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Broadcaster Bob Chase, a Negaunee native, dies at age 90

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — Bob Chase, a retired Fort Wayne radio broadcaster who was the longtime voice of the Fort Wayne Komets minor league hockey team, has died. He was 90.

Friend and biographer Blake Sebring says Chase died Nov. 24 at a Fort Wayne hospital.

Born Robert Donald Wallenstein in Negaunee, he played hockey as a child and attended Graveraet High School in Marquette.

Chase retired in 2009 after 56 years with WOWO radio, The News-Sentinel reported. He adopted his wife’s maiden name, Chase, when he joined WOWO in 1953 because the program manager thought Wallenstein was too long.

He joined the station not longer after graduating from Northern Michigan University, having started his broadcast career at radio station WDMJ in Marquette.

He was noted as a mentor to current NBC Sports hockey personality Mike “Doc” Emrick, who was among those who called the televised Kraft Hockeyville game at Marquette’s Lakeview Arena in October.

The Komets said in a statement Chase spent 63 seasons through last season calling games rink-side. General manager David Franke called Chase “a legend in every sense of the word.”

He enlisted with the U.S. Navy at age 17 during World War II, serving from 1943-47. He was a cryp12-2-orig-bob-chase-mugtographer during the war.

Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Murph, one daughter and three sons.

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