Originally from
Minneapolis, Minnesota, Munson attended
Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis and
Minnesota State University Moorhead. While at MSUM, he played basketball as a
center and guard and football as an
end and tackle.
[1]
Munson served as a
United States Army medic in an Army Hospital during
World War II.
[1] Upon leaving the military, he spent all $200 of his mustering-out pay to enroll in a Minneapolis radio broadcasting school.
[2] His first job was at a Minneapolis arena announcing the names of boxers and wrestlers for $15 a week.
[3]
After an on-air job at the
KDLR AM radio station in
Devils Lake, North Dakota, Munson moved on to AM radio station
KFBC in
Cheyenne, Wyoming, as a sports reporter in 1946.
[2] At KFBC, Munson met and became friends with co-worker
Curt Gowdy.
[4] At that time, Gowdy was also the football announcer for the
Wyoming Cowboys. On January 1, 1946, Munson called the
Sun Bowl between the
University of Denver and the
University of New Mexico for the Associated Broadcasting System.
[5]Later in 1946, Gowdy took a job in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as the announcer for a
minor league baseball team and successfully recommended Munson as his replacement for the Wyoming Cowboys job. When Gowdy became a
New York Yankees announcer in 1948, he recommended Munson again to replace him in Oklahoma City.
[4]