South Carolina Sportscasters: The Best Of The Best

(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

People like Jim Phillips understand sports broadcasting. People like Jim Phillips, Bob Fulton, and Larry Munson. Clemson fans were shocked when Jim Phillips died in September 2003; days after he did the play-by play work for the Clemson-Furman football game. Jim was born on April 23, 1934 in Ohio.

Times were hard when Jim was a kid in the 1940's. That's when Jim started listening to dramas and athletic contests on the radio. Jim almost flunked Ashland College in Ohio, but he recovered. Jim was also in the medical corps in the army for two years.

At age 19, Jim got a radio job in a small town in Ohio. Over a decade later, he landed a sports radio job at Kent State University. In 1968, Clemson's well known athletic director and football coach, Frank Howard hired Jim to broadcast the Tigers' games. "I was really surprised when I got the job" later quoted Phillips. Jim was also hired to be the sports reporter on Greenville's local TV news Channel 4, where he was the sports anchor for 25 years.

Along with Tiger Football, Men's Basketball, Lady's Basketball and Baseball, Jim was the commentator for the local minor league baseball team, the Greenville Braves. He was the first ACC sports commentator to broadcast this many sports for a college. Jim only missed one basketball game in his 35 years commentating for the Clemson basketball team. 

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