I turned on the radio this morning, like I always do, and I heard Mickey Plyler on WCCP in Clemson discussing some of the best radio calls in all of sports. It was a very entertaining radio show and it reminded me of some of the calls we forget about it or, for some, never heard.

I kind of feel sorry for our younger generation because they don’t listen to the radio like we did growing up when it comes to sporting events. In this day and age they can just pick up their phone and watch a football game, so the art of play-by-play radio calls are slowly dying away.

When Vin Scully retires later this fall from the Los Angeles Dodgers, we will no longer be able to hear the world’s greatest play-by-play announced of all-time.

It will be a sad day for someone like me, who grew listening to Scully and others almost every day. My favorite play-by-play guy was the late Jim Phillips, who will always be “The Voice of the Tigers” to me.

I never got to know Jim Phillips personally, but I felt like I knew him. From my early moments as a football fan I can remember his calls of Willie Underwood’s two interceptions in the Tigers’ stunning 27-6 win over George Rogers’ South Carolina team in 1980.

The next year, I listened closely as he called Clemson’s 13-3 upset of defending National Champion Georgia. I can still hear him calling Perry Tuttle’s diving touchdown reception in the right corner of the end zone that afternoon.

Though he did not mean to, he broke my heart in 1984 when he called Kevin Butler’s 60-yard kick as Georgia knocked off No. 2 Clemson in Sanford Stadium. But two years later, I celebrated with him when he called David Treadwell’s 49-yard field goal as time expired in Clemson’s dramatic, 31-28, victory over the Bulldogs.

It was like I was there with Jim Phillips in some of the best and worst moments in Clemson history.

The thing I remember about Phillips the most is how he called the games. Jim Phillips loved the Tigers, but he was not a homer by any stretch of the imagination. I felt he always called the game evenly and never gave a bias opinion.

Yes, by the tone of his voice you could tell things might not be going well for the Tigers, but he always gave Clemson’s opponents the credit they deserved. He was very professional.

At the end of the show, when Plyler played Phillips’ call of Treadwell’s game-winning kick at Georgia in 1986, I will not lie, I started to cry. I’m a very emotional guy, and it is only getting worse as I get older, so hearing Phillips’ voice and call, brought me back to that moment, listening to the game with my older brother Eric out in the yard and then remembering how we celebrated as Phillips said the kick was good, it was something I will never forget.

Some of my fondest memories from my youth were when my brother and I were playing football in the backyard and listening to the Clemson game every Saturday. Every time there was a big play, we would stop what we were doing and we would listen to Jim Phillips.

Those were great moments, and though he never knew it, I’m glad I was able to share it with Jim Phillips.

–Photo courtesy of Clemson Athletic Communications Department