Bob Harris (sportscaster)
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Bob Harris, (born 1942[1] ) known as "The Voice of the Blue Devils" is hall of fame-inducted play-by-play announcer for Duke University men's basketball and football teams.
Harris, in a bit of sportscasting kismet, grew-up alongside the equally-legendary UNC broadcaster Woody Durham, known as "The Voice of the "Tar Heels," in Albemarle, North Carolina. The two played on the same little league team, were both on the same 1957 high school football team and sang together in the school chorus and a double quartet.[2] Beginning in 1960, Harris attended North Carolina State University for two years before leaving college to work for Goodyear. He later returned to his hometown for a job selling insurance, where he began working part-time for WZKY, in 1967.[1] Harris volunteered to provide coverage of local football for the station, which led to him being hired as a full-time sports announcer.
In 1975, Harris and his family relocated to Durham, where Harris had been offered a job on WDNC hosting a weekly sports talk show and, eventually, to serve as an assistant to then-Duke sportcaster, Add Penfield, broadcasting Duke football and basketball games. Penfield retired in the spring of 1976, opening the door for Harris to become "The Voice of the Blue Devils" beginning with the 1976 football season.
Over the course of more than 32 football and basketball seasons, Harris has broadcast more than 1,000 Duke basketball games, many of them from the so-called "crow's nest" in the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium. Nationally, he is best known for his play-by-play of Christian Laettner's buzzer beater in Duke's victory over the University of Kentucky in the 1992 East Regional of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, as his description is heard with the video footage more often than that of the television commentators:
| “ | They throw it the length of the floor... Laettner catches, comes down, dribbles.. Shoots. Scores! ... Christian Laettner has hit the bucket at the buzzer! The Blue Devils win it 104 to 103. Look out Minneapolis! Here come the Blue Devils! | ” |
[edit] References
- ^ a b Chavez, Luciana. "Velvet voice of Duke play-by-play hits 1K", The News and Observer, 2006-02-12, p. B1. Retrieved on 2007-03-17. Archived from the original on 2007-06-12.
- ^ Green, Ron, Jr.. "Rival schools' voices in perfect harmony", The Charlotte Observer, 2007-03-08, p. C1. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
