Warner Fusselle, Radio Voice of the Brooklyn Cyclones, Passes Away

WARNER FUSSELLE, VOICE OF BROOKLYN CYCLONES, PASSES AWAY
***Georgia native was previously Was Voice of This Week in Baseball, Seton Hall Basketball***

Warner Fusselle, the radio “Voice of the Brooklyn Cyclones” since the team’s inception in 2001, passed away last night of an apparent heart attack at Hackensack (NJ) Medical Center. He was 68. A friend, John Bacchia, said that the hospital confirmed his death

He missed only a game or two during his 11 years with the Cyclones. In recent weeks he called televised St. John’s baseball games which aired on CBS Sports Network. Fusselle broadcast the Cyclones games from the “Catbird Seat,” a phrase that originated with the Brooklyn Dodgers voice Red Barber. The Cyclones once held a Warner Fusselle Bobblehead Night in tribute to the announcer.

A native of Gainesville, Georgia, Fusselle served in Korea during the Viet Nam War. Fusselle was also the Voice of the television show This Week In Baseball, and Seton Hall Pirates basketball during his career in New York. He also broadcast the Baltimore Orioles games for a period of time. A minor league baseball advocate, he also called the Richmond Braves, among other minor league teams.

Blessed with a dulcet-toned voice and meticulously prepared for his broadcasts, Fusselle such late, legendary baseball play-by-play announcers as Mel Allen, who he worked with at Major League Baseball Productions(later Phoenix Communications), and Ernie Harwell.

The “Fuse,” as he was nicknamed, was an avid collector of baseball and rock and roll memorabilia.

He is survived by his sister, Alicia Fusselle, and two nephews Max Hyde and Warner Hyde.

Funeral services have yet to be announced.