Wes Durham
Dallas Wesley "Wes" Durham (born January 25, 1966 in Greensboro, North Carolina) is an American sportscaster. He is a play-by-play announcer for Fox Sports coverage of college football. He works telecasts of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) on Fox Sports Net due to his experience broadcasting in the conference. He served as the radio play-by-play announcer for the Georgia Tech football and men's basketball teams from the start of the 1995-1996 season through 2010, and continued to announce the basketball games through 2013."[1] He was also Georgia Tech's Director of Broadcasting[2] and is the radio play-by-play announcer for the Atlanta Falcons.[1]
Biography
Early life
Durham's father, Woody Durham, was the "Voice of the Tar Heels" for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for forty years.[3] Growing up in that environment gave Wes the opportunity to see behind the scenes of sports and sports broadcasting.
Wes worked as a disc 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.
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 former Georgia Tech and NFL quarterback Rick Strom 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! | ” |
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 responsibilities at Georgia Tech.
Fox Sports
In 2011, when Fox Sports began sub-licensing ACC college football games from Raycom Sports to air on Fox Sports Net, Durham was called upon to be Fox's play-by-play announcer for ACC games due to his long history working in the conference. He was teamed with analyst James Bates.
References
- 1 2 3 "The Technique: Durham travels from roller rink to gridiron". Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
- ↑ "Van Note, Strom Join Durham on Football Broadcasts". Retrieved 2007-03-29.
- ↑ "Golf Styles Atlanta: Dueling Frequencies". Retrieved 2007-03-29.
- ↑ "Wes Durham's call of Calvin Johnson's game-winning catch against Clemson in 2004.". Retrieved 2007-03-29.