Temple: Hall of Famers in Consecutive Years

Got the word on Thursday that Merrill Reese, the great Philadelphia Eagles play-by-play guy, will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer.

That gives Temple back-to-back Pro Football Hall of Famers in consecutive years.

Don’t know if the Hall keeps stats on that but, even if they do, that puts Temple in some pretty exclusive company.

Can’t imagine there were consecutive years where more than a handful of schools had consecutive Hall of Famers.

Reese’s story is pretty interesting.

Merrill Reese talks about his Temple experience.

He did Temple football games as a play-by-play guy when WRTI (where has was Sports Director) had the exclusive radio rights. He also did a few games here and there on both radio and TV at Temple before he caught on as THE iconic voice of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Not AN iconic voice.

THE iconic voice.

He started working with Charlie Swift on the Eagles games but, sadly, Swift committed suicide by gun on Springfield Avenue in front of Cardinal O’Hara and Reese then became the No. 1 play-by-play guy and his sidekicks included Eagles like Stan Walters and Mike Quick.

With Joe Klecko getting his spot in the Hall last year, this is a pretty big feather in the cap for Temple–more the university than the football program.

Hopefully, like Joe, Merrill will include some Temple remarks in his acceptance speech.

Not the one about the end of the season being the highlight, though.

Unless Stan Drayton dips into the portal and gets a QB, that would probably apply to the end of THIS season.

Monday: The Best of The Rest

6 thoughts on “Temple: Hall of Famers in Consecutive Years

  1. Merrill is a great guy. My brief stint at WIP a million years ago had me intersect with Merrill a couple of times (I’m sure he doesn’t remember – but I was wowed to meet him). Same with Stan W, for that matter – also at WIP.

    And of course I’m proud that Merrill is a fellow Temple alum. Didn’t know he did some TU play-by-play on WRTI! Thanks for the info. Mike.

    • In the 1970s, my other alma mater (Archbishop Ryan) was in a basketball tournament in DC and Stan was married to the sister of the Ryan assistant coach so we partied in DC after the game. The head coach, John Miller, was not only a friend but my insurance guy. Ryan beat a pretty good Bishop O’Donnell team (Arlington, Va.) that night so we had a pretty good time. Stan was great to everyone.

  2. Thanks, Mike. Ah, the good old days. Great honor for Merrill.

  3. The circumstance in which MR advanced was tragic. I recall that week and purposely I listened to the first game he did, simply out of curiosity. Don’t recall the opponent or result, but after a slow start, MR was flowing. There had to be a lot of emotion for him, but he was prepared and informed listeners of how the game was being played.

    Unlike some announcers who stumble after so many decades, he has maintained his sharpness. How many of us turn down the TV sound and then synch the TV with the radio so MR’s play-by-play narrates the game?

  4. Merrill is so deserving of this honor. One of the greats.

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