Sam Balter papers, circa 1930s-circa 1970s (bulk 1943-1964), bulk 1943-1964

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Summary

Creators:
Balter, Sam (1909-)
Abstract:
Sam Balter was a sportscaster, hosting One for the Book feature sports commentary on the Mutual Network and sports columnist for the Los Angeles Herald-Express. The collection consists of materials related to Sam Balter's career, including scripts from his KLAC radio sports program One for the Book and clippings of his newspaper sports column, One for the Book, written for the Los Angeles Herald Express. Also included is correspondence from listeners and readers and a small amount of ephemera, books, sports-related wire service and newspaper clippings, and audio recordings.
Extent:
10.4 linear feet (15 boxes, 1 shoe box, 2 cartons, and 3 flat boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Sam Balter Papers (Collection 2266). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of materials related to the career of broadcaster and newspaper columnist Sam Balter. Included are scripts from his KLAC radio sports program One for the Book as well as clippings of his newspaper sports column, One for the Book, written for the Los Angeles Herald-Express. Also included is correspondence from listeners and readers and a small amount of writings by Balter (outside of his radio and newspaper columns), ephemera, books, sports-related wire service and newspaper clippings, and audio recordings. The bulk of correspondence documents Balter's work as a news commentator for KFWB and KFI radio stations during the mid-1940s. Additionally, there is a small amount of correspondence with clippings regarding the Pacific Coast Conference's probation and penalties imposed on UCLA's athletic program in 1956. Most of the ephemera, books, newspaper clippings, and audio recordings are sports related.

Notably absent from the collection are materials related to Balter's participation in the 1936 Berlin Olympics as a member of the first U.S. basketball team and material representing his play-by-play radio and television sports broadcasting.

Biographical / historical:

Sam Balter was born October 15, 1909 in Detroit, Michigan. He was selected as a UCLA all-American basketball player (1929) and was chosen for first U.S. Olympic Basketball Team, which won the gold medal in 1936. He was the only Jewish American gold medalist at Games in Berlin. In 1938, he broadcast the first U.S. coast-to-coast radio sports commentary on the Mutual Network. During World War II, he worked as a broadcaster for the Los Angeles-based KFWB and KFI. He broadcast play-by-play for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team (1942), was known as the voice of the UCLA Bruins football and basketball radiocasts (1945-1952), and was an announcer for baseball Pacific Coast League Hollywood Stars and Los Angeles Angels, and the Los Angeles Stars of the American Basketball Association.

From 1946 to 1962 he was sports director for KLAC and roughly during the same time he broadcast a weekly One for the Book radio feature that covered a wide range of sports. From 1955-1962, Balter published a daily One for the Book newspaper column for the Los Angeles Herald-Express, and in 1955 published the book, One for the Book of Sports with co-author Cy Rice. He was the recipient of numerous professional honors, among them Variety's Top Sportscaster in the Country (1953). He was also elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame (1970), the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (1994), the Southern California Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and UCLA Athlete Hall of Fame. Sam Balter died August 8, 1998.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Sam and Mildred Balter, 1994
Processing information:

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Problematic Content and Description in UCLA's Library Collections and Archives.

Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  • Series 1. One for the Book
  • Series 2. Correspondence
  • Series 3. Writings by Balter
  • Series 4. Sports Ephemera and Publications
  • Series 5. Books and Record Albums.

Physical / technical requirements:

COLLECTION CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains processed audiovisual materials. All requests to access digital materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Physical location:
Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Sam Balter Papers (Collection 2266). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Website