Ray Christensen 1924 - 2017

TD-Tommy776 · Feb 7, 2017

WWII veteran and voice of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers has died at the age of 92.

For five decades, Ray Christensen’s impeccable voice painted pictures from Big Ten stadiums for generations of Gophers fans, while they raked leaves or cleaned their garage.

His radio calls from distant basketball arenas added a soundtrack for Minnesota families, as they ran errands, made hot dish and toted children to their own sporting events.

But when word came Monday that Christensen had died at age 92, former co-workers were just as quick to praise the quality of the man behind the microphone…

Born in 1924, Raymond P. Christensen graduated from Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis and was a charter member of that school’s Hall of Fame.

After serving in the Army during World War II, he graduated from the university in 1949. Two years later, he began calling Gophers football games for KUOM.

“Heading into that first game, I was very nervous but excited,” Christensen said in a 2004 interview with GopherHole.com. “My friends and family all listened to that first broadcast, and they told me I did a great job. They probably would have told me that regardless of how I did, though, but it was a lot of fun.”

Over the years, Christensen broadcast Twins baseball, Vikings football, Minneapolis Lakers basketball, and golf and hockey, as well as 510 Gophers football games in 50 years and 1,309 Gophers basketball games in 45 years...
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www.startribune.com/famed-wcco-sports-announcer-ray-christensen-dies-at-92

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Ray Christensen 1924 - 2017

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