Longtime TODAY Show weatherman, Willard Scott, best known for his exuberant personality and launching the tradition of celebrating fans who reached the century mark, has died, Al Roker confirmed Saturday. He was 87.
Scott, who joined TODAY in 1980, may have been best known for wishing happy birthday to fans turning 100, a feature that soared in popularity over the years, with images of centenarians appearing on Smucker’s jelly jars while Scott recognized them in front of millions of viewers, reports Today.
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Scott, who began his 65-year career with NBC as a page at the affiliate station in Washington, D.C., in 1950, would also do his forecasts on the road, delighting locals with his unflagging charm.
”I just love people,” he told The New York Times in 1987. ”A lot of speakers on the talk circuit leave right afterward. I do a lot of schmoozing. I’m like a dog. You just open the door and I go, ‘rrrr, rrrr,’ and then I lick everybody’s face.”
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