A Fan at Heart

Keith Mills ’79 is retiring after a long and distinguished sportscasting career.

It’s fair to say Keith Mills was born with broadcasting in his blood. His father George worked at Channel 13 WJZ-TV for 40 years and often brought Keith and his sister to the station when they were kids. His dad used to host crab feasts at the house, and veteran WJZ anchors Al Sanders and Jerry Turner were among the attendees—as was Oprah Winfrey, who had just started her broadcasting career in Baltimore.

When Mills was in high school, the three-sport athlete and aspiring writer attended Orioles games with his dad. “I would sit in the press box and watch all the writers who were covering the game for the newspapers, and I was just kind of infatuated with that,” he says.

He also drew inspiration from local sportscasting legend Vince Bagli. “[Vince] made it cool to cover high school sports,” Mills says, “and that was kind of my M.O. when I went on the air—just living in the high schools and local colleges.”

At three stations over the last 40 years, Mills made his own mark covering sports in the hometown he loves. In June, he semi-retired to an outpouring of support and accolades he called “very humbling and quite an honor.” He still does Ravens pre- and post-game shows for WBAL and covers Navy football. He also teaches a sportscasting class at TU.

“I’m a Baltimorean,” he says. “I was accepted by the Baltimore viewers and sports fans because I am one of them.”

Read an extended story about Mills.