Wes Durham

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Wes Durham
Wes Durham

Dallas Wesley "Wes" Durham (born January 25, 1966 in Greensboro, North Carolina) is an American sportscaster. He has been the radio play-by-play announcer for Georgia Tech football, basketball and baseball teams since the start of the 1995-1996 season, and is known as "The Voice of the Yellow Jackets."[1] He is also Georgia Tech's Director of Broadcasting[2] and the radio play-by-play announcer for the Atlanta Falcons.[1]

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Durham's father, Woody Durham, is the legendary and long-time "Voice of the Tar Heels" for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[3] Growing up in that environment gave Wes the opportunity to see behind the scenes of sports and sports broadcasting.

Wes worked as a disk jockey for a roller rink[1] and for a radio station during high school. He then went to Elon College and learned about broadcasting while working as an undergraduate assistant on the Elon Sports Network. After graduating in 1988, he had stints as the radio announcer for the athletic teams at Marshall University and Radford University. He then spent three years at Vanderbilt.

[edit] Georgia Tech

Wes came to Georgia Tech in the fall of 1995. In 1997, he was also named Tech's Director of Broadcasting. Durham is normally paired with ex-Falcon Jeff Van Note in football and Atlanta TV sports reporter Randy Waters on basketball. Particularly known is his statement upon Calvin Johnson's game-winning catch against Clemson in a 2004 game:[4]

“ He has lived up to the legendary billing... And the legend is born in Calvin Johnson! ”

[edit] NFL

Beginning with the 2004 NFL season, Durham also took on the radio play-by-play duties for the Atlanta Falcons in addition to his duties at Georgia Tech.

[edit] Awards

Durham has been named Georgia Sportscaster of the Year four times, including the last three straight (2004-2006).[citation needed]

In 1992, Durham was honored by his alma mater by being selected as its "Outstanding Young Alumnus."[citation needed]

[edit] Presentation Style

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Durham has many fans and many detractors. The former find his folksy narratives charming. For example:

“ We still got the crease in our pants and Tech has already lit up the scoreboard. ”

The latter cite his tendency to tell jokes that are marginally related to the event at hand, and a focus on personalities rather than the narrative of the contest.

He also tends to announce which referee has whistled a foul on Georgia Tech, a practice some see as an attempt to portray the home team as a victim of poor officiating.[citation needed] In addition, he reports the official's hometown, an unusual practice in sports broadcasting.[citation needed]

Most fans agree that he is much more comfortable broadcasting football, though even there a chronic tendency to fail to report the spot of the ball after a play frustrates some attentive listeners.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c The Technique: Durham travels from roller rink to gridiron. Retrieved on March 29, 2007.
  2. ^ Van Note, Strom Join Durham on Football Broadcasts. Retrieved on March 29, 2007.
  3. ^ Golf Styles Atlanta: Dueling Frequencies. Retrieved on March 29, 2007.
  4. ^ Wes Durham's call of Calvin Johnson's game-winning catch against Clemson in 2004.. Retrieved on March 29, 2007.

[edit] External links

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