The legendary Merrill Reese is receiving a major honor from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Reese, the longtime radio voice of the Eagles, has been chosen to receive the 2024 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award and will be honored during Hall of Fame Enshrinement Week in early August in Canton, Ohio.
“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 look for when we talk about who’s made a big impact in broadcasting,” Pro Football Hall of Fame president Jim Porter said in a statement. “For nearly a half century, fans tuning into Eagles games, including opposing fans, have had the privilege of hearing Merrill’s legendary voice.”
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This upcoming 2024 season will be Reese’s 48th consecutive season as the Eagles’ radio play-by-play announcer and he still loves what he does.
“Oh, my god. Thank you so much,” Reese said, via a release from the Hall of Fame. “I can’t tell you what this means to me.”
Reese, a Philadelphia native, is a Temple University product and began his radio career at WPAZ in Pottstown. But in 1977 he began as the color guy and eventually took over as the lead play-by-play announcer. He’s held the job ever since.
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Reese joined us on an Eagle Eye back in 2022 and explained his everlasting love for calling Eagles games:
“There’s no place in the world I would rather be and nothing in the world I would rather do,” he said. “I love it as much as I have ever loved it. I am just as nervous before the first preseason game as I would be before the Super Bowl. I am still nervous every Sunday morning that I get up to do a game or Monday or Thursday.”
Here are the past winners of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award:
2023 – Fred Gaudelli
2022 – Howard Katz
2021 – John Facenda
2020 – Joe Buck
2019 – Dick Ebersol
2018 – Andrea Kremer
2017 – David Hill
2016 – James Brown
2015 – Tom Jackson
2014 – Bob Trumpy
2013 – Al Michaels
2012 – Len Dawson
2011 – Jim Nantz
2010 – Chris Berman
2009 – Irv Cross
2008 – Dan Dierdorf
2007 – Don Meredith
2006 – Lesley Visser
2005 – Myron Cope
2004 – Van Miller
2003 – Don Criqui
2002 – John Madden
2001 – Roone Arledge
2000 – Ray Scott
1999 – Dick Enberg
1998 – Val Pinchbeck
1997 – Charlie Jones
1996 – Jack Buck
1995 – Frank Gifford
1994 – Pat Summerall
1993 – Curt Gowdy
1992 – Chris Schenkel
1991 – Ed Sabol
1990 – Lindsey Nelson
1989 – Bill McPhail