Chet Coppock, 'Godfather' Of Sports Talk Radio, Dies

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC — Chester W. Coppock, a Chicago sports figure known as the "Godfather of Chicago Sports Talk Radio," has died. He was 70.

Coppock was a passenger involved in a car crash near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, on April 11 and died on Thursday from injuries sustained in the crash, Robert Feder reports.

Coppock's career in Chicago sports media spanned more than a half-century. Feder described him as "a flamboyant showman on television and radio" in his Friday morning column announcing the famed sportscaster's death.

A 1966 graduate of New Trier High School on the North Shore, Coppock later recalled his time at the Winnetka institution among the highlights of his career in a 2015 interview with Patch. He called New Trier the "Maserati" of high schools.

"Thinking of New Trier really helped personalize things," Coppock said about his thoughts the night he was inducted into the Chicago Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.

"I remember thinking that night that it all began with WNTH (New Trier's student radio station)," he said. "I knew from the time I was 9 years old that I wanted to be a sportscaster. But if I hadn't been with WNTH, it may not have been easy to follow up on that."

Coppock was known for his on-air personality and wizardry when it came to broadcasting wrestling and other non-mainstream sports. He told Patch in 2015 that wrestlers Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan would garner louder cheers in Chicago than Michael Jordan.

He would also often tout his attendance streak at Chicago Bears home openers. In 2015, he had been to 65 consecutive. Coppock was also part of four Chicago sports team championships, having been a producer for the Bulls in the early 1990's and being on hand when the Blackhawks won their second most recent Stanley Cup in 2013.

Tributes have been pouring in on social media since the news of Coppock's death first spread Thursday morning.

"I loved watching Chet, hearing him on radio, for nothing more than his razor sharp mind, and his lyrical command of the language," one Facebook commenter said, describing Coppock's uniqueness to a tee. "His talent, like that of Freddie Mercury, was so deep it will never be known just how good he really was. As much as he tried to tell us."

In Feder's column, Mark Giangreco, ABC-7 sports anchor, said Coppock was "the one and only" and "the original" when it came to Chicago sports talk radio.

Steve Dahl even went as far to say that Coppock invented sports talk radio.

He invented Sports Talk Radio, never got the credit he deserved and will definitely be missed by this city. RIP https://t.co/GBDqeGsaph
— The Steve Dahl Show (@SteveDahlShow) April 18, 2019

Just learned Chet Coppock died. I'm wiped out. He was a mentor and, though we often battled, a friend. Forever in his debt, with enormous sadness, RIP Big Rock Candy Mountain.
— Dan McNeil (@DannyMac670) April 18, 2019