17-07-2025
Harry Teinowitz, beloved Chicago sports radio host, dies at 64
Harry Teinowitz, one of Chicago's best-known sports talk-radio hosts, has died at the age of 64 from complications with a liver transplant he received in 2023.
Zoom in: Teinowitz began his career as an actor and stand-up comedian, before pairing up with fellow comedian Spike Manton to host "Spike & Harry" weekday afternoons on ESPN 1000.
Teinowitz hosted several programs over his decades-long career, including the top-rated shows "McNeil, Jurko and Harry" and "Mac, Jurko and Harry" on ESPN 1000 in the 2000s.
As an actor, he had small roles in Chicago films like "Risky Business," "Return to Me" and "Up the Academy."
What they're saying:"Harry lived to make people laugh and to make people happy," Manton told the Tribune. "There was just never a night he wasn't watching at least two different games."
Zoom out: Teinowitz made headlines for his run-ins both on and off the mic. He was suspended a few times for fights with co-host Dan McNeil, but it was his high-profile drunk driving arrest in 2011 that led him to rehab and ultimately ended his relationship with ESPN in 2013.
In 2021, he took those experiences and turned them into a stage play called " When Harry Met Rehab." The play ran off-Broadway last fall.
