'A perfect tribute': Luther Masingill remembered for his kindness, humility, grace (with video)

photo Attendees say the Pledge of Allegiance during a memorial service Thursday for Luther Masingill at Engel Stadium.
photo Evan Brown, Jeff Masingill and Mary Masingill, from left, listen during a memorial service Thursday for Luther Masingill at Engel Stadium.
photo James Howard speaks during a memorial service Thursday for Luther Masingill at Engel Stadium.

For all of the tributes and talk Thursday at Engel Stadium during a ceremony remembering Luther Masingill, David Carroll perhaps best said what everyone was thinking.

"For 74 years, we've all known where Luther was," said Carroll, WRCB-TV 3 anchor and a former co-worker of Masingill. During all of those years, Carroll noted, Masingill was either at home in Glenwood with his wife, Mary, at his church -- now known as Cornerstone Baptist Church -- or at the WDEF television or radio station on the section of Broad Street now known as "Luther Masingill Parkway."

"And, we know exactly where Luther is today," Carroll said, looking up to the clear blue sky over the stadium where the legendary broadcaster introduced Chattanooga Lookouts ballplayers in the 1940s.

Masingill died Monday at the age of 92.

It was former Lookouts owner Joe Engel who convinced Masingill to audition for a new radio station he was starting back in 1940.

Masingill has said he originally just wanted to answer phones for the disc jockeys, but went on the air on New Year's Eve 1940. Except for his two-year military stint, he was there every day for work until Monday. His 74 years on the air and at the same station are unmatched anywhere in the world.

He is a member of both the National Radio Hall of Fame and the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame.

Carroll said he could imagine the scene in Heaven upon Masingill's arrival when he was reunited with old friends who had passed away, including former Chattanooga News-Free Press writer Buddy Houts.

"I imagine they all stood and applauded, as we did here whenever he entered a room, and then Buddy looked at him and said, 'You're late.'"

About 200 family, friends, TV and radio personalities, co-workers and former co-workers, politicians and listeners turned out at Engel Stadium on Thursday to say goodbye to the man known throughout the community simply as Luther.

It was a fitting setting on a gorgeous fall day for the man who spent seven decades behind the microphone at the same station telling Chattanoogans of school closings and weather updates, and helping them find lost pets.

"It was a perfect tribute," said Judge Russell Bean. "This was perfect."

"What a backdrop," said WUSY-FM 100.7 on-air personality Gator. Gator attended along with fellow US-101 personalities Dex, Mo and Stickman. They were just a few of the TV and radio personalities who attended, with most being from rival stations.

A stage and podium were placed in front of home plate and the Ralph Miller Band set up near the home dugout near first base. Out by the pitching mound stood a giant poster-sized picture of Masingill and the words "The Voice of Chattanooga Luther Forever In Our Hearts."

Speaking during the ceremony were fellow WDEF personalities Chip Chapman and James Howard, Masingill's co-host for the last 21 years, Carroll, Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Beck and Pastor Todd McElyea.

Chapman recounted some of Masingill's two-year stint in the military during World War II.

"Luther often said that he fought and he fought and they still made him go," said Chapman. "He was very patriotic. I never saw him where the 'Pledge of Allegiance' was being played that he didn't stand with his hand over his heart."

Also speaking were Masingill's daughter, Joan Brown, and son, Jeff, who quoted Danny Shirley of Confederate Railroad in describing his father.

"He was never the Cadillac kind."

The Ralph Miller Band provided music before and during the ceremony. Members of the ROTC Color Guard from Masingill's alma mater, Central High School, presented the colors and the Alhambra Shrine Highlanders Pipe and Drum Corps played "Amazing Grace."

Howard shared stories of learning from Masingill how to properly warm a Moonpie, and recounted the things he will miss the most now that his partner, friend and mentor is gone.

"I will miss the sound of his typewriter, his Fedora hat and his wardrobe," Howard said. He also said that Masingill taught him more than how to be a good broadcaster.

"He taught me how to be a good father, a good husband and a good friend."

Masingill was known by nearly everyone throughout the area, but he managed to remain humble, Howard said, relaying the story of how much Masingill loved his church and often emptied the trash cans in the classrooms each Sunday.

"One day a little girl saw him on television and said to her mother, 'Look, mom. It's the trash man from church.'"

In one of the more poignant moments, a dozen white doves were released as Buddy Shirk played "I'll Fly Away" on the stadium's organ.

"Luther taught us how to live with kindness and with grace and how to die with no business that hasn't been taken care of," Carroll said in closing his tribute.

Duke Simms came to pay his respects for the man he had worked with at WDEF for 11 years.

"There is a saying about people that they would give the shirt off of their back for someone," Simms said. "He would do it."

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.

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