For Scully, Two Months Became 45 Years

John Scully will call his last race today, closing day at Fairmount Park, the small Illinois racetrack just over the Mississippi River from St. Louis. He estimates that between Fairmount and the now defunct Cahokia Downs, he's called about 70,000 races. The thing is, it was supposed to be about 700.

Scully is the accidental announcer, simply a racing fan who stepped up and agreed to fill in for Dave Johnson at Fairmount in 1971 during the 2 1/2-month stretch Johnson went to call at Hialeah. Scully called his first races some 45 years ago thinking he'd soon be back at his job as a contract compliance officer for the City of St. Louis. He never did go back to that job, nor did he ever put down the microphone.

Calling at small tracks in Illinois, Scully never received any acclaim and even hardcore racing fans may have never heard of him or listened to any of his race calls. Yet, when he officially retires today he will have ended a memorable career, one that is a testament to longevity, but perhaps more so to serendipity.

Scully was attending the harness races at Fairmount one night in the late Sixties when he found what he thought was a mistake in the past performance lines of a horse and went up to the press box looking for the judges to ask for a clarification. Instead, he ran into Johnson, who agreed not only to look into the situation for him but would take him under his wing. That chance encounter started a lifelong friendship between the two and launched Scully's announcing career.

“When Dave took over at Fairmount, I was listening to the best announcer in the country,” Scully said. “That's all I'm hearing the whole time because there wasn't much on TV back then. So how lucky can I be, and then to have him train me? I had his calls as a guide. I didn't copy it, but I knew accuracy was the big thing.”

When Johnson was offered the job to call at Hialeah in 1971, he jumped at the opportunity, figuring he would return to Fairmount and Cahokia once the meet ended. He needed someone to fill in for him and asked Scully to take the mic for those couple of months.

“I was happy to fill in for him,” Scully said. “I didn't think it would lead anywhere. I thought he'd be gone for 2 ½ months and would be back. It was just really more to help him out and help out the track. He knew he could trust me and that I wouldn't try to put a knife in his back while he was gone.”

Johnson never did come back. He was offered the job of the backup announcer to Fred Capposella at the NYRA tracks and chose to head to New York right after Hialeah closed. Johnson went on to become a star in his profession and, during his career, the most recognizable voice in the game. And Scully's temporary job turned into one of the longest runs in racetrack history.

“John was an excellent worker and dependable and I was delighted to train and recommend him to fill in for me for the time I was going to be at Hialeah,” Johnson said. “Looking back now, who would have guessed what would have been the results of that decision on my part to go to Hialeah and John learning to call races. Life is amazing.”

That Johnson went on to great fame and Scully spent his career in relative obscurity doesn't bother him one bit. In fact, he's glad it worked out the way he did.

When NYRA began winter racing at Aqueduct in 1974, Johnson had to give up his Hialeah job and he recommended to track owner Eugene Mori that he hire Scully as his replacement. Mori agreed and offered Scully the job, which very well could have led to his following in the path of other stars that came out of Hialeah, like Johnson and Tom Durkin. Scully turned Mori down.

“The more I got to thinking about it, the job was just for 2 1/2 months and there was no guarantee of anything else,” Scully said. “I was definitely afraid they would not take me back at Fairmount and that they would hire someone else. Plus, the money wasn't all that much better and since you had to move away I probably would have been losing money on the deal. Of course, it would have given me a chance to move up and move on to other tracks, but that wasn't on my agenda.”

Scully was comfortable at Fairmount and in the St. Louis area. His friends and family all lived there and he was dating a young woman named Lois, now his wife of 42 years.

“St. Louis is my home and my family and friends were important to me,” he said. “Back then, with most announcers, you're bouncing around from one city to another. You'd have a 70-day meet, then have to go somewhere else. Here, it was year-round because we used to have the harness racing. It worked out great for me.”

Scully would leave Fairmount, but only briefly. He took the job at Darby Downs, also known as Beulah Park, in 1983 but was back at Fairmount less than two years later. The track was bought by a new ownership team and he had no idea if he would be rehired, plus, just as he had predicted when turning down the Hialeah job, he missed St. Louis. He actually traded jobs with his replacement at Fairmount, Don Alexander, who agreed to take over at Darby Downs.

Scully says he still enjoys his job and believes his calls are still top-notch, but realizes it's time to move on. He likes to travel and one of his hobbies is visiting other racetracks, and having a summer job made that difficult. Another passion is birdwatching, which will help fill his days during retirement.

As for what he believes the experience will be like when he puts his binoculars down today after the last horse crosses the wire: “It will be somewhat sad,” Scully said. “I still think I call well. And I still like calling, but it is time to call it a day. It really is.”