WWLP-TV (NBC) Springfield, MA reports that former station owner Paul Brissette has lost his battle with cancer. He was 79.
Paul Brissette joined the WWLP sales department in 1958 and moved up into management and then ownership. Brissette Broadcasting Company once owned eight television stations, which were sold in 1995 to Benedek Broadcasting for $270 million.
According to the WWLP news story, Brissette almost became a Major League Baseball player instead of a broadcaster. Known as “Breezer,” Brissette was a local high school star in Springfield and played second base for Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA when the team won the College World Series in 1952. He was recruited by the Chicago Cubs, but instead ended up in the US Army.
Brissette had retired to Wilmington, NC, where he died at home.
