Jack Wells

John Hampson "Jack" Wells (May 13, 1911 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan – May 26, 1999), also known as Cactus Jack, was a Winnipeg-based radio and television broadcaster specializing in sports.

Biography

Wells's career began in 1936. While listening to a hockey broadcast on CFQC, Wells boasted he could do a better job than the guy on the mike. Dared by a chum to prove his claim, Jack applied for a job at the station, and was hired.

In 1939, he joined CJAT-FM in Trail, British Columbia as an all-round announcer and play-by-play man for the Trail Smoke Eaters.

In 1941, he got a job as a sports announcer at CJRW in Winnipeg. CJRC provided Wells with his first experience in football broadcasting, and he began calling games for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Jack became a free-lance broadcaster after gaining the exclusive rights to broadcast from Shea's Amphitheatre and Osborne Stadium which, in turn gave him the right to sell time to any one of the Winnipeg stations.

It was during an announcing stint on CKY that Jack acquired his illustrious nickname. When Jack filled in for Porky Charbonneau on his western show, it occurred to Wells that he should have a moniker and adopted "Cactus" and it became one of the most famous in Canadian broadcasting. Jack was famous for reporting the weather with the phrase, "Well, it turned our nice again." even when calling in from his winter location of Phoenix, Arizona.

Jack Wells (footballer)

John "Jack" Wells (4 January 1883 – 17 December 1966) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Rovers and Perth in the Western Australian Football Association (WAFA), Kalgoorlie City in the Goldfields Football Association (GFA), St Kilda and Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL), and North Melbourne in the Victorian Football Association (VFA).

Career

Born in Stawell, Victoria, to William Wells and Jane Mary Reid, Wells played his early football in Western Australia where he spent time in both Kalgoolie and Perth.

Originally playing for Rovers, he switched to Perth after the club folded midway through the 1898 season. He represented the Perth Football Club in their inaugural WAFA season and topped their goal kicking in 1904. His tally that year included what was then a club record 11 goals in a match against Subiaco. Before crossing to the VFL he played in the Goldfields Football Association with Kalgoorlie City and was the league's 'Best and fairest' winner in 1905.

Wells

Wells most commonly refers to:

Wells may also refer to:

Places

People

Wells (crater)

Wells Crater is an impact crater in the Eridania quadrangle on Mars at 60.2°S and 237.9°W, and it is 103.0 km in diameter. Its name was approved in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN), and it was named after H. G. Wells.

See also

References

Wells (name)

Wells is a surname of English origin, but is occasionally used as a given name too. It derives from occupation, location, and topography. The occupational name (i.e. "Wellman") derives from the person responsible for a village's spring. The locational name (i.e. "Well") derives from the pre-7th century waella ("spring"). The topographical name (i.e. "Attewell") derives from living near a spring. The oldest public record is found in 1177 in the county of Norfolk. Variations of Wells include Well, Welman, Welles, Wellman and Wellsman. At the time of the British Census of 1881 Wells Surname at Forebears, its relative frequency was highest in Berkshire (3.2 times the British average), followed by Leicestershire, Oxfordshire, Kinross-shire, Huntingdonshire, Kent, Sussex, Lincolnshire, Dumfriesshire and Bedfordshire. People with the name include:

Surname

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