Tom Duggan
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Tom Duggan Goss was born in Chicago on August 20, 1915. Professionally, he used the name Tom Duggan. Duggan was his mother’s maiden name. He was an extremely popular television commentator in Chicago from 1949 to 1956 and then in Los Angles until his death in 1969.
In 1943 he joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served in the 3rd Marine Division in Pacific in WWII. Toward the end of the war he joined Armed Forces Radio in China, and it was here that he became interested in radio. After the war he became an announcer for station KIST in Santa Barbara, California. In 1949 he went to work for the NBC radio (WMAQ) and television (WNBQ) outlets in Chicago. His nightly 15 minute televison sports commentary show on WNBQ at 10:30 quickly gained great popularity making him one the most highly paid TV personalities at the time.
Duggan constantly spoke out against Chicago mob figures, corrupt politicians and corruption in the International Boxing Club (IBC). The IBC was the governing body during the time when boxing was becoming ever more popular because of television. He continually railed against James Noris and his partner Arthur Wirtz about the mob’s influence in boxing. After one of his broadcasts about the mob’s control of boxing, Duggan said that Norris had threatened him. After refusing to meet NBC demands, including for an on-air apology to Norris, Duggan was fired. The Chicago Tribune reported that “the station and newspaper offices were swamped with phone calls protesting Duggan’s dismissal”. His TV rating at the time was a whopping 10.
Following are excerpts from some letters sent to the Chicago Tribune:
“Tom Duggan – Unafraid. A voice crying in the wilderness! St. George and The Dragon! So Long Tom – we’ll all crawl back into our safe little shells now we’ve had or brief moment in the sun”
“Whether you like Duggan or not, what this country needs is more young guys telling whoever and whatever they think needs a little airing”
“If Tom Duggan tomorrow would enter politics and run on the Democratic ticket for Mayor of Chicago, his popularity would push him in with a landslide”.
A petition was circulated in the city as follows. “we the undersigned as ardent supporters of righteousness and justice with the firm determination to render a Public Service do hereby petition that TOM DUGGAN who is America’s beloved Radio-TV Sports Commentator and All-American champion of the freedom of speech, a man who dared to tell THE truth be given back to the sports loving fans of America”
It would seem that given the power of his political and mob enemies that he would not be able to get a job in Chicago despite his immense popularity. At this point in time Sterling “Red” Quinlan, a giant in Chicago television, had the foresight and the courage to hire Duggan at WBKB, now WLS-TV, the ABC outlet in Chicago. The following is from the 2002 interview My Afternoon with Red.
“Red sought provocative programming that more than once raised the eyebrows of ABC's corporate hierarchy. One such example was Tom Duggan, whose outrageous and flamboyant personality was perfect for channel 7. Duggan had been doing a five-minute sports show over at NBC when he attracted the attention of Quinlan and WBKB. In six months, Duggan's evening program became number one. Duggan talked about everything and anything. Duggan was loud, abrasive, and at times unpredictable. Perhaps best described as the Morton Downey Jr. of his day, Duggan also had ties to the Chicago Mob, an association that made Quinlan nervous, especially when Duggan would "predict" a Mob hit on the air and two or three weeks later that hit would come to pass.
But in spite of the anxiety the Mob's presence caused, Red, ever the creative idealist and businessman, decided to use Duggan's Mob connection to produce a new "point of view" program focused on the Mob itself. Titled This Is Your Life- Tony Accardo, the special was, not surprisingly, not embraced with open arms by the Mob itself. So Red sought the assistance of the local and state law agencies, even going public with The Chicago Crime Commission. But it would be Accardo himself that would convince Quinlan that producing such a program would not be in the best interest of Red's health when the two men talked briefly in a chance meeting at Tradewinds, a local lounge long suspected of having Mob ties.”
Duggan was on from 11:10 until midnight. It was the first all-talk show on television. Duggan talked about many different things but continued to emphasize his attacks on the mob, corruption in boxing and Chicago politians. Viewers could call in and submit questions to a “girl Friday” who then read them to Duggan. Because of his attacks on the mob, both he and Quinlan carried a gun. Duggan had informants within the Mob and was able to predict mob hits on occasion. His nighttime show immediately became so popular, that he was given an afternoon audience participation show, and a Saturday evening variety show. These were more variety type shows with Duggan talking with the audience. He was very good looking and was very popular with the ladies and Duggan even sang once in awhile. All of theses shows were the highest rated shows in Chicago for their time slots, far out distancing other shows including shows from the major networks. He was a strong supporter of Richard J. Daley who was running for Mayor for the first time in 1955. Some believe that without Duggan’s support, Daley would not have become Mayor. In fact, Duggan was “the most popular man” in Chicago and could probably have been elected mayor if he was so inclined.
As a result of comments on his program during mid-1955, Duggan was held in contempt of court by Cook County Judge Daniel A. Covelli and sentenced to 10 days in jail. This judge was identified as a protégé of Chicago's First Ward mobster Pat Marcy on the website of the http://www.ipsn.org/greylord.html Illinois Police & Sheriff's News]. Roger M. Grace wrote in a column, “In retrospect, it appears that Tom Duggan, a colorful and controversial talk show host and commentator in Los Angeles in the 1950s and ’60s, had been chased out of Chicago, where he was exposing corruption, by a judge who was himself linked with underworld figures Judge Who Silenced Mob-Bashing Commentator Had Mob Connections. Duggan was later given a full pardon by the Governor Kerner of Illinois and the court decision is analyzed in After 45 Years, Illinois Supreme Court Opinion Still Reeks. Unfortunately, for the Chicago audience, Duggan resigned on February 9, 1956, possibly for fear what the Mob would do to him if he went to jail. Duggan moved to Los Angeles and was on KCOP, KTLA and KTTV television there. Always popular and successful, he had salaries approaching $1 million in 2006 dollars. He also wrote a newspaper column for the Herald Examiner. In 1967 he commuted between Los Angeles and Chicago for 10 months to tape a program for Chicago television.
He appeared in a number of movies including But Not for Me with Clark Gable and Frankenstein - 1970 with Boris Karloff.
On May 29, 1969, Duggan, 53, died as a result of traffic accident injuries suffered the previous day. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery. Pallbearers included Mayor Sam Yorty of Los Angeles and Jimmy Durante.
