Jack Horner

Who was Jack Horner?

Gordon John "Jack" Horner was a noted sports journalist who worked in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market of Minnesota. He participated in the first modern television broadcasts of KSTP-TV channel 5, appearing on the first fully electronic telecast in the state on December 7, 1947. When the station began regular broadcasts in April 1948, he provided play-by-play for a televised baseball game between the Minneapolis Millers and a team from Louisville. Jack Horner also broadcast the first live televised game of the Harlem Globetrotters and provided one of the last interviews of Babe Ruth.

Horner began his career in radio, starting at KGFK in Moorhead, Minnesota in 1935. He worked at several stations in Iowa, Wisconsin, and North Dakota before moving to Saint Paul to work at KSTP in 1944. After working at KSTP for a decade, he moved on to KEYD channel 9 as that station was beginning operations. By the 1960s, he was working for WTCN. Throughout his career, he was known as "Mr. Sports" and added colorful commentary to all of his work.

He largely retired from broadcasting in the late 1960s, spending time working for the local Chamber of Commerce and the March of Dimes. He retired from that work in 1977, but continued to periodically do announcing and voice-over work. Horner enjoyed being able to provide services for the blind. He has been honored by local media organizations, most recently by the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting in 2001.