Both the wrestling organization and the baseball club were part of Jim Crockett Promotions, Inc.
Ric Flair told listeners on episode #26 of his podcast "WOOOOO! Nation" that after meeting Tony and hearing him call O's baseball, he suggested to the Crockett family that Schiavone get a chance to join the wrestling part of the company.
Not long after Flair's suggestion, Schiavonie had the opportunity to follow the legendary Charlotte wrestling announcer "Big" Bill Ward as host of the localized promo segments that were inserted into the wrestling shows. He later was the backstage interviewer for "Starrcade '83" and then got his shot co-hosting "World Wide Wrestling" alongside David Crockett later in 1984. The rest, as they say, was history.
But before all that took place, the following short profile on Tony appeared in a 1982 Charlotte O's baseball program....
VOICE OF THE CHARLOTTE O's TONY SCHIAVONE (1982)
One of Greensboro's top radio personalities comes to Charlotte this year as the voice of the O's. He is Tony Schiavone, a 24 year old native of Virginia. Last year Tony was the voice of the Class A Greensboro Hornets and was named 1981 South Atlantic League Broadcaster of the Year.
Bob Taylor of WBTV will join Tony this year as color man. This will be Bob's second year on O's Radio, and the former professional player once again brings his knowledge of the game to the booth.
Schiavone is a graduate of James Madison University and has been in radio for five years. His past duties have involved football, basketball, and baseball play-by-play, and host of a call-in talk show.
His duties with the O's will also include coordinating media information and keeping official statistics.
Schiavone is married to the former Lois Berger of Greensboro and they are expecting their first child in July.
Originally published December 26, 2015 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway
