Wes Durham facts for kids
Dallas Wesley "Wes" Durham is a well-known American sportscaster. He was born on January 25, 1966, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Wes is famous for describing the action of games as they happen, which is called "play-by-play" announcing. You can hear his voice on ESPN and the ACC Network when they cover college football and basketball games.
For many years, Wes Durham was the radio voice for the Georgia Tech football and men's basketball teams. He started in 1995 and announced football games until 2010. He continued announcing basketball games until 2013. Wes also worked as Georgia Tech's Director of Broadcasting. Today, he is the radio play-by-play announcer for the Atlanta Falcons football team.
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About Wes Durham
His Early Life
Wes Durham grew up around sports broadcasting. His father, Woody Durham, was a legendary sportscaster. He was known as the "Voice of the Tar Heels" for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for 40 years. Being around his father's work gave Wes a special look at how sports broadcasting happens.
When Wes was in high school, he worked as a disc jockey at a roller rink. He also worked at a radio station. Wes went to Apex High School. After high school, he attended Elon College. There, he learned more about broadcasting. He worked as an assistant for the Elon Sports Network and a local radio station called WBAG.
After graduating in 1988, Wes worked as a radio announcer for athletic teams. He worked at Marshall University and Radford University. Later, he spent three years working at Vanderbilt University.
Time at Georgia Tech
Wes Durham joined Georgia Tech in the fall of 1995. In 1997, he also became Tech's Director of Broadcasting. For a while, Wes worked with former Tech quarterback Kim King. After King passed away in 2003, Wes worked with Jeff Van Note and Rick Strom.
Wes was known for his exciting calls during games. He had a lot of energy and charisma. Some of his most memorable calls include big games between Tech and the Georgia Bulldogs in 1998 and 1999. He also called Calvin Johnson's game-winning catch at Clemson in 2004. Another famous call was Will Bynum's game-winning layup in the Final Four in 2004. Wes left his role at Georgia Tech in 2013. His duties were then taken over by Brandon Gaudin.
His Broadcasting Career
Play-by-Play Announcing
Starting with the 2004 NFL season, Wes Durham began announcing games for the Atlanta Falcons on the radio. He did this in addition to his work at Georgia Tech. In 2011, Raycom Sports started producing ACC college football games. These games aired on Fox Sports Net. Wes was chosen to be the play-by-play announcer because of his long history with the ACC. He worked with analyst James Bates. During his time at Elon, Wes also interned at a local radio station. He was part of the broadcast team for WM Williams Bulldogs football.
Radio Host
In 2018, Wes Durham started hosting a radio show called ACC This Morning. It aired on SiriusXM ACC Radio. His co-host was Mark Packer. In March 2019, it was announced that Wes and Mark would host a similar show. This new show, called Packer and Durham, aired on both SiriusXM and ESPN's new ACC Network.
