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In 1983, Charles founded Dial Sports "976" scorephone network. Dial Sports was one of the earliest pay-per-call services in the nation and provided score updates to sporting events almost entirely to gamblers. At its peak, Dial Sports was receiving 20 million phone calls a month. Dial Sports'
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After graduating from law school, Charles worked as a stock broker and then as a divorce lawyer. However, he did not believe he was destined to work in either industry. In the early 1960s, Charles attempted to work as a standup comedian. He moved to
Philadelphia to be an English professor at
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239:. The Sports Network also published a weekly Top 25 poll of FCS teams. The Mickey Charles Award, given to an FCS athlete for excellence on the field and in the classroom, was established in 2014.
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sportsbook executives and handicappers on his show. The show ran for four hours on
Saturdays and three hours on Sundays. As the show grew in popularity, it was eventually sponsored by
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personality, who founded Dial Sports "976" scorephone network, one of the earliest pay-per-call services that provided frequent score updates on games. Additionally, he founded
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and was the captain of their basketball team during his senior season in 1956. Charles then received a law degree from
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providing sports information. One of the first voices for sports gambling, Charles also wrote a gambling column for
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With the advent of the internet, Dial Sports evolved into the
Computer Information Network and eventually
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where he played on the basketball team. After two years, he transferred to
Division III
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Mickey
Charles (born as Charles Tucker) was born in November 1935 and raised in the
361:"MICKEY CHARLES, WCAU RADIO, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, DIAL SPORTS PIONEER DEAD AT 83"
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296:"Sports Award Named for Kalamazoo College Alumnus Charles "Mickey Charles" Tucker"
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In 1987, Charles and The Sports
Network created the FCS Awards - including the
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Beginning in the late 1970s, Charles hosted a sports-gambling oriented show on
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109:; November 1935 – December 28, 2018) was an American businessman and
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and hosted a gambling-oriented sports talk show on the weekends on
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operation was run out of
Charles' garage at his home in
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424:"Mickey Charles Award to honor FCS student-athlete"
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172:and to write as a columnist for
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185:. He would frequently feature
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59:(2018-12-28)
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243:References
139:Early life
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222:STATS
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54:Died
35:Born
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
