Farewell Woody

As the ACC basketball tournament gets cranked up this weekend, North Carolina Tar Heels are faced with the sad news that Woody Durham, the voice of the Tar Heels, has died.

Growing up in North Carolina the son of a Tar Heel (my father graduated in 1958) I had no choice but to become a Tar Heel fan. Woody started his career with the Heels in 1971 when radio was still the dominant medium in college sports. As a result, generations of Tar Heels like myself grew up listening to Woody's calls.

The impact that Woody had on Tar Heel nation was visible. It was not uncommon during football games for fans to chant "Woody, Woody" over and over again until he would lean out the press box and wave to the crowd acknowledging he had heard their chants. Fans would frequently bring radios to the game so they could listen to his call while watching the action.

It was also common when games were televised for many folks to "turn down the sound" and turn on Woody's call of the game. I can vividly remember while a student at Carolina being at numerous viewing parties where Woody's call was on while the game was on television.

When I was at Carolina there were only eight teams in the ACC so the basketball tournament would start on the first Friday of March. I always made a point to make sure I didn't have any Friday classes after noon (and if I did I would have skipped them) because not only would be calling the Carolina game he would call the entire tournament. That meant on opening day he would call four games. Stop and think about that for a moment. And he was just as sharp at the end of the day as he was at the beginning. It was the one time of the year that no matter which ACC school you pledged allegiance to you would have the privilege of having Woody call your team's game.

The reason that he connected so well with the fans was he was not only a Tar Heel (class of '63) but also at heart a fan. His excitement when Carolina had success was evident in the tone of his calls. All you have to do is listen to a few of his memorable moments to hear that at heart he's not just a broadcaster but a fan.

But I will always treasure the brief period of time when I got to work with him. I was a part time announcer and sports report at WCHL in Chapel Hill while I was at Carolina. I was fortunate enough to work with the Tar Heel Sports Network my senior year including conducting locker room interviews following home games during the 1987-88 season. I was able to sit in the booth and watch a master at work.

If I learned anything from working with Woody it was the importance of getting details right. For example, he was a stickler about getting players' names right. He hated mispronounced names. He also encouraged me to make sure to get the details right because they were important.

As a listener, Woody made it sound like he had a really easy job. But the fact of the matter is that he put an immense amount of preparation into each broadcast. It showed with the immense amount of information he managed to convey during a broadcast. Plus he was able to paint a word picture of the action like few other broadcasters have been able to since.

I would venture to say there are probably only a handful of announcers who have been able to make the personal connection with their fans they way that Woody Durham did. He was definitely one of kind. And Tar Heel nation will miss him greatly.

End of an Era

As a kid growing up in North Carolina, I fell in love with the University of North Carolina through its football and basketball teams. My father is a Carolina grad (class of '58) and I graduated from Chapel Hill thirty years later. In addition to my father, the one other person that helped nurture my love for Tar Heel blue was Woody Durham.

I grew up at a time when sports was not all over television as it is now. The idea of college sports being televised was still a rather novel idea. Fans connected with their teams through radio announcers much in the same way that baseball fans of years ago connected with their teams. What set these men apart is they didn't just announce the games. They had a unique connection with the teams and often served as the school's lead cheerleader.

Woody Durham just such an announcer. If you mention his name anywhere in North Carolina folks will immediately know who he is even if they don't follow Carolina sports. His voice also was featured in countless commercials across the state. In addition to his radio duties he hosted weekly television shows with the football and basketball coaches.

Fans connected to Woody in such a way that when Carolina games finally started being televised across the region it became tradition to "turn down the sound" on the television and listen to Woody's call of the game on the radio. On a side note, even during my years at Carolina I frequently watched games with friends on TV and the sound was turned down. I also frequently took a radio with me to the football games I attended. It was that important to hear what Woody had to say.

Another sign of Woody's connection to the fans: at games it was common practice at a football game for someone to start a chant of "Wood-y, Wood-y". The crowd would keep cheering until Woody would lean out of the press box and wave to the crowd.

During my last couple of years at Carolina I had the privilege to work with Woody. In 1987, I went to work at WCHL (the flagship station for the Tar Heel Sports Network - a collection of radio stations in North Carolina and along the eastern seaboard that carried the games - a network that existed primarily because of Woody) to help cover the U. S. Olympic Festival to be held that summer in the Triangle area. That job led to a even better position later that fall as a locker room reporter during home basketball games. For the entire season, I was able to sit in the press box with Woody and watch him work. At the time, I was seriously considering becoming a broadcaster because of Woody.
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I will never forget the commitment he had to every broadcast in getting every detail just right even down to the pronunciation of the players names. His recall of facts and figures was simply amazing. Most of all, he carried an enthusiasm for Carolina sports that was unrivaled among other announcers.

But all good things come to an end. After 40 years as "The Voice of the Tar Heels", Woody is calling it a career. He's leaving on his own terms which is just the way it should be. Of course Carolina sports will never be the same.

Thanks for the memories, Woody. It was an honor to know you and to be able to work alongside you even if it was for all too brief a time.