Bill Brundige, 89; Sportscaster for Southland Teams

Bill Brundige, a member of the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Hall of Fame and a fixture on Southland radio and television stations for three decades, has died. He was 89.

The former announcer died Friday of heart failure at St. Jude’s Hospital in Fullerton, said his son, Tim.

Brundige served as play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Angels baseball team, of the Pacific Coast League. He also worked with Bob Kelly on Los Angeles Ram broadcasts and Chick Hearn on Laker broadcasts. Twice he was awarded the Golden Mike as the top sports broadcaster in Southern California.

Born in Chattanooga, Tenn., Brundige served as West Coast sports director for the Armed Forces Radio Network during World War II and received the Helms Athletic Foundation award for his entertainment contributions to the men and women serving in the Pacific.

Later, Brundige was an announcer for baseball’s Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Senators, and football’s Detroit Lions. It was Phil Wrigley, owner of the Cubs, who brought Brundige to Southern California to broadcast games for the Angels, a minor league team that had the name long before Gene Autry purchased an American League expansion team that began play in 1961.

In addition to his broadcasting career, Brundige also made guest appearances on TV shows.

In 1964, Brundige founded an auto glass company in Orange County that bears his name. He retired after ending a broadcasting career of more than 40 years with a talk show on Anaheim’s KEZY.