CBS4 sports anchor Chris Widlic retiring. 'Some say you'll know when it's time'

INDIANAPOLIS -- CBS4 Indy sports anchor Chris Widlic, who for the past 23 years has been a key figure covering the city's biggest sports moments, announced Wednesday he will retire this summer after covering one final month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Widlic's planned retirement comes amid major shakeups in the local television market, including mass layoffs at WRTV earlier this month followed by a new morning show last week and lingering questions of whether more changes in local television might follow.

IndyStar reached out to Widlic, but he has not responded. Widlic publicly announced the end of his 40-year television career in an X post Wednesday.

"Some say you’ll know when it’s time," Widlic wrote, in part. "After 40 years in TV, that time to retire has arrived for me."

Widlic went on to say he got his start in TV as an intern at KUSA in Denver, then had stops at WVVA in Bluefield, West Virginia, and WCIA in Champaign, Illinois, before landing in Indy at WISH-TV in 2003 then moving to CBS4 in 2017, where he will end his career.

"I’ve worked with amazingly talented, fascinating, dedicated people who have made this journey one I never could have imagined," Widlic wrote. "I’m eternally grateful. Bringing you stories of triumph and heartbreak in the sports world has been a privilege and a responsibility."

Through the years, Widlic has covered the retirements of both Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, the Super Bowl in Indy in 2012, numerous Final Fours, two decades of Indy 500s, the end of Indiana Pacer Reggie Miller's legendary career, the sale of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the 100th running of the Indy 500 and the Pacers' NBA Finals run last season.

Among the city's sports media, Widlic was known as one of the friendly guys, but he was never one to back away from asking a tough question.

One of his most memorable came in May 2011 when Widlic asked John Andretti about rumors that Danica Patrick might drive his car in the race if she didn't qualify in her car. Andretti "snapped," IndyStar wrote at the time.

"Why would you ask me that question," Andretti said, glaring at Widlic, who didn't back down. "Why would you even ask me that question. Why is she more deserving of driving in this race than I am?" Patrick ended up qualifying, but IndyStar's sports columnist at the time, Bob Kravitz, made Widlic's interaction with Andretti part of the story.