TOWSON, Md. - Veteran ESPN broadcaster Ron Franklin will serve as the emcee for the 2009 Academic All-America® Hall of Fame induction ceremony, set for Monday, June 22 in conjunction with the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) annual workshop in San Antonio, Texas.
The 23rd induction class of the Academic All-America® Hall of Fame includes Tom Clark, ’87 of Mount Vernon Nazarene, Diane Dietz, ’82 of the University of Michigan, Julie Roe Lach, ’97 of Millikin University, Dr. Patrick Tyrance, ‘90 of Nebraska and Karch Kiraly, ‘83 of UCLA. Founded in 1988, they will increase the Academic All-America® Hall of Fame membership to 108 former Scholar-Athletes. In addition, former Michigan State basketball standout Steve Smith, ’91 will be honored as the winner of the Dick Enberg Award.
For more than 20 years at ESPN, Franklin has established himself as one of the best and most versatile commentators in the industry. He joined ESPN in 1987 and has become one of the network’s primary football and men’s college basketball play-by-play commentators. Over the last two years, Franklin has been the lead play-by-play broadcaster for both Big 12 basketball and football games on ESPN and ESPN on ABC. From 1987 to 2005, he was the anchor of ESPN’s College Football Primetime.
“We are thrilled to have Ron Franklin serve as emcee of the 2009 CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame ceremony,” said Nick Joos of Baylor University, the CoSIDA president. “He has long been regarded as one of ESPN’s signature voices. With this year’s CoSIDA convention being held in the Lone Star state, it is most appropriate that Ron host the convention’s premiere event.”
Along with his work with football and basketball broadcasts, Franklin has provided play-by-play for tennis (including the 1991, ’92 and ’93 French Opens), college baseball and the U.S. Olympic Festival (basketball, synchronized swimming, track & field, weightlifting and wrestling). In addition, he has hosted The NCAA Today and Sportsman’s Challenge, as well as the Bassmaster Classic.
Prior to joining the ESPN, Franklin was the basketball and football play-by-play broadcaster for the University of Texas (1983-88). He has also broadcast the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for the NCAA Radio Network, the Houston Marathon and various track & field as well as WCT tennis events for various syndicators.
Franklin began his broadcasting career in 1965 with KSWS-TV in Roswell, N.M. as the sports director and sports anchor. He held the same positions while working at KVOO-TV (1967-71) in Tulsa, Okla., along with KHOU-TV (1971-80) and KPRC-TV (1980-87) in Houston, Texas. During his time in Houston, he was the radio voice for the Houston Oilers from 1971-82.
In 1998, Franklin received the Jake Wade Memorial Award from CoSIDA for the support of the values of intercollegiate athletics. He also operates Ron Franklin Productions, an Austin, Texas-based production company that produces various syndicated television and radio sports programs.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Dan O’Connell, Towson University (
doconnell@towson.edu) (410) 704-3102
Academic All-America ® Vice-Chair For Publicity/Communications