Tony Schiavone
history|weight= |birth_date=Born in 1957 per Intelius check of "Noah A. Schiavone" giving age of 50 as of June 29. 2008 |birth_place =Craigsville, Virginia |debut=1983 |retired=2003 |}}
Noah Anthony "Tony" Schiavone (born on November 7, 1957) (pronounced "sha-VAHN-ee") is an American sports broadcaster. He is the play-by-play broadcaster for the Gwinnett Braves of the International League. He has been a sports radio host and a professional wrestling announcer known for his work in the National Wrestling Alliance, World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling.
Career
Early life and career
Schiavone attended James Madison University in Virginia and served in a play-by-play role for the school's women's college basketball team before starting his radio and television career calling high school football and basketball games in the Southeast. He also worked five years in minor league baseball with the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles' minor league franchises in the mid-Atlantic, most notably the Charlotte O's, which was partly owned by Jim Crockett, Jr.
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
While affiliated with the Charlotte O's, he began as a wrestling announcer with another Crockett venture, Jim Crockett Promotions, (the precursor to World Championship Wrestling or WCW) in the early 1980s. When Jim Crockett Promotions got national television exposure on TBS Superstation in 1985, he was a regular host of the wrestling program. He worked alongside David Crockett in the announce booth, playing more of a straight color commentator, while Crockett did the play-by-play. Schiavone would also interview wrestlers about upcoming house show matches they would have.
World Wrestling Federation
He was signed by Vince McMahon's WWF for a stint in 1989 and early 1990, but soon returned to WCW, the former Crockett promotion by then owned by media mogul Ted Turner. In 2003, there were rumors that Schiavone would be brought in to the WWE to replace Jim Ross as co-host of RAW. This idea was apparently nixed by WWE producer Kevin Dunn.
World Championship Wrestling
Schiavone became the lead voice for WCW's flagship program, Monday Nitro. He also served as the lead announcer of Thunder, typically working alongside "The Professor" Mike Tenay, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, "The Living Legend" Larry Zbyszko, and later with Mark Madden. Before the advent of Nitro and Thunder, Schiavone hosted WCW Saturday Night and WCW WorldWide. He made an appearance in the movie Ready to Rumble. When WCW's main assets were bought by the World Wrestling Federation in 2001, Schiavone left.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
In 2003, Schiavone made an appearance on NWA TNA during one of their weekly pay-per-views where he cut a worked shoot promo on Percy Pringle and Mike Tenay.
Back to the Diamond
Schiavone now is in the extremely rare position of being the morning sports anchor for both WDUN in Gainesville and WSB-AM in Atlanta simultaneously, even though the two stations have different owners (WDUN has a partnership with Cox Communications, which owns WSB-TV and WSB-AM. WSB-TV's weather staffers broadcast weather on WSB-AM). Schiavone also does morning sports reports for WHIO-AM and WHIO-FM in Dayton, Ohio. Additionally, Schiavone is a writer for the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network and produced the Best of the Bulldogs, which won the AP Award for Best Sports Program in 2004. Schiavone owns his own radio production company, Blind Dog Sports.
After a few years of work with the Braves system including pre-game and post-game radio coverage, and also spot duty as an official scorer for games, Schiavone returned to play-by-play duties on radio when the Gwinnett Braves began their first season in Lawrenceville, Georgia as Atlanta's AAA-level affiliate for the 2009-10 season.
Georgia Bulldogs Football Radio Show
Along with being a writer for the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network, Schiavone also works one of the post game game talk show's on the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network for home and away games alongside former University of Georgia quarterback David Greene »http://wsbradio.com/inside/tony_schiavone.html.
Criticism
A famous incident, aired on the same night as WCW's "Fingerpoke of Doom" episode, had him, on air, criticizing the rival WWF Raw Is War's pre-taped program and their decision to award the WWF Championship to Mick Foley, sarcastically adding "That'll put a lot of butts in seats". This remark greatly upset Foley, who would later receive a phone call from Schiavone, apologizing and explaining that his comments were by order of WCW President Eric Bischoff.
In an RF Video Shoot interview, Schiavone was criticized by Bobby Heenan who claimed that Schiavone would allegedly hide finishes and angles from him and Mike Tenay during broadcasts, claiming Schiavone's key to life is "knowledge is power". This was an opinion shared by long-time wrestling broadcaster "Mean Gene" Okerlund who claimed that, while he liked Schiavone and did not have many problems with him, "Tony was the consummate politician" and "Tony watched out for Tony and in doing so, had a tendency to bury people along the way".