Another Old Caddie Bites the Dust

Before there was the internet and Match.com, there was a stage, an opaque screen separating the questioner and the questioned, a chair, three stools, a podium and a host. The host was Jim Lange and the milieu was The Dating Game. Jim Lange has left this world at age 81.

Jim Lange was a fellow caddie who earned an Evans Scholarship for his labors.  He is an example of someone who worked like hell in a dirty, tiring, sweaty sub-minimum wage job and welcomed that as a stepping stone and an opportunity, rather than a burden holding him back. He made more than the most of it and relied on the values he learned to lead him through life. 

ABC News reports that legendary game show host and disc jockey Jim Lange, the first host of the popular game show "The Dating Game," died at his home in Mill Valley, Calif. He was 81. Lange died Tuesday morning, February 25th after suffering a heart attack, his wife Nancy told The Associated Press Wednesday.

He was known to listeners in the San Francisco and Los Angeles radio markets with stints at several stations in both markets, racking up over 45 years on the air. Lange was also known to television viewers as the host of several game shows.

Jim Lange (foreground) Dating Game host

Lange began his radio broadcasting career in the Twin Cities after winning an audition as a teenager. He graduated from St. Thomas Academy high school, before going to the University of Minnesota on the Chick Evans Scholarship through the Western Golf Association.

His network television career began in San Francisco with The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show in 1962, where Lange was announcer and sidekick to Ford. Three years later he would sign on to host The Dating Game. While still on-air at KSFO, he commuted to Los Angeles to tape the TV program.

The man had a work ethic. He had a great life. Rest in peace Jim Lange. May all your loops in the great beyond be pleasant, dry and well under four hours.