Whatever became of Toby Charles?

Ariel Mazzarelli

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May 28, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/28/96

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He used to do Bundesliga commentary on pbs@usa eons ago.

Ariel

Robert B. Freeborn

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May 28, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/28/96

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On 28 May 1996, Ariel Mazzarelli wrote:

> He used to do Bundesliga commentary on pbs@usa eons ago.
>

I too would be interested. It's because of Charles and the show
"Soccer...Made In Germany" that I became a fan of the world game (and
Borussia Moenchengladbach) while growing up in the desolate footie
wastelands of USA. Thank God ESPN wasn't around in the 70's. I would
have missed out. ;}

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* Robert B. Freeborn * Librarian (Cataloger) & Assist. Prof. *
* J.D. Williams Library * ulf...@cypress.mcsr.olemiss.edu *
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KRosicker

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May 29, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/29/96

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Ariel wrote:
>He used to do Bundesliga commentary on pbs@usa eons ago

I remember Toby Charles hosting a weekly highlight show for the Bundesliga
on ESPN about 5 or 6 years ago...similar to English League Highlights show
that is now on Prime Network.

I also heard him on shortwave radio once back in the late '80's. He was
doing an English language sport report for the DeutscheWelle network
giving some field hockey scores, of all things.

As for Soccer Made in Germany, I think Toby was the commentator until
about 1983 or 1984 on PBS, then the show was renamed "German Professional
Soccer" with an announcer whose name I believe was Alan Fountain. "German
Professional Soccer" was taken off most PBS stations by the mid-80's, if I
remember correctly.

It would be nice to hear Toby's (or even Alan Fountain's) voice for a few
MLS games...

Keith

Keith F. Rosicker Go Clash!
KRos...@aol.com
WFG...@prodigy.com
kros...@stmarys-ca.edu

Bruce Scott TOK

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May 29, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/29/96

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Ariel Mazzarelli (maz...@primenet.com) wrote:
: He used to do Bundesliga commentary on pbs@usa eons ago.

I'd like to know, too. He is a large part of the reason I became a
Bayern fan back in the 70s.

--
Mach's gut!
Bruce Scott The deadliest bullshit is
b...@ipp-garching.mpg.de odorless and transparent
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik -- W Gibson

Oliver Tse

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May 29, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/29/96

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maz...@primenet.com (Ariel Mazzarelli) writes:

>He used to do Bundesliga commentary on pbs@usa eons ago.

>Ariel

Several late-night Clarke Belt ornithologists tell me that Toby
Charles does German Bundesliga games and highlights for
Prime International in English. Spin your C-band dish over to
Satcom C1 channel 17 nightly at 10pm Pacific Time to catch those feeds
during the Houston-to-LA leg of the relay (the feeds go from Houston
to LA then to Sydney/Melbourne/Hong Kong/Auckland/Bangkok/etc. )

I have never see those feeds.

OT

Garry Archer

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May 29, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/29/96

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In article <4ofn7e$1...@nnrp1.news.primenet.com> maz...@primenet.com (Ariel Mazzarelli) writes:
>He used to do Bundesliga commentary on pbs@usa eons ago.
>
>Ariel

Excellent question! I too was a fan of "Soccer Made In Germany" when
I first came to the US in 1980. This PBS show was about my only source
of any football on the telly (and newspapers!) back then. It was the
first time I'd really seen any Bundesliga matches despite <mumble> years
of being a football-crazy fan. I particularly enjoyed watching their
coverage of International matches.

Thank God for Toby Charles! Without him or his show I would have been
totally lost without me footy!

Hey -- I subscribed to their magazine too! They used to come just a few
days before the match. It was like getting a real programme (the book
sort, not the telly sort). I still have all mine in a desk drawer at home!
I bet they're worth something now!

Cheers,

--
| Garry Archer Esq. arc...@hsi.com |
| |
=========| Gresley Rovers Football Club ("The Moatmen"), founded 1882 |=========

[Ken Gilbert

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May 30, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/30/96

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In article <Pine.SGI.3.93.96052...@sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu> "Robert B. Freeborn" <ulf...@sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu> writes:
>On 28 May 1996, Ariel Mazzarelli wrote:
>

>> He used to do Bundesliga commentary on pbs@usa eons ago.
>>
>

>I too would be interested. It's because of Charles and the show
>"Soccer...Made In Germany" that I became a fan of the world game (and
>Borussia Moenchengladbach) while growing up in the desolate footie
>wastelands of USA. Thank God ESPN wasn't around in the 70's. I would
>have missed out. ;}
>

I heard him doing sports on the English Service of Deutsche Welle, Germany's
external shortwave (and now TV) service, a few years back. It is possible that
he is retired, as I do not recall hearing him in the past few years. A check
of DW's web site might help. My guess is that "Soccer Made in Germany" was
part of Deutsche Welle (they also do "Schauplatz Deutschland", also seen on
PBS) and thus it was a natural for Charles. "Soccer Made in Germany" was also
done in other languages--I recall a "behind the scenes" show from 1978, which
showed the Spanish commentator commenting on Moenchengladbach-Braunschweig
(oddly enough, a game I had actually attended earlier in the year) as well
as their setup for doing games (games were done in the studio, not at the
field).

Cheers, Ken Gilbert
kgil...@cas.org
standard disclaimer here

Chris Klepacz

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May 30, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/30/96

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> maz...@primenet.com (Ariel Mazzarelli) writes:
>
> >He used to do Bundesliga commentary on pbs@usa eons ago.
>

> >Ariel
>

Hey, it wasn't *that* long ago! I used to love wathcing Soccer Made In
Germany on my local PBS station every Saturday, as well as the half-time
"News in and around West Germany" segment. It served to make me aware
that the game I was playing here in the US was truly a world sport. I
became acquainted with teams like 1 F.C. Koeln, Schalke, Borussia
Dortmund, and so forth.

Charles used to say things like, "He put it in the back of the net." and
"Look at that lovely Alsatian" (German shepard on the pitch track with a
guard). The guy is priceless!

Glad to hear from Oliver Tse that he is alive and well and still
covering the Bundesliga.

Chris

Pat Keenan

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May 30, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/30/96

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In article 10...@daytonoh.ncr.com, Chris Klepacz <chris....@daytonoh.ncr.com> () writes:
>
>Charles used to say things like, "He put it in the back of the net." and
>"Look at that lovely Alsatian" (German shepard on the pitch track with a
>guard). The guy is priceless!
>

>Chris

More Toby Charles sayings:

"High, wide and not too handsome"
"Look at him go"

Xtoclu

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May 30, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/30/96

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". . .Oooooooooohhh, and THAT wasn't-very-far off target!"

Here's to Toby.

cjh.

KRosicker

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May 31, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/31/96

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>Charles used to say things like, "He put it in the back of the net." and
>"Look at that lovely Alsatian" (German shepard on the pitch track with a
>guard). The guy is priceless!
>
>Chris

>>More Toby Charles sayings:

>>"High, wide and not too handsome"
>>"Look at him go"

And we must not forget: "He's here, there, and everywhere!" when
describing players like Paul Breitner and Bernd Duernberger.

or "Same old problems with the wall." whenever the referee had trouble
getting them 9 metres back.

and one of my favorites: "That's a foul by Augenthaler....AND the yellow
card for Augenthaler!.....That's his first one of the year, by the way.
Up to now, he's been a good boy!"

or when he would put words into a player's mouth: " 'That was close!' says
Wolfgang Kleff." when the Dusseldorf keeper saw the ball graze over the
crossbar.

I could go on for hours! :-)
-Keith

WILLIAM GAY

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May 31, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/31/96

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In article <4olnpg$k...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, Xtoclu <xto...@aol.com> wrote:
>". . .Oooooooooohhh, and THAT wasn't-very-far off target!"
>
>Here's to Toby.

Here here!

". . .Oooooooohhh, that wasn't a BAAAAAAD effort a'tall!!!"

-Will

Marc A. Valdivia

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May 31, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/31/96

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pke...@dtcs127.kodak.com (Pat Keenan ) writes:

>In article 10...@daytonoh.ncr.com, Chris Klepacz <chris....@daytonoh.ncr.com> () writes:
>>

>>Charles used to say things like, "He put it in the back of the net." and
>>"Look at that lovely Alsatian" (German shepard on the pitch track with a
>>guard). The guy is priceless!
>>
>>Chris

>More Toby Charles sayings:

>"High, wide and not too handsome"
>"Look at him go"

Another one was:
"That's six of one and half a dozen of another".