Legendary Philadelphia Eagles radio announcer Merrill Reese has been inducted into several halls of fame.
Those include the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the Temple University Communications Hall of Fame, the Overbrook High School Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
But on June 12, Reese learned that he had gotten into the most glorious hall there is for someone in his line of work: the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
The man who has called Eagles games on WIP since 1977 won the hall’s 2024 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. Named for the former NFL commissioner, the honor has gone to some of the biggest names in broadcasting such as Jim Nantz, John Madden and others.
The Jewish announcer will live on in football history. He will be honored during the Hall of Fame induction weekend in August.
“I am humbled to be a part of something as big and prestigious as the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Reese said.
In a post on profootballhof.com about the award, hall President Jim Porter said, “Each year, the Hall of Fame recognizes an individual who has dedicated their career to improving radio and television in professional football, and this year’s recipient, Merrill Reese, represents exactly what we are looking for when we talk about who’s made a big impact in broadcasting.”
Reese had no idea that the call from Porter was coming. He was on his way to the Merion Golf Club when it came.
“I said, ‘Who do I know in Canton?’” he told Fox29.
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, in a statement posted to X, described Reese as “the soundtrack of Philadelphia Eagles football.”
Reese’s first congratulatory phone call came from another Eagles Hall of Famer: receiver Harold Carmichael. And the calls and texts haven’t stopped coming. Reese has received more than 1,000 from current and former Eagles, radio contemporaries and friends and acquaintances.
“I’m just soaking it all up,” the announcer said.
Reese began his career calling high school football games for WPAZ in Pottstown, according to profootballhof.com. He also worked for WBCB in Levittown (which he now co-owns) and WWDB in Philadelphia.
In the early 1970s, Reese auditioned to do sports updates for WIP while Sports Director Charlie Swift was on summer vacation. The station hired him before he left the studio to do the Eagles pre and postgame shows.
During the 1977 season, Reese served as Swift’s color commentator for Eagles games. In December of that year, he took over play-by-play duties after Swift died.
The announcer said, “A chill went through my body,” after he got the call about Swift’s death. That Sunday during a moment of silence, the players on both sidelines turned to face the booth. Reese said he just hoped that “something would come out of my mouth.”
As the profootball.com post noted, he’s now the longest-tenured radio announcer in the sport.
The announcer told the Exponent in 2022 that he “floats” whenever he’s on the air.
“The greatest honor I have is the ability to go into that booth each week and broadcast to the greatest fan base in the NFL,” he said. “To have the honor to do something I truly, truly love is more meaningful than I could ever describe.”
Reese, a longtime member of Congregation Beth Or in Maple Glen, signed a new contract in March 2022 to continue calling Eagles games.
“I want to do it forever,” he told the Exponent later that year.
The announcer just got done attending the team’s offseason practices. Now that those are over, he plans on playing as much golf as possible until training camp starts, he said. He’s bullish on the 2024 club.
“I believe that roster-wise they are as good as any team in the NFC and perhaps the entire NFL,” he said. “But the NFL is a war of attrition. Very often, it’s the team that stays the healthiest at the key positions.”
“Eagles fans have every reason to be optimistic,” he added.
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