CBS Sports' Billy Packer to be Honored with CoSIDA's 2008 Jake Wade Award
Emmy Award Winning Broadcaster Recognized for Contributions to Intercollegiate Athletics
Billy Packer, who will broadcast his 100th Final Four game on Saturday, April 5, was selected by the membership of the College Sports Information Directors of America as the 2008 winner of the Jake Wade Award.
The award is presented annually to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution in the media to the field of intercollegiate athletics. Previous recipients include: Keith Jackson, Furman Bisher, Dick Enberg, Jim Simpson, Dan Jenkins, Dick Vitale, Robin Roberts, Christine Brennan and CBS Sports producer, Steve Scheer.
The Award is named for Jake Wade, the widely acclaimed sports journalist and national magazine contributor for the Charlotte Observer and Sports Information Director at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill from 1946-62.
This is Billy Packer’s 27th season as lead analyst for CBS Sports college basketball coverage and 34th consecutive year covering the Final Four. He won a Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality/Analyst in 1993.
The son of a coach and stand out guard at Wake Forest University, Packer began broadcasting in 1972 covering ACC games and is in his 34th consecutive year calling ACC games for Raycom/Jefferson Pilot Sports. He joined NBC Sports in 1974 for the opening round of the NCAA Tournament and then teamed with Curt Gowdy in 1975 for the entire tournament. The following year he worked with Dick Enberg on college basketball’s first regular season network television series, as well as the NCAA Tournament. In 1978, Al McGuire joined the pair, becoming one of the most popular broadcasting trios ever.
He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, the Wake Forest University Hall of Fame, the National Basketball Hall of Fame as the Curt Gowdy Media Award and the National Polish Hall of Fame. Packer also has received the North Carolina Sportscaster of the Year Award.
Packer spends the majority of his time investing and developing real estate including Old Beau Golf Club in Roaring Gap, N.C. Packer was born Feb. 25, 1940 in Wellsville, N.Y. and currently lives in Charlotte, N.C. with his wife, Barbara. He has three children Mark, Liz and Brandt and three grandchildren, G.G, Emerson and Jack.