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The city of Columbus, Mississippi, will be celebrating next week the one- hundredth anniversary of the birth of Walter “Red” Barber in the place of his birth, Columbus.

The University of Florida is proud of Red, also. He hitchhiked up to Gainesville from Sanford, Florida, in 1931 with the goal of getting a degree in education. At that time, radio station WRUF-AM was only three years old. It had been established by the state Legislature in 1928 to provide the largely rural area of north Florida with agricultural information.

Red Barber was working his way through the university as a janitor. By chance, he was asked by an agriculture professor to read a scholarly paper over the air on the subject of bovine obstetrics. That one broadcast did it. Barber was hooked on broadcasting. He began working full time for WRUF, and his duties included announcing Gator football and baseball games.

With that experience under his belt, Red got a job doing play-by-play for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team. He was only 24 years old. His later career included announcing baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees. He introduced into everyday American English phrases like “tearing up the pea patch,” “walking in the tall cotton,” and the word “rhubarb” for any kind of on-field dispute.

Because Red was such a famous baseball personality, many do not know that his range of knowledge included all sports, not just baseball.

In his later years, he appeared on National Public Radio’s morning program to discuss the entire spectrum of collegiate and professional sports with the show’s host, Bob Edwards.

When Red began broadcasting for Cincinnati, it was unheard of for an announcer with a Southern accent to do play-by-play in the major leagues. He became so popular that he opened a path for other Southern announcers, like Mel Allen, Ernie Harwell, Russ Hodges and Connie Desmond. All credited Red’s success with making theirs possible, also.

In this centennial year of Red’s birth, it’s commendatory that Columbus is noting their native son’s achievement. We are equally proud that Red got his start in broadcasting at the University of Florida. We awarded him an honorary degree in his lifetime. And the WRUF newsroom, established 80 years ago this year, is named for Red Barber. Red has been and always will be an inspiration for our young broadcasting students who know, because of Red Barber’s example, that they, too, can make it in the big leagues.