the sport of boxing’s
first blow-by-blow radio broadcaster,
announcing more than 7,000 matches
during his long career.
Taub became a radio announcer in
1924 following a successful newspaper
career. The actual date is unknown, but
Taub called the first U.S. radio broadcast
of a boxing match in the late 1920s. In 1937, he was the ringside
commentator
for the first commercially sponsored
series of boxing broadcasts, 18 weeks
from the New York Hippodrome, sponsored
by Adams Hats. The package
was promoted by Mike Jacobs and Nat
Fleischer, both of whom are also
IJSHOF honorees (see Boxing).
In 1938, Taub was at the microphone
for the first regularly televised bouts in
the United States, from Ridgewood
Grove, St. Nicholas Arena, and Jamaica,
all in New York. His blow-by-blow description
of the Max Baer versus Lou
Nova bout, on April 4, 1941, was the first
boxing telecast from Madison Square
Garden. He also hosted his own sports
show on New York radio for 24 years.
Taub was elected to the Boxing Hall
of Fame in 1978, and to the International
Boxing Hall of Fame in 1995.