causes he cares about, particularly those involving children.” Renfrow
is proud that Crippen has helped raise over $440,000 during the
Charity Works’ annual Monopoly Night fundraising tournaments in
the past five years. Dick and Penny were honorary co-chairs of the
2011 Monopoly Night.
Dick is well known to the readers of Tampa Bay Magazine for his
provocative columns in the magazine and as the former sports anchor
for Channels 10 and 8. Since 2000, he’s been senior advisor for the
Tampa Bay Rays. Dick says, “I’m sort of the team ambassador, and
you can see me at Tropicana Field before most home games talking
with fans.” Having worked on local television during its Golden Age,
Dick signed off at Channel 8 on New Year’s Eve 1999. He recalls, “The
last show I did for Channel 8 was at 6 p.m., and I spent the rest of
the weekend celebrating the Millennium. I then joined the Rays that
Monday morning.” Dick’s career has taken several amazing
twists and turns since he grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey. He went
to school in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins as a pre-med student before
heading to New York City, and finally moved to the Tampa Bay area.
In the “Big Apple,” he began his career working for the J. Walter
Thompson advertising agency for a year before becoming a page at
NBC, where he worked on some of their top shows. Dick also played
the saxophone professionally on the side during many of those years.
“We did dances, weddings and all kind of events,” he says, “but that’s
another story.”His life took a major turn when Dick got an urge to
return to college and applied to the University of Tampa. Since the
school had an FM station on campus, they valued his radio knowledge
and experience and offered him a partial scholarship to the school in
exchange for running their station. Then, in 1962, three weeks after
arriving here, Dick landed a position at WDAE.
Dick, a member of the advisory board of Charity Works,
enjoyed Monopoly Night, the organization’s unique
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Penny Crippen congratulated her husband Dick fundraiser, with Penny.
on his receiving the Community Volunteer Award
Soon thereafter, Dick learned that Channel 8 (WFLA) needed a
booth announcer. After securing that position that had him blaring
“WFLA, Channel 8” every half-hour, he studied to become a weatherman.
His career was in full bloom when WLCY-TV (Channel 10)
went on the air in 1965, he made the move to that channel as its booth
announcer and weatherman. Before long, because of his interest in
sports, they offered him a $5 a week raise to do sports, as well.
Then, after 16 years at Channel 10, Dick moved back to Channel 8
as its sports director in 1981, a position he held until signing off at the
end of 1999. Throughout his career, his talent was sought by numerous
other broadcasting organizations during his spare time.
“On weekends, I traveled all over the country, reporting on such
things as hydroplane racing on ESPN, NASCAR motor racing, 12 hours
of Sebring auto racing, fishing tournaments, and many other things.
You name it, I did it!” says Dick. He was named Florida Sportscaster of
the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
four times and has been recognized as one of Tampa Bay’s best known
personalities for both his professional work and his contributions to
charitable groups and their causes.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Dick and Penny Crippen were married in 1966 after
working together at Channel 10. They have two children, Kevin and Wendy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Hal Bodley, dean of American baseball writers,
is senior correspondent for MLB.com. He has been covering Major League
Baseball since 1958 and was USA TODAY baseball editor/columnist for
25 years before retiring in 2007. His latest book, How Baseball Explains
America, was published by Triumph in May, 2014.
at the 2011 PARC Circle of Friends event.
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 77