Frank Glieber


Frank John Glieber was an American sportscaster.

Early life and career

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Glieber was the oldest child of immigrants—John, a native of Austria, and Mary, a native of Germany. He attended Northwestern University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1956, then moved to the Dallas area and began his career broadcasting local sports events on area radio stations in the 1950s. In 1965, he moved to Cleveland to become sports director at WJW-TV. In 1966 and 1967, he also handled the play-by-play for the CBS broadcasts of the Cleveland Browns' NFL games, with Warren Lahr doing the color commentary.
In 1968, he returned to Dallas. As sports director of KRLD radio, Glieber called play-by-play of local college basketball and minor league baseball teams and served as a color commentator on Dallas Cowboys broadcasts. From 1978–80, he was a television announcer for the Texas Rangers. Glieber was named Texas Sportscaster of the Year seven times.

CBS Sports

In 1963, Glieber began a long career with CBS television. Over the next two decades he would broadcast a variety of events for the network including NFL football, NBA and NCAA basketball, professional bowling, tennis, NASL soccer, and golf. Glieber continued to broadcast local Dallas area sports events during his time at CBS, working as many as sixteen hours a day. He was also a commentator for the World Series of Poker.

Death

At age 51 in 1985, Glieber collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack while jogging at the Ken Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas. He was survived by his fourth wife, Kathy, and his five children, Jon, Lynne, Robin, Craig, and Mitchell.
Tom Brookshier, who previously served as Pat Summerall's color commentator prior to John Madden, replaced Glieber in the NFL on CBS broadcast booth. Glieber's last assignment for CBS Sports was Game 1 of the 1985 NBA Playoff series between Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers. Glieber called the game alongside James Brown. Before his death, Glieber was also assigned to call Game 4 of the Portland–Los Angeles series, but was ultimately replaced by Verne Lundquist.