Tony Lee, the official voice of Howard University sports who worked with the late Marion Barry to help create the Summer Youth Leadership Institute, died Jan. 4 due to COVID-19 complications, according to Howard’s Department of Athletics.
Lee spent 28 years teaching, mentoring, coaching, counseling and providing encouragement and leadership to young men and women. He served for the past two years as HU’s public address announcer following the death of legendary announcer Shellie Bower Jr. in December 2018.
The D.C. native stepped in and quickly established himself as the new “Voice of the Bison,” calling all home football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball games. In addition, he filled in for men’s and women’s swimming and diving meets, according to a statement released by Howard University.
The highlight of Lee’s tenure at Howard was his selection as the official PA announcer for the 2019 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference volleyball tournament.
Lee, an active member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., graduated in 1991 from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania after playing football for the school. In 2002, he was inducted into the university’s Athletics Hall of Fame.
A funeral service is scheduled for Thursday at Judah Temple AME Zion Church (14500 Mount Oak Road) in Bowie, Md. A public viewing will be held from 10 a.m. until noon and a private service will be streamed immediately after from noon until 1 p.m.
The service will be streamed on www.judahtemple.net, Facebook and YouTube.