Ken Beatrice, a fixture in Washington sports talk radio for
decades, died Dec. 6 at a hospice center in Aldie at the age
of 72.
A funeral Mass will be offered Saturday, Dec. 12, at noon at
St. John the Evangelist Church in Warrenton with a reception
to follow at 1 p.m.
Beatrice was the host of WMAL’s “Sports Call” program from
1977 to 1995. He briefly worked at what is now ESPN 980
before retiring in 2005. He is best known for his “You’re
next!” catchphrase and uncanny ability to recall rosters and
stats.
Beatrice lived with his wife, Lyn, in Haymarket, and used his
vocal talents by proclaiming the word of God as a lector at
St. John the Evangelist Church in Warrenton.
“I feel very strongly about people proclaiming the word,” he
said in a 2011 interview with the Catholic Herald.
Born in Boston in July 1943, Beatrice attended Boston
College, where he majored in political science. After a
college football injury ended what he called a “mediocre”
sports career, Beatrice took his passion for athletics and
transferred it to the radio. For a good portion of his 40
years on the air, Beatrice hosted “Sports Call,” during
which, he said, he wanted to help people better understand,
and therefore better appreciate, the world of sports.
“The more you know about something, the more you can enjoy
it,” he said. “I figured if I can teach one person one thing
that helps them enjoy the game a little more, I’ve done my
job.”
Beatrice approached lectoring with the same passion. Through
tone of voice, inflections, pace of reading and preparation,
lectors have the responsibility of conveying the word of God
to parishioners, he said.
Officially a parishioner of St. Katharine Drexel Mission in
Bull Run, Beatrice also lectored at Holy Trinity Church in
Gainesville and St. Stephen the Martyr Church in Middleburg.
Beatrice also helped train fellow lectors at St. John the
Evangelist. Drawing from his on-air experience, he advised
lectors on appropriate annunciation and pace, the importance
of breathing and word inflection, and the value of changing
the tenor of their voice to reflect emotion.
More than anything, Beatrice stressed the importance of solid
preparation.
“If going over it twice is good, going over it four times is
better,” he said. “When I’m lectoring, even if I’ve read a
particular passage 15 times, I still go over it six to eight
times before I do it.
“When you want to address the two apses, you gotta turn your
shoulders,” he said. “That I got from doing … (the
talk show) from restaurants where there’s chaos and babies
crying and people dropping glasses. You have to stay on mic.”
For Beatrice, serving the church in this way came naturally
to him. “It’s a way I think I can give back,” he said.
“Nothing more than that.”
In addition to his wife, Beatrice is survived by two
children, Robert Beatrice of St. Louis and Lisa Driscoll of
Washington.
