Randy Smith
Earlier this week, my good friend Larry Ward received perhaps his greatest honor. He was selected to the Southern League Hall of Fame, becoming just the fifth Chattanooga Lookout to ever be inducted. Now, I'm sure that Larry was a pretty good player in his day but the honor had nothing to do with his athletic ability. He was selected as a Hall of Famer due to his broadcasting abilities. He's been the "Voice" of the Lookouts for a grand total of 34 years, with the last 28 years consecutively in Chattanooga.
He's going into the Hall of Fame for his baseball announcing duties, but he has been so much more diverse.
For the past several years he has also been the "Voice" of the Chattanooga Lady Mocs basketball team. Every game done in his very professional, yet "aw shucks" style. He has never been afraid to speak up when an official or an umpire blows a call but he knows just how far he can go without getting himself into trouble.
I have known Larry Ward since the mid-1980s when he first came to Chattanooga. We did a few Lookouts' games together, I also filled in for him a few times when he had to be away from the ball park. We even did a sports talk show together on radio back in 1989. I'm sure he will remember the funniest thing that has ever happened to me while on the air, and perhaps his funniest moment as well. Larry and I were in a separate studio from the control room at WDOD radio. Our control room operator this particular evening had brought his one-year-old son to the studio with him. About half way through the show, the youngster had an "accident" and while changing the child's diaper......let's just say the accident continued. Larry and I absolutely lost it. We couldn't go to a commercial break because the guy in the control room was more than occupied and, after a few minutes, the accident took on a mind of its own. We laughed for what seemed like forever until we both had tears streaming down our face. I can only imagine what our listeners thought.
Larry spent a few years away from Chattanooga as the "Voice" of The Citadel Bulldogs in Charleston, South Carolina. As part of his duties with the Military College of the South, he had to wear a light blue blazer to all of the Bulldogs' games. Not only did Larry have to wear these powder blue sport coats, but so did his entire radio crew. Three or four of these guys, all dressed alike in these awful looking blazers; blazers that made them all look like student managers on a Dean Smith basketball team at North Carolina. When he returned to Chattanooga to begin his current stint as the "Voice" of the Lookouts, I asked him if he still had that light blue blazer from The Citadel. He just gave me one of those looks....you know a look like, "Come on man. Give me a break."
Larry and I have had some great times together, shared a lot of meals, and a lot of laughs down through the years. But I want him to know how proud I am for him to get this honor. It shows that the Southern League has a great appreciation for people who have spent almost their entire lives in one seat, behind one microphone, and doing a more than professional job. Larry has become a true Chattanoogan who loves his community as much as we love him.
As he begins his 35th year as a Southern League broadcaster, I hope he has his greatest year ever. I know that the bus rides seem to be a bit longer now than they were when he first started. I know the road trips also seem to be a bit longer as well. He has certainly contemplated retirement over the past couple of years but he will still board the bus in April when the season begins. And he will still call a home run by saying, "Goooood bye......baseball!!" He will still keep us informed about our Lookouts and he will be one of the best play-by-play announcers I have ever heard. Larry, I hope that invitation is still there to come join you in the booth to do a few innings with you. It'll be great just to sit by a true Hall of Famer.
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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. He is currently teaching Broadcasting at Coahulla Creek High School near Dalton, Ga.
His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for thirty years.
He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga Television for more than a quarter-century.
In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, (Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith.) They have four grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, DellaMae and CoraLee.
He can be reached at rsmithsports@epbfi.com