Lloyd Pettit, broadcaster, team owner, philanthropist
Hyfler/Rosner
DATELINE: MILWAUKEE
AP
Lloyd Pettit, an Emmy-winning sports broadcaster, team owner, philanthropist
and hockey lover, has died of natural causes. He was 76.
Pettit died Tuesday with family members around him at his Fox Point home.
He was already famous as a sports broadcaster when he married into the
wealthy Bradley family. He and his wife, Jane Bradley Pettit, bought the
Milwaukee Admirals minor league hockey team and built state-of-the-art
sports arenas in the area.
The couple also gave liberally to charitable and civic causes and became one
of Milwaukee's most famous couples. Their 29-year marriage ended in 1998 and
Jane Bradley Pettit died of lung cancer Sept. 9, 2001.
Born in Chicago in 1927, Lloyd Pettit moved as a child to the Milwaukee area
and graduated from Shorewood High School in 1944. He played basketball in
high school; the team captured the state title during his sophomore year,
when he was a reserve on the team.
He studied journalism and played football, baseball and basketball at
Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. He also served in the Navy during
World War II before graduating in 1950 with a bachelor's degree in radio and
television journalism.
He worked for a year at the old WMAW radio station in Milwaukee, then moved
to WTMJ in Milwaukee as a radio and television announcer for University of
Wisconsin football and basketball games, and an interviewer for the
Milwaukee Braves. He worked there six years.
Pettit joined WGN Continental Broadcasting in Chicago, where he had a
variety of sports and news assignments for radio and television.
But hockey was his real love.
He became heralded as the "Voice of the Chicago Blackhawks" and was awarded
an Emmy in 1966 from the Chicago chapter of the National Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences for his coverage of the Chicago Blackhawks'
away games during the 1965-'66 season.
Years later, Pettit remembered a harried life.
"It got so I didn't want to look at another suitcase or airplane. I'm
basically a homebody," he said.
Pettit covered the Blackhawks on radio for 18 years, finishing with WMAQ
radio.
"It's the most exciting team sport in the world," Pettit once said.
He landed in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1986 and he and wife Jane were
inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993.
The couple married in 1969 after meeting at the WTMJ studios in the 1950s -
she appeared in local TV commercials.
In 1976, the couple bought the Milwaukee Admirals. The Pettits were vocal
fans and could often be found in the early days in the first row behind the
Admirals' bench. For a time, the team was a farm club for the Blackhawks.
"It's a sad day for me personally, and, I think, for the entire community,"
said Phil Wittliff, Admirals executive vice president and general manager.
He said his admiration for Lloyd Pettit went back decades.
"He was the main force behind trying to get an NHL team until we realized
that it wasn't a proper business deal," Wittliff said.
In March 1985, the Pettits announced they would build - as a gift to
Milwaukee - a multimillion-dollar sports and entertainment complex that now
hosts the Milwaukee Bucks and Marquette Golden Eagles games.
The Bradley Center was forecast to cost $30 million to $40 million, but
ended up costing $71 million to build.
The couple also gave $2 million toward the $13.3 million Pettit National Ice
Center, an official U.S. training site for Olympic speed skating.
Pettit is survived by four children from his first marriage, a sister, and
eight grandchildren. Arrangements were pending.