Career
In 1981, he served as broadcaster on Rangers" cable games, then from 1982-1994 as play-by-play announcer on Rangers" radio broadcasts. Holtz and color commentator Eric Nadel, who joined him in 1982, became one of the most recognized broadcast teams in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. Before joining the Rangers, Holtz was the voice of the Omaha Royals in 1971 and the Denver Bears from 1976 to 1980.
Holtz was also the first radio broadcaster for the Dallas Mavericks National Basketball Association team in their inaugural season, 1980-1981, and during his career called college football for the University of Colorado and University of Illinois, as well as college basketball for the University of Colorado and Bradley University and college ice hockey for the University of Denver.
In 1995, Holtz would return to television broadcasting, where he remained until May 22, 1997, when he had to give up his duties to battle leukemia, which would claim his life on September 7 of that year. Holtz was well known for being able to keep people"s interest in a game even when things were not going well, which was a frequent occurrence for the generally poor-performing team
He was the voice of the Texas Rangers for their first ever playoff series, in 1996, against the New York Yankees. Holtz began every home Rangers broadcast by jubilantly stating that "lieutenant"s baseball time in Texas!" This phrase is still often used throughout the Rangers Ballpark by everybody from scoreboard operators to public address announcer Chuck Morgan.
In his memory, Mark Holtz Lake (a wide spot in Johnson Creek north of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington) is named for him.
Thousands of Texas Rangers fans camped around Mark Holtz Lake for playoff tickets in 1996, 1998, and 1999. lieutenant has been the only time to date Nadel used the phrase since Holtz"s passing.
