Lee Douglas
Douglas, whose legal name was
actually Douglas Lee Cooley, grew up in Pueblo and graduated from
Centennial High School in 1973. In 1977, he received his bachelor’s
degree in mass communications from the University of Southern
Colorado, now CSU-Pueblo. He had worked off and on for KOAA 5 since
1979 and was named sports director in 2000, a position he held at
the time of his death. His broadcasting career won him several
awards including several Colorado Broadcasting and Associated Press
awards and a 2005 induction into the Greater Pueblo Sports
Association Hall of Fame. The Gazette twice named him best local
sportscaster.
Along with his work at KOAA, Douglas had been
the color commentator for Air Force football games since 2004,
working with play-by-play announcer Jim Arthur.For years Lee was an
integral member of Channel 5's veteran team along with Lisa Lyden,
Rob Quirk and weatherman Mike Daniels. As Daniels puts it, "We grew
up together." Lee endeared himself to viewers as well, because he
was such a good guy but also because he told you everything you
needed to know.
Lee did his job every night, year after year,
with the same level of sincere enthusiasm and without one iota of
ego. Never blustery, never condescending to anyone, but always
upbeat. Somehow he managed to cover all the high schools without
playing favorites, and he took care of Air Force and Colorado
College without forgetting his own alma mater, Colorado State
University-Pueblo.
“He was this big bear guy who was full of
life and full of love,” said Georgiann Lymberopoulos, who worked
with Douglas from 1994 until she left the station in late 2011.“He
was the guy you always wanted to be around. My heart is absolutely
broken.”
According to friends, the KOAA sports director went
to the hospital Saturday night and died early Sunday of kidney
failure. His unexpected death moved local newscasters — trained to
be stoic when reporting tough stories — to tears.
“When you
think of the family that Channel 5 is and has always been, he was
one of the fathers,” said weather anchor Craig Eliot, who had worked
with Douglas since 1995. “As a family, it’s like your dad just
died.”
Lee Douglas, Douglas Lee Cooley, died on Sunday
5th February 2012, aged 57.
By Air Force Athletics on August 31, 2012
Lee Douglas,
long-time KOAA TV sports director and Air Force football color
analyst who passed away in February, was honored today at Falcon
Stadium. A plaque in Douglas' honor was unveiled at the Falcon
football luncheon and was then hung in the press box at Falcon
Stadium.
Born Douglas Lee Cooley, but better known as Lee
Douglas, he died on Feb. 4, 2012 in Pueblo, Colo. at the age of
54. Douglas hosted the Air Force Football Show with Fisher
DeBerry, the Academy's television coaches show, in the
mid-1980s. He worked at KOAA-TV channels 5/30 for 30 years and
KRDO channel 13 before that. Douglas also worked at KFEL and
KDZA radio in Pueblo for many years.
Douglas was the
color commentator for Air Force football radio broadcasts for
eight years from 2004-2011. In 2005, he was inducted into the
Greater Pueblo Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. He won multiple
awards from the Colorado Broadcasters Association and the
Associated Press, served on the Board of Directors for the Boys
and Girls Club of Pueblo County and Lower Arkansas Valley and
served on the selection committee for the Colorado Sports Hall
of Fame.
The inscription on the bottom of the plaque
reads "A treasure to the Colorado Springs and Pueblo communities
and a true friend of Air Force Athletics."
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepteddbot
bot="Include" U-Include="includes/social.htm" TAG="BODY" -->
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