Steve Fredericks, sports radio host

He was basically a West Philly kid who never really forgot the life of the corners and the playgrounds and the camaraderie of the streets.

But Steve Fredericks rose from that environment to become one of Philadelphia's best-known sportscasters, a man who raised sports broadcasting above the ordinary with his wry sense of humor and his erudition.

"Live," he would intone on opening his Sports Line show, "from the palatial, but not overly ostentatious, studios of WCAU Radio. . . ."

"That's not normal sports language," said Bob Gelb, his producer at the time. "It had a big impact on me."

Steve Fredericks, 72, born Stephen Frederick Oxman, a sports talk-show host and play-by-play announcer for college and pro games for 44 years, becoming the voice that Philly fans knew and identified with on two radio stations, died Saturday, April 7, of pancreatic cancer. He lived in Boynton Beach, Fla.

Mr. Fredericks had many characteristics that set him apart as a sportscaster. There was his signature exclamation when a player sank a long shot on the basketball court: "So and so pulls up from 25 feet - bang!"

"He was one of the best play-by-play announcers in this town's history," said veteran WIP sportscaster Big Daddy Graham. "He was a fun guy, irreverent, but he always told the truth."

Mr. Fredericks graduated from West Philadelphia High School in 1957 and joined the Air Force. He was shipped to Japan, where he became an announcer on Armed Forces Radio.

After the service, he attended Temple University as a communications major. He called basketball and football games with Merrill Reese, now the Eagles broadcaster. He also did other radio work and on graduation began broadcasting Sixers games for WCAU.

"He was so smart, so outspoken," said his wife, the former Nancy Green, whom he married in 1981.

Besides his wife, he is survived by daughters Debbie Helie and Robin Oxman Perez, and four grandchildren.

There will be no funeral service. He will be cremated and his ashes spread on the roots of a magnolia and a hibiscus tree on his property.