Louis J. Puma

Louis Puma, age 83, entered into eternal heavenly rest on Friday, October 18, 2019.  He was born on November 5, 1935 in Newark, NJ to Luigi and Tina (Pastena) Puma.  He attended Barringer High School (Class of 1953) in Newark and Seton Hall University (Class of 1957) in South Orange, NJ.  After two seasons playing minor league baseball for the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox organizations, he began his career in broadcasting and raising his family.  On September 28, 1958, he married Angela Avallone.  Together they had four children.  When he went to work for WTIC Radio and TV in Hartford, CT in 1967, he was given the air name Lou Palmer.  Before that he began his career as a radio announcer for two small radio stations in Nebraska.  In his last year of playing professional baseball, the White Sox organization wanted to send him from the Class C Northern League to the Class D Nebraska State League.  Instead of accepting the demotion, he asked for his release.  So when he had his first job offer in radio come up in Hastings, Nebraska he thought it was fate that he should go back there afterall.  He only stayed there for one year and then came back to work for WJLK in Asbury Park, NJ for eight years.  Lou uprooted his family again to Connecticut to take the job at WTIC, where he handled a variety of duties including his own show where he played music from the era of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, to play-by-play of the University of Connecticut basketball and football games, to morning sports reporter on the famous and long running Bob Steele Show.  Lou would get the biggest break of his career when he left WTIC in 1978 to go to work for ESPN, an all-sports network which at the time was an unknown, start up company that planned on going on the air the following year to a national audience.   Lou was hired by ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen as the first sportscaster for the network.  Bill was confident that Lou’s knowledge of sports and experience in the business would help build the network into prominence.  From 1979-1985, Lou co-hosted the network’s signature show called Sportscenter, which still runs today.  He would also be assigned to cover numerous  sporting events throughout those same years; mostly in baseball and golf, but all sports.  He was also one of the driving forces behind the network’s original baseball show, Inside Baseball, a pre-cursor to its currently long running program, Baseball Tonight.  Lou moved his family to Wellington, FL in 1986, a place he loved right from the beginning.  He began his career in free lance broadcasting.  That same year, he would commute on weekends to host a show on WFAN in New York, the nation’s first all sports radio station.  Among many other ventures, Lou did play-by-play of the University of Miami baseball games, a weekly Florida Marlins highlight show for the Sunshine Network, many golf tournaments for various networks, and the Summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996.  From 1998-2019, Lou was the official scorer for the St.Louis Cardinals during Spring Training at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, FL.  During that same period, he was the P.A. Announcer for Florida State League games at the same ballpark.  He formed a long standing 3-man team behind the microphone that included long time friends and local legends John Frost and the late Dick Sanford.  Lou would start up an amateur baseball league called the NABA in 1992, which he ran until 2018.  He poured everything he had into this league and was so proud to provide an outlet for so many baseball fans like him to be able to participate in the game they loved.  His family was always the most import thing in his life.  But to those who knew Lou, it was not difficult to know that his biggest passion was the game of baseball.  He once said that Babe Ruth was right in Ruth’s famous speech at Yankee Stadium in saying that baseball was the only “real” game.  But baseball was just one of the many passions he had in life.  Although too many to mention, he always loved vacations at the Jersey Shore, particularly Seaside Heights and Wildwood.  A devout Catholic and a man of great faith, God was always the centerpiece of everything he stood for.  He is survived by his beloved wife of 61 years, Angie; daughter Valerie Beaulieu (and her husband Dan) of Wellington, FL; son Lou Puma (and his wife Robin) of Greenacres, FL;  daughter Patty Conrad of Delray Beach, FL.  Lou was preceded in death by his daughter Linda.  He also leaves five grandchildren; Louis Puma (of Greenacres, FL), Amy Puma (of Greenacres, FL), Danny Beaulieu (and his wife Jordan) of Wellington, FL; Steven Beaulieu (and his wife Robyn) of Fort Worth, TX); and Kristina Conrad (of Smyrna, TN), five great grand children; Caleb Beaulieu (of Wellington, FL), Silas Beaulieu (of Wellington, FL), Oliver Beaulieu (of Fort Worth, TX), Juneau Beaulieu (Fort Worth, TX) and Aria Workman (of Smyrna, TN).   He was preceded in death by two brothers (Joseph and Anthony). He leaves a sister Johanna Gonzalez (of Toms River, NJ), and many in laws, nieces, and nephews.  Funeral services will be private.