ESPN's Ron Franklin to Emcee the 2010 CoSIDA Hall of Fame awards gala
BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. -- Veteran ESPN broadcaster Ron Franklin will return to serve as emcee of the 2010 College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame Gala on Tuesday, July 6th as part of CoSIDA’s annual workshop in San Francisco, Calif.
Franklin returns to host the premier event of the CoSIDA workshop calendar, as he served as master of ceremonies for the 2009 CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame induction ceremony in San Antonio, Tex.
This year’s CoSIDA Hall of Fame event will combine both the Academic All-America Hall of Fame and the CoSIDA Hall of Fame inductions into one very special evening.
One of the best and most versatile voices in the industry, Franklin is in his third decade in serving as one of the network’s college football and basketball play-by-play commentators involving multiple conferences on the ESPN family of networks. He had also anchored ESPN’s College Football Primetime telecasts from 1987 through 2005.
"The CoSIDA membership is thrilled that Ron Franklin will be back to emcee our Hall of Fame gala event on July 6 in San Francisco,” CoSIDA President Justin Doherty of the University of Wisconsin said of Franklin’s return. “Ron is one of the most respected play-by-play men in the business and those of us who have worked with him know him to be a true professional. We're very excited to have him with us this summer.”
A resident of Austin, Tex., Franklin has shown his versatility in covering numerous events throughout his career, providing play-by-play for tennis at the French Open for three years, college baseball and the United States Olympic Festival. In addition, Ron has hosted “The NCAA Today” and “Sportsman’s Challenge”, and the avid fisherman has also hosted the “Bassmaster Classic”.
Prior to joining ESPN, Franklin was the basketball and football play-by-play announcer for the University of Texas from 1983 through 1988. He has also broadcast men’s basketball tournament action for the NCAA Radio Network, the Houston Marathon as well as WCT tennis events for various syndicators.
A graduate of the University of Mississippi, Franklin began his broadcasting career in 1965 with KSWS-TV in Roswell, N. Mex. as its’ sports director and sports anchor, and he held the same positions while working at KVOO-TV in Tulsa, Okla. (1967-71) as well as both KHOU-TV (1971-80) and KPRC-TV (1980-87) in Houston, Tex. Ron also served as the radio voice of the Houston Oilers for 12 seasons from 1971 through 1982.
Franklin received the Jake Wade Memorial Award from CoSIDA in 1998 for the support of the values of intercollegiate athletics. In addition to his duties at ESPN, Ron also operates Ron Franklin Productions, an Austin, Tex.-based production company that produces various syndicated television and radio sports programming.