RIP Ron Franklin

[Inky_Wretch]

https://www.si.com/media/2022/01/19/ron-franklin-espn-announcer-dies-79

 

[Neutral Corner]

He was a sportscaster at two different TV stations in Houston when I was living there, then the broadcasting voice of the Houston Cougars and the Houston Oilers. ESPN hired him to call games and he had a twenty plus year career there, calling football with Mike Gottfried and basketball with Fran Fraschilla.

Rest.

 

[Vombatus]

d_b

 

[Matt1735]

Damn, he was the BIG game on Saturday nights for a while.

RIP

 

[BTExpress]

Enjoyed him tremendously. Maybe because he was the SEC Saturday night voice when my team was actually playing in big games --- and winning them.

 

[Octave]

good pipes. Always made it about the game.

 

[Dog8Cats]

He was a sportscaster at two different TV stations in Houston when I was living there, then the broadcasting voice of the Houston Cougars and the Houston Oilers. ESPN hired him to call games and he had a twenty plus year career there, calling football with Mike Gottfried and basketball with Fran Fraschilla.

Rest.

I've seen heads of state with less protection than Stallings received here.

 

[Dog8Cats]

My favorite college football play-by-play announcer ... and I'm not an SEC person.

1992 Peach Bowl, East Carolina vs North Carolina State ... ECU down 17 with less than 10 minutes to go and wins. There were some late-game drives on which Franklin and Gottfried were in synch as I can't recall another broadcast team being in synch. Gottfried was dialed in and predicting (correctly) what plays ECU was going to run.

 

[MileHigh]

Always a good listen. RIP.

 

[Batman]

Enjoyed him tremendously. Maybe because he was the SEC Saturday night voice when my team was actually playing in big games --- and winning them.

If Uncle Verne is the eternal voice of Saturday afternoon for the SEC, Ron Franklin has the night shift.

 

[maumann]

My favorite college football play-by-play announcer ... and I'm not an SEC person.

1992 Peach Bowl, East Carolina vs North Carolina State ... ECU down 17 with less than 10 minutes to go and wins. There were some late-game drives on which Franklin and Gottfried were in synch as I can't recall another broadcast team being in synch. Gottfried was dialed in and predicting (correctly) what plays ECU was going to run.

Hoo boy! I know a whole lot of Wolfpack fans -- and at least one poster here -- who do not want that game mentioned ever again in polite company. That's "Buck Belue to Lindsay Scott" territory for N.C. State folks.

 

[HanSenSE]

https://www.si.com/media/2022/01/19/ron-franklin-espn-announcer-dies-79

There's an obit somewhere here among the videos and popups, right?

 

[Octave]

I don't even like NCAAF and would watch because of Franklin. He was the best guy at the network to call a football game, in my mind. Maybe any sport.

 

[dixiehack]

I've seen heads of state with less protection than Stallings received here.

He announced his retirement in the postgame press conference. That was a wild night, not least because an anonymous friend gifted me a ticket to the game after I’d had a truly ****ty fall and had to drop out of school and move back in with my parents.

 

[TigerVols]

Ron Franklin is one of the only SEC announcers who fans never complained was rooting for the other team (looking at you, Danielson)

 

[wicked]

Holly Rowe is uncorking a bottle of (alcohol-free, perhaps) bubbly.

He was understatedly great at his craft and I loved his voice, but it sounds like he wasn’t great to work with.

 

[tapintoamerica]

I remember being bummed when I heard about his history of offensive conduct because I really enjoyed my interactions with him.

 

[DanOregon]

One of the 10 best things ESPN ever did was do a live behind the scenes broadcast of a Saturday Night SEC game. Technologically amazing. You had Rece Davis interviewing the game producer at halftime much like a coach going into the locker room. Franklin warming up the pipes and doing the VO for the open. They had a camera in the truck and you could hear the person keeping track of the commercial breaks needed and counting in and out of them. I too greatly enjoyed Franklin's Saturday night games, whether watching live or the re-air after getting off work and having a few. He was a great announcer - and dismissive of female colleagues - neither cancels out the other.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Hoo boy! I know a whole lot of Wolfpack fans -- and at least one poster here -- who do not want that game mentioned ever again in polite company. That's "Buck Belue to Lindsay Scott" territory for N.C. State folks.

I didn't know Ron Franklin was on the call because I was in the band section at Fulton County Stadium. Chilly day that got no warmer down the stretch.

There was no one to blame for the loss but the coaching staff stupid enough to attempt a prevent defense. Jeff Blake carved it up, and **** Sheridan's staff should have adjusted. But between the idiot who pulled up a massive piece of purple turf to show us following the game and the purple idiots who tried to run through the block after the game, forgive me for wanting to forget that game. NCSU's fan base can engage in some poor behavior, to be kind, but it will never be the worst as long as East Carolina exists.

About the only highlights were the company – i.e., the other band bums – the halftime show in which the other band was beaten by a bunch and a parade down Peachtree Street where we marched past construction of that new facility called the Georgia Dome.

Back on topic ... I do recall Ron Franklin being a solid PBP guy. But was his treatment of Holly Rowe necessary? Was the seven-letter word necessary? Or the least bit funny?

Still, rest and Thank You.