For years, Chuck Dowdle was the homegrown face of local sports television in Atlanta.
Born at Crawford Long Hospital, he went to Briarcliff High, then the University of Georgia and Georgia State. While he was in college he worked for the Braves on their grounds crew at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
But in 1995 when the Braves brought home their first world title, Dowdle no longer had a rake in his hand but a microphone, and as the sports director for Channel 2 Action News, he was right in the middle of the team’s celebration after the Game 6 win in the World Series over Cleveland.
“I did the same thing the year before in Minnesota, but I think I had it set up with Mark Lemke where he came and talked to me right after the game,’’ Dowdle said. “I didn’t want to be in a situation where I didn’t have anyone to talk to. I remember it working out very well.’’
Today, Dowdle is retired but still can be heard on Saturdays as the sideline reporter on the University of Georgia football radio broadcast as well as a weekly Bulldogs segment on 680 The Fan.
Q: What do you remember about being on the grounds crew?
A: Well, the head groundskeeper was a guy named Robert Johnson, and we worked for a guy in the front office named John Riddle who had a brother (Buck) that was a great player for the Atlanta Crackers. Things were different back then, and so were baseball fields. Let's just say we were always busy.
Q: In the 1995 postseason you mentioned you had very few hours off. Did you every sleep?
A: I can't remember. It was crazy like the years before. In fact from that stretch that started in 1991 for quite a few years, it just never seemed to end. I remember being in a truck outside the park in 1991 in Cleveland for hours feeding stories back to Atlanta. It was all Braves back then.
Q: Where were you for the final out in 1995?
A: I was standing in the tunnel down the right-field line. I was just ready to head down the line and to the celebration and get their as fast as the skinny legs could take me.
Q: What was the atmosphere like?
A: It was so surreal. The look on everyone's faces was a little of disbelief. We had never been in this situation before and I remember just looking at the faces of Ted Turner, John Schuerholz and Stan Kasten. Even all of us, the media, couldn't believe it. There was no way to be objective.
