Re: "hearing his voice in person was so surreal"

I knew Jim and liked him. he was one of many people who came to Clemson and played his part.

But he was not a great broadcaster. He enjoyed the games, and it showed. He rarely painted a good picture of the place, the fans, or the game. it was like listening to your brother, or sister, or best friend talk about the game.

here is a regular version of a Jim call, "Fuller steps up, takes it out, rides it off to [put your fav running back here]"...... giant pause then you hear the cannon explode. that's how you knew we had scored.

he could go 10 or more minutes with telling the score, or even who had the ball.

as I said, wonderful guy who liked Clemson. but honestly, is that enough to be in the Ring of Honor?

if so we better build some more decks to put up the names.

Jim's voice was the voice of Clemson for a long time, but don't mistake him for a great broadcaster. He wasn't.

Your mom, your wife, and your sister are wonderful too, and pretty as well. But that doesn't make them Miss or Mrs. America. That is a special honor.

The next time you are in Memorial Stadium, notice the names there. Was Jim Phillips the caliber of those folk there?

you get to make your own choice about that. i respect whatever you feel. but to me, he didn't rise to the level of Coach Howard or Bob Bradley.

thanks and Go Tigers.

striperfan

Ring of Honor [21416]

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Posts: 17813

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He never considered himself a great broadcaster

May 1, 2013, 8:40 PM

he did pride himself in being a pro, which he was. The OP's post was exagerrated quite a bit. You go to youtube and listen to that Notre Dame game in South Bend and that Billy Lott TD run, and his delivery was the classic staccato style of that great generation of broadcasters. Of course he screws up an interception too in that game, but what people don't realize is that you are relying on spotters to tell you who made the pick and the spotter simply ID'd the wrong man. I know, I spotted for games for many years and led him astray more than once. he never minded that, he understood it was part of the process. the one thing he would not tolerate, at least the first 25 years or so, was cheering in the press box. he felt it was not professional and I and fellow spotter Sack Bagley still have bruises in our ribcages where we caught an elbow when we let out a cheer, lol. the last 10 years or so he let up on that. he accepted his role as a Clemson legend when he was inducted in to the HOF and he enjoyed becoming even more of a homer than he was. he was always still professional and never a homer like Munson, but he became a more vocal cheer leader, understand that over time, his role had changed. As far as the quality of his game calls. In that period from the early 70's to the mid to late 80's, I think he was a heckuva broadcaster. he had honed his craft and his had his patter down well. Then he got a little older, the eyes start to go and as with all of us the mind slows a bit, and he slipped some. ever to the point of being bad, but not as good as he was. Happened with Fulton and Munson and the rest as well. Still, he never considered himself great. Just a guy lucky enough to have one heckuva great job

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Front Page Story: Jim Phillips deserves Clemson honor

One point I was going to make about this yesterday was that

"hearing his voice in person was so surreal"