Vince Bagli, a legendary Baltimore sportscaster who died Oct. 6 at 93, is being remembered by friends and fans alike as a supremely kind person whose down-to-earth on-air presence didn’t go away when the cameras went off.
“There was nothing pretentious about him,” said Father Christopher Whatley, pastor of St. Mark in Catonsville, who got to know Bagli more than 50 years ago through mutual acquaintances. “He loved his sports. He loved his family.”
Father Whatley, who sometimes watched sports at Bagli’s house or went to dinner with him, said Bagli’s faith meant much to him in many ways.
“A great element in his life was his Catholic faith in that whatever he did, he wanted to make sure that he was doing it in the name of Christ,” said Father Whatley, who has served as Catholic chaplain of the Baltimore Ravens. “(He was) just a gracious, gracious gentleman. He never separated himself from the community.”
Bagli grew up in St. Dominic Parish in Baltimore and graduated from Loyola Blakefield in Towson and what is now Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore.
A 1983 profile of Bagli in the Catholic Review noted that he was 10 when he began simulating baseball broadcasts while “covering” sandlot games in which he was a participant. While a senior in college, he built what was to be his on-air following while he broadcast Loyola’s games in a national basketball tournament by creating the action from Western Union reports.
Bagli, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1945 to 1947, wrote for Loyola’s college newspaper and the Baltimore News American. He later became a sportscaster at WBAL-TV, but also was a longtime radio broadcaster for Colts’ games with Chuck Thompson.
Bagli told the Catholic Review in 1983 that he never aspired to become a national network broadcaster.
“Being a local product, I always wanted to work in the city I grew up in,” said Bagli, who was then a parishioner of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland and would later join St. John in Westminster. “I’m happy I made that decision.”
Mark Viviano, a sportscaster at WJZ-TV, remembered the many times he talked sports with Bagli.
“We may all bring our own different styles to the job, but it was his manner of interacting and treating people that is the universal standard Vince set,” Viviano said. “It’s what I’ll always remember about him. He loved sports, but it was his passion for people that made him stand out. He showed interest in everyone he met. If you sat down with him for any period of time he’d ask questions about your life and background, like it was an interview, and he truly wanted to learn about each person he met.”
Pete Gilbert, a sportscaster at WBAL-TV, said in a statement from Loyola University Maryland that he learned much from Bagli at different points in his life.
“He said to let your personality come through, and if you’ve done the homework, it will all come together,” Gilbert said. “He was one of the truly warm, kind and thoughtful people. He listened and wanted to hear your memory about the Baltimore Colts or about a story he did at WBAL. It wasn’t about him, but he wanted to hear about you.”
Bagli was one of the first TV broadcasters to do a high school report, something that proved rather popular.
“Vince Bagli was a legend around Baltimore sports,” said Charley Toomey, Loyola’s head men’s lacrosse coach, in a written statement. “He did the MSA (Maryland Scholastic Association, now the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association) report when I played at Boys’ Latin, and you would rush home to maybe see your team on television. His voice was so memorable around (Baltimore) Colts games. If you heard his voice in the other room, you knew that something big was going on.”
Bagli, who retired in 1995, was awarded the Archdiocesan Medal of Honor for Communications in 1992. He earned the Alumni Laureate Award from Loyola College in 1971, given by the college’s alumni association for superior devotion to his profession and the community. Bagli also received Loyola’s Carroll Medal in 1986, recognizing decades of service to the school and acknowledged the correlation between his actions and how they embody the ideals of Jesuit education.
Gilbert noted that when Bagli was working, there was no social media or the internet.
“You watched the local sports broadcast to get your information about what was happening,” Gilbert said. “His reach was so great that I do not know if it can ever be repeated in this area.”
A visitation will be held Oct. 12 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Pritts Funeral Home and Chapel in Westminster, where there will be social-distancing requirements, mandated face coverings and a 75 percent capacity limit because of the coronavirus pandemic.
An 11:30 a.m. funeral Mass will be offered Oct. 13 at St. John in Westminster.
George Matysek Jr. contributed to this article.
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