An epic career and a muted voice

Rest in peace, Woody Durham.

The "Voice of the Tar Heels" died today at his home from a rare disease, Primary Progressive Aphasia, after a 40-year career of calling UNC football and basketball games. To many thousands of UNC fans, Woody's voice was as recognizable as their own mother's. We would mute the television and listen to Woody's distinct, well-informed, detailed, professional, entertaining and mostly objective broadcasts of the games. You knew where his feelings lay, but he was too much of a professional to play cheerleader.

His death came nearly seven years after he pulled the plug on his microphone when, he said, he realized that his commentary was not as sharp and cogent as it used to be. In a terrible irony, the Voice of the Tar Heels was losing his voice and losing his ability to string together words. He chose to leave the broadcast booth while his mind and his vocal chords were still in reasonable shape.

I had heard Woody's sportscasts before he became the game announcer for UNC sports. I had seen his work on WFMY-TV in Greensboro, so when his voice moved to Tar Heel Sports Network games, it was warm and familiar. I had been a fan of his predecessor, Bill Currie, the "Mouth of the South." Currie was in many ways the opposite of Woody. Listeners (and broadcast executives) never knew what Currie might say or how he might say it, but he was funny, even if tasteless at times. In the heat of a game, he'd get so excited and tongue-tied that his commentary fell well behind the action on the field or the court. Woody brought professionalism and hard work to the UNC broadcasts, and fans soon forgot Currie's antics in favor of Woody's thorough preparation and exacting details.

Today, I can hear Woody's voice occasionally on the broadcasts anchored by his son, Wes, who looks and sounds much like his dad. We hear Wes, and our hearts throb at the sound ("It's Woody") on Raycom and Fox Sports broadcasts. Like aging relatives who disappear into nursing homes, alive only in a medical sense of the word, Woody disappeared years ago, when his voice failed and his memory faded. In this, he was like Coach Smith, who left the greatness of his life long before his heart stopped beating.

Every UNC fan envied Woody, the man who got to attend and to discuss 1,800 UNC football and basketball games. He knew all the coaches, beginning with the immortal Dean Smith, and all the great players over the decades. He interviewed them and watched them develop and became friends with many of them. Woody was the ultimate fan, the one who attended every game, pronounced every player's name correctly, knew all the statistics, and could tell listeners, in times of tumult, to "go where you go and do what you do" to pull the Tar Heels to victory.

Tar Heels found a winner in 1971

When Woody Durham took over as play-by-play announcer for the Tar Heel Sports Network 40 years ago, I was skeptical. Durham announced his retirement Wednesday.

Woody, who was just a few years older than I, was a tepid puddle compared to the roaring stream he was replacing, Bill Currie. Currie, who was sports anchor for WSOC-TV in Charlotte, reveled in his moniker as "Mouth of the South." He was the kind of guy who would say almost anything on the air and get away with it. Sometimes the action on the court moved faster than his tongue and mouth could follow, and he'd say, "You shoulda seen it!" In those days, few games were televised, so UNC fans had to rely on radio broadcasts to keep up. Currie was colorful. "He just faked him right out of his athletic undergarment," he'd say. Currie was a personality, and my friends and I would listen to games partly just to hear what outlandish thing Currie might say next.

When Currie left for fabled KDKA in Pittsburgh, Woody, then the sports director at a Greensboro television station, got the job. Durham was the antithesis of Bill Currie, and I wasn't sure at first that it was a good trade. Woody approached the job differently from Currie. Where Currie wanted to entertain and be the center of attention, Durham wanted to disappear into game action. He always seemed to have his background information at his fingertips and could do a credible job of keeping pace with the action on the court. He was as sophisticated as Currie was outlandish. And although I tired of hearing all the plugs for commercial sponsors that he worked into his game commentary, I thought Durham did as good a job as any team-affiliated announcer in staying objective and giving the other team, its coaches and its star players their due.

After 40 years of listening to Woody Durham, I'll miss him, and I'll admit I was wrong. Though he's not as funny or as outlandish as the Mouth of the South was, Woody has been more professional and more descriptive, all that you can expect from a game announcer.