DENVER — John Rayburn, a 9NEWS anchor in the 1970s who was the first anchor to have worked for all three Denver network affiliates at that time, died Sunday in Greeley. He was 96 years old.
Rayburn spent more than 60 years in broadcasting, much of that in Denver. On the 9NEWS anchor desk, which he shared first with Carl Akers and later with Ed Sardella, he closed each broadcast with: "May all your news be good news."
He also was an anchor at Channel 4 KOA-TV in 1959 and did sports coverage and was an anchor at Channel 7 KLZ-TV in 1963, according to the Broadcast Pioneers of Colorado, which inducted Rayburn into its Hall of Fame in 2009.
He was the first play-by-play broadcaster in the Superdome for a Denver Broncos exhibition game and also did broadcasts for Denver Bears baseball, University of Denver hockey, Broncos preseason football, Air Force Academy football and Colorado State University football.
Rayburn was born in Anna, Illinois, and joined the U.S. Navy in 1945. His education was at the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Iowa State University in Ames.
His first broadcasting job was in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where he was a staff announcer and sportscaster. He followed that with stints in Farmington, Missouri; Harlingen, Texas; and Mt. Vernon and Peoria, Illinois, before he came to Denver.
Rayburn is survived by his wife of 49 years, Carol, and his four children. Funeral plans are pending.
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