Paul Eells (original) (raw)
Paul Eells (September 24, 1935 – July 31, 2006) was an American sportscaster. He was the "Voice of the Razorbacks", broadcasting University of Arkansas basketball games on television and (after 1978) football games on radio. Eells was also sports director at KATV in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Allbritton Communications Company owned ABC-affiliated television station in that market. Eells moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1967. During his 10-year stay in Nashville, he was Sports Director at WSM-TV (later WSMV-TV) and play-by-play announcer of Vanderbilt Commodores football and basketball on radio.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| dbo:abstract | Paul Eells (September 24, 1935 – July 31, 2006) was an American sportscaster. He was the "Voice of the Razorbacks", broadcasting University of Arkansas basketball games on television and (after 1978) football games on radio. Eells was also sports director at KATV in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Allbritton Communications Company owned ABC-affiliated television station in that market. Eells grew up in Mechanicsville, Iowa and graduated from the University of Iowa. Eells went to Iowa on a baseball scholarship but there found his love in radio. A communications major, Eells soon found himself in television at WMT in Cedar Rapids. There he worked his way up to booth anchor and would eventually hold the title of "Voice of the Iowa Hawkeyes" for five years. Eells moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1967. During his 10-year stay in Nashville, he was Sports Director at WSM-TV (later WSMV-TV) and play-by-play announcer of Vanderbilt Commodores football and basketball on radio. In 1978, he moved to central Arkansas to become sports director at KATV in Little Rock; radio play-by-play announcer for the Razorbacks football team; TV play-by-play announcer for the Razorbacks basketball team; and host of the TV football and basketball Razorbacks coaches shows. He was known and beloved statewide for his fantastic broadcasting voice and his trademark "Oh My" and "Touchdown Arkansas" radio calls. While in Nashville, Eells' trademark radio call was "Holy Smokes." Eells worked with several notable sports figures as "color men" while covering , including Barry Switzer, former football coach of the Oklahoma Sooners and Dallas Cowboys as well as member of the 1964 National Championship Arkansas Razorbacks football team; , former Sports Information Director for the University of Arkansas, Razorback historian, and author of several Razorback-themed books; and Keith Jackson, Arkansas native and former tight end for the Oklahoma Sooners, and later Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers of the NFL. Additionally, Eells spent several years working with ESPN commentator and former Razorback Jimmy Dykes as part of the locally syndicated non-conference television package. During his time as "Voice of the Razorbacks", Eells became an iconic figure in the state of Arkansas, as is evidenced by the fact that Eells was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. He was also named Arkansas Sportscaster of the Year 13 times, and was also honored several times with an Associated Press award for best sports play-by-play. Eells was routinely referred to as the "nicest man" in the state of Arkansas, according to numerous personal accounts aired on KATV-TV and printed in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in the days that followed Eells' death. While returning home from a golf tournament on July 31, 2006, Eells died in an auto accident on Interstate 40 in Russellville, Arkansas nearly two months before his 71st birthday. He lived in Maumelle, Arkansas at the time of his death. In time for the first University of Arkansas football game of the 2006 season, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee proclaimed September 2, 2006 "Paul Eells Day". That night in a game against the USC Trojans, the Razorback Marching Band honored Eells by spelling his name during its halftime routine. Later that month in Arkansas' football game at Vanderbilt, Eells was honored before the game with a moment of silence. Eells was posthumously honored by the decision to name the home broadcast booth at Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium for both him and Jim Elder, long-time voice of the Arkansas Travelers and statistician for the Arkansas football radio broadcast crew. In addition, Eells is honored in the Press Box with a plaque on the Sports Media Legends Wall of Honor. (en) |
| dbo:wikiPageExternalLink | http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx%3FentryID=8311 |
| dbo:wikiPageID | 5416416 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageLength | 9230 (xsd:nonNegativeInteger) |
| dbo:wikiPageRevisionID | 986642419 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageWikiLink | dbr:Barry_Switzer dbc:Road_incident_deaths_in_Arkansas dbr:Little_Rock dbr:Little_Rock,_Arkansas dbr:University_of_Arkansas dbr:University_of_Iowa dbr:Vanderbilt_Commodores dbc:People_from_Maumelle,_Arkansas dbc:1935_births dbr:College_Basketball dbr:College_Football dbr:Cotton_Bowl_Classic dbr:Matt_Jones_(wide_receiver) dbr:Maumelle,_Arkansas dbr:Mechanicsville,_Iowa dbr:Russellville,_Arkansas dbr:SEC_Championship_Game dbr:Clint_Stoerner dbr:Eli_Manning dbr:Green_Bay_Packers dbr:Arkansas_Democrat-Gazette dbr:Arkansas_Razorbacks dbr:Arkansas_Sports_Hall_of_Fame dbr:Louisiana_State_University dbr:Decori_Birmingham dbc:2006_deaths dbc:Sportspeople_from_Little_Rock,_Arkansas dbc:University_of_Iowa_alumni dbr:Cedric_Cobbs dbr:USC_Trojans dbr:WSMV-TV dbr:War_Memorial_Stadium_(Arkansas) dbr:Allbritton_Communications_Company dbr:American_Broadcasting_Company dbr:Dallas,_Texas dbr:Dallas_Cowboys dbr:ESPN dbc:People_from_Cedar_County,_Iowa dbr:Texas_Longhorns dbr:Football_Bowl_Subdivision dbc:Arkansas_Razorbacks_football dbr:Interstate_40 dbr:Iowa_City,_Iowa dbr:Jared_Lorenzen dbr:Arkansas_Travelers dbr:Associated_Press dbr:Jimmy_Dykes dbr:KATV dbr:KGAN dbr:Keith_Jackson dbr:Kentucky_Wildcats dbr:College_basketball dbr:College_football dbr:Philadelphia_Eagles dbr:Southeastern_Conference dbr:Southwest_Conference dbr:Mike_Huckabee dbr:Nashville,_Tennessee dbr:National_Football_League dbr:Oklahoma_Sooners dbr:Ole_Miss_Rebels dbr:Cedar_Rapids dbr:Play-by-play dbr:Razorback dbr:Auto_accident dbr:Sportscaster dbr:1964_National_Championship dbr:KATV-TV dbr:Miracle_on_Markham dbr:Razorback_Marching_Band dbr:Razorbacks dbr:WSM-TV dbr:Anthony_Lucas dbr:Arkansas_Football dbr:Razorback_Basketball dbr:Rick_Schaeffer |
| dbp:birthDate | 1935-09-24 (xsd:date) |
| dbp:birthName | Paul Irving Eells (en) |
| dbp:birthPlace | Iowa City, Iowa, U.S. (en) |
| dbp:deathDate | 2006-07-31 (xsd:date) |
| dbp:deathPlace | Russellville, Arkansas, U.S. (en) |
| dbp:genre | dbr:Play-by-play |
| dbp:name | Paul Eells (en) |
| dbp:occupation | dbr:Sportscaster |
| dbp:sport | dbr:College_Basketball dbr:College_Football |
| dbp:wikiPageUsesTemplate | dbt:Infobox_sports_announcer dbt:Birth_date dbt:Short_description dbt:Unreferenced dbt:Use_mdy_dates dbt:Death_date_and_age |
| dcterms:subject | dbc:Road_incident_deaths_in_Arkansas dbc:People_from_Maumelle,_Arkansas dbc:1935_births dbc:2006_deaths dbc:Sportspeople_from_Little_Rock,_Arkansas dbc:University_of_Iowa_alumni dbc:People_from_Cedar_County,_Iowa dbc:Arkansas_Razorbacks_football |
| gold:hypernym | dbr:Sportscaster |
| rdf:type | dbo:Person yago:WikicatPeopleFromArkansas yago:WikicatPeopleFromIowa yago:Announcer109795124 yago:Broadcaster109875786 yago:CausalAgent100007347 yago:Communicator109610660 yago:LivingThing100004258 yago:Object100002684 yago:Organism100004475 yago:Person100007846 yago:PhysicalEntity100001930 yago:YagoLegalActor yago:YagoLegalActorGeo yago:SportsAnnouncer110639637 yago:Whole100003553 |
| rdfs:comment | Paul Eells (September 24, 1935 – July 31, 2006) was an American sportscaster. He was the "Voice of the Razorbacks", broadcasting University of Arkansas basketball games on television and (after 1978) football games on radio. Eells was also sports director at KATV in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Allbritton Communications Company owned ABC-affiliated television station in that market. Eells moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1967. During his 10-year stay in Nashville, he was Sports Director at WSM-TV (later WSMV-TV) and play-by-play announcer of Vanderbilt Commodores football and basketball on radio. (en) |
| rdfs:label | Paul Eells (en) |
| owl:sameAs | freebase:Paul Eells yago-res:Paul Eells wikidata:Paul Eells http://arz.dbpedia.org/resource/پول_ايلس https://global.dbpedia.org/id/4tA5J |
| prov:wasDerivedFrom | wikipedia-en:Paul_Eells?oldid=986642419&ns=0 |
| foaf:isPrimaryTopicOf | wikipedia-en:Paul_Eells |
| is dbo:wikiPageDisambiguates of | dbr:Eells |
| is dbo:wikiPageRedirects of | dbr:Eells,_Paul dbr:Paul_Eels dbr:Paul_eels |
| is dbo:wikiPageWikiLink of | dbr:Deaths_in_July_2006 dbr:List_of_people_from_Iowa dbr:Eells,_Paul dbr:WSMV-TV dbr:2006_in_English-language_radio dbr:KATV dbr:Eells dbr:Paul_Eels dbr:Paul_eels |
| is foaf:primaryTopic of | wikipedia-en:Paul_Eells |