Dean Maddox was a popular personality and sportscaster in the 1930s and 1940s, on many stations, including KYA, KFRC and KGO, where he broadcast his show on Sundays from the Cliff House.
A British Columbia native, Dean Maddox graduated from the University of Indiana and joined the British Army, transferring to the US Army during World War I. After the war, Maddox spent time working in vaudeville and on Broadway in New York City. He served for a time as the chief announcer at Madison Square Garden and in 1929, went to Asia to become chief announcer for the government radio station of the Republic of China (Nationalist Chinese).
In 1935, KYA owner William Randolph Hearst asked Maddox to develop an “Amateur Hour” show. The “Marin Dell Dairy Amateur Hour” would go on to run for 21 years on KYA and KFRC. Maddox, also known on the air as “Budda”, performed as the “Owl Drugs Reporter on the Street” for 17 years on KFRC. His popular amateur hour show had made the transition to television just a year before his death.
Maddox was the play-by-play announcer for the Oakland Oaks from 1939-1942 and on those broadcasts was known as “Dizzy” Dean Maddox.
Dean Maddox died in 1955 at age 59.