Southeastern Conference football has a long and storied history.
Part of the SEC’s history were games televised on Jefferson Pilot Sports.
2008 was the final season SEC games were broadcast by Jefferson Pilot Sports, Lincoln Financial Sports and Raycom.
Dave Rowe served as a color analyst on broadcasts. He reflected on calling SEC games with Vols Wire.
“The fans were so great,” Rowe said. “We would go into a stadium, whether it was South Carolina, Vanderbilt or whoever it was, they would meet us getting out of our cars. They always had nice things to say. I never had a nasty confrontation with any fan in the SEC.
“I think the thing I cherish most about the days with JP and Lincoln Financial are the friendships that I made with some coaches, ADs, and of course, the team that we had. We had the same team week after week and I still talk to them. It was just so much fun.”
Before the SEC Network launched in 2014, ESPN purchased rights for the weekly Jefferson Pilot Sports, Lincoln Financial Sports and Raycom contests kicking off at noon EDT.
Rowe discussed how he retired prior to ESPN purchasing rights for SEC games.
“I actually left while everything was just normal – Raycom game of the week or Lincoln Financial game of the week,” he said. “I had a shoulder surgery and I developed MRSA. It was a real, terrible infection and I had five operations in nine days. I lost about 35 pounds and I was pretty sick.
“We started into the spring and Rob Reichley, who was the producer of JP and Lincoln Financial, he came to me and said do you think you’re going to be well? I had spent 30 years in broadcasting and I was getting up into retirement age, and my work, my regular job, I was a manager for an electric utility. I would have loved to continue, but my health was such, it was going to take me all summer to get back and I didn’t want to put them in position where they were scrambling at the last minute, so I retired.”
Bob Kesling has served as the voice of Tennessee football since 1999, replacing John Ward following the Vols’ 1998 national championship season.
Kesling served as a sideline reporter and play-by-play for Jefferson Pilot Sports.
“Before John Ward retired, a year or so before he retired, Bob was in the booth as play-by-play and I stayed as color analyst,” Rowe said. “I worked with him several years being a sideline reporter and he came up to the booth.
“Bob is the epitome of a professional. He is very well prepared, studies the game. He was a great person to work with. For me, he was perfect because he was relaxed, he wasn’t hyper or anything like that. He enjoyed the game, he played the game at Tennessee. He’s a professional in every manner.”
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