R.I.P.: Milwaukee Broadcaster Bill Haig Was 78

Bill Haig, a major figure in Milwaukee broadcasting who bolstered WTMJ radio's reputation for sports coverage and later ran the Milwaukee Brewers' broadcast operations for almost two decades, died Saturday, according to jsonline.com.

He was 78.

Haig, of Oak Creek, had been ill in recent years and was in hospice care, according to his wife of 54 years, Naomi. He was surrounded by family when he died.

Haig was inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 1997, the year he retired from the Milwaukee Brewers. He called himself "the luckiest man in the world."

"I have had the opportunity to work in the radio business, which I dearly love, for the past 43 years and the people that I have worked with have made it very special," he said when he announced his plans.

He began his career in advertising sales in 1954 at WFOX in Waukesha and eventually rose to general manager of WIGL-AM in Superior/Duluth and WTMJ-AM (620) in Milwaukee. WTMJ became the flagship station for the Milwaukee Brewers, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Green Bay Packers and the University of Wisconsin Badgers football and basketball teams during his 16 years there, according to his Hall of Fame biography.

In 1980 he became the Milwaukee Brewers' vice president of broadcast, overseeing production, advertising sales and networking for the club's broadcast networks until his retirement.

Bud Selig, commissioner of Major League Baseball and a former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, called Haig "a great human being" who would be missed as part of the Brewers family.

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