Beloved Chicago sports radio host Harry Teinowitz dead at 64

Chicago lost a good one.

Do-it-all sports radio host Harry Teinowitz died on Tuesday at 64 years old after suffering complications of a liver transplant, per the Chicago Tribune.

In the mid-1990s, Teinowitz began his radio career co-hosting a sports comedy radio show for WMVP (ESPN 1000). 

After developing a solid following through restructuring of the station, Teinowitz remained aboard and continued to make appearances throughout the rest of the ‘90s.

“He just had a million ideas and he always wanted to be funny,” an old co-host Carmen DeFalco said. “He was always thinking of silly, creative, goofy things to do and he believed in all of them. He always committed to the bit. If it flopped, he didn’t care. He just wanted to try.”

In 2001, he began his most well known job in the sports world when he became a part of WMVP’s “Mac, Jurko & Harry.” 

The show was a major hit in Chicago, and Teinowitz grew to have good relationships with many sports personalities.

“Got the call today that my good friend Harry Teinowitz passed away, & my heart just sank,” Jarrett Payton, son of the legendary Walter Payton, wrote on X. “He believed in me before I believed in myself. Always lifting me up, always in my corner. Harry was the kind of friend everyone hopes to have in their life.”

Not only was Teinowitz respected in the sports scene, but he was also an actor and a playwright.

When Teinowitz faced a DUI arrest in 2011, it became a crucial turning point for him. He went to rehab and later wrote his play, “When Harry Met Rehab.”

The play, loosely based on Teinowitz’s experiences, was a success and was even performed in 2021 at the Greenhouse Theater Center in Lincoln Park, an esteemed theater in Chicago.

“When Harry Met Rehab” was also recently performed in an off-broadway theater in New York City last fall.

As far as acting, Teinowitz had a small part in the 1983 comedy “Risky Business.”