The Sedalia School District Foundation Alumni Committee is proud to announce Bill Brown as the recipient of the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award.
Brown is a 1965 graduate of Smith-Cotton High School. During his time at Smith-Cotton he was president of his junior and senior class, a member of the band, Latin Club, Publicity Staff, Student Council, Archives staff and National Honor Society. At 18 years of age Brown landed his first broadcasting job at KDRO radio station covering the news and doing play-by-play for local high school sporting events. In 1969 he graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism. Brown served in the US Army as a sportscaster/broadcaster in the Armed Forces Vietnam Network in Saigon. After leaving the Army, he went to work at Cincinnati TV station WLWT. In 1976 he earned his first full-time major league broadcasting job as television play-by-play announcer for the World Champion Cincinnati Reds.
In February of 1987 Brown joined the Houston Astros, and for the next 30 seasons was their television broadcaster with play-by-play commentary. Inducted into the Astros Hall of Fame in 2023, his biography on the Astros’ Hall of Fame website reads, “For 30 wonderful seasons, Bill Brown served as the primary television voice of the Houston Astros. In that span, he became one of the most popular and well-respected broadcasters in all of baseball. His professionalism and knowledge of the game, along with his powerful voice and relentless preparation, made him one of the top play-by-play men of his generation. Fans grew to appreciate his love and respect for the game and his in-depth knowledge of the Astros players as well as their opponent. Nobody was more prepared to broadcast a game than Bill Brown.”