John Shand (1917-2008)
On Monday evening, when I walked into Chiocca’s for a post-Frisbee-golf Pabst Blue Ribbon and a little sports-talk with old friends usually gathered in that timeless basement watering hole at 425 N. Belmont, I was immediately told the news: John Shand, 90, had died Sunday evening. A few minutes later, sitting at a table with Tim […]
On Monday evening, when I walked into Chiocca’s for a post-Frisbee-golf Pabst Blue Ribbon and a little sports-talk with old friends usually gathered in that timeless basement watering hole at 425 N. Belmont, I was immediately told the news: John Shand, 90, had died Sunday evening.
A few minutes later, sitting at a table with Tim Chiocca — whose father, Mario, opened the place in 1952 — and five Happy Hour regulars, we raised our glasses to Shand, the longtime voice and face of WTVR Channel 6. Shand and his signature handlebar mustache retired from WTVR in 1983. His association with Chiocca’s goes back to the restaurant’s earliest days; he also had been a regular until four months ago, when illness kept him from his weekly visits.
At noon tomorrow (Wednesday) a service will be held at St. Benedict Catholic Church. Following the burial at Westhampton Memorial Park, some of Shand’s pals and admirers will again raise a glass to the man who said the first words ever heard on television in Richmond in 1948.
For more on John Shand click here to read an article in today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch.
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