Michelangelo Ramunni

1,000+ PKA BROADCAST HOURS LATER! A 24 – HOUR PER DAY SPORTS NETWORK!?? It was just 47 years ago tonight, September 7, 1979 that ESPN went on the air for the very first time. That was Bristol Connecticut. Meanwhile, in Orlando, Florida, Don the Dragon Wilson climbed into the PKA ring with North Carolina’s Jimmy Horsley. They were fighting for the US middleweight title And with that memory fresh in mind, we wish ESPN a very happy 47th anniversary, remembering how everybody was saying on that night, a 24 hour sports network? Really? Are you kidding? It’ll never make it! Well, as we all know, it made it and it made it big time. There were so many good men and good women who made our 1000+ hours on ESPN a true blessing, from our current PKA Vice Chairman Bob Gutkowski – – who was for three years the vice president of programming there and later went on to become the president of Madison Square Garden to Bill Imboden, our good friend who directed shows for the first two years on our behalf, and Larry Black who helped us kick off the first two seasons and Atlanta’s ABC network station Art Eckman, who came on board as play-by-play and Brad Nessler for four decades now calling college sports for CBS and so many more. And Don Willis who coordinated so many of the major events and trained other coordinators and other judges in order to make everything run like clockwork and along with his and our good friend Glenn Keeney bring a touch of Class to everything they touched. And John Worley who came on board and did a great job doing the analysis on ESPN and the dozens of incredible fighters who made our programming on ESPN always among the top three rated programs in primetime, and on many weeks we were the primetime ratings winner for the week. I would love to see our fans and friends list your favorite fighters in the comments area below, knowing that you will start with our VIP International Goodwill Ambassador PKA Bill Superfoot Wallace, our president of spoBruce Brutschy JKeith Vitalind you will mention the Iceman Jean Yves Theriault and Pat Worley, you will show your appreciation for the Golden Boy Jerry Trimble, Bob Thunder Thurman, Bad Brad Hefton, Big John Jackson, Jerry Rhome, Jerry the Sting Clarke, Bruce Brutschy, Keith Vitali, and dozens and dozens more —to be listed tomorrow. Stay tuned as we celebrate all this week the 1000 hours plus of star building on ESPN.