Eagles' Play-By-Play Voice Merrill Reese Is a Hall-Of-Famer

Longtime Eagles radio voice Merrill Reese is being honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the recipient of the 2024 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award.

Eagles former linebacker Jeremiah Trotter (left) and Eagles play-by-play announcer Merrill Reese. | Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

PHILADELPHIA - Longtime Eagles radio voice Merrill Reese is being honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the recipient of the 2024 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award.

“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,” said Jim Porter, president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

“For nearly a half-century, fans tuning into Eagles games, including opposing fans, have had the privilege of hearing Merrill’s legendary voice,” Porter continued.

The Eagles’ 2024-25 season will mark Reese’s 48th consecutive season as the team’s radio play-by-play announcer. 

Reese will be honored during the 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Week that includes the Enshrinees’ Gold Jacket Dinner in  Canton, Ohio on Friday, Aug. 2, and the Class of 2024 Enshrinement on Saturday, Aug. 3, in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

Reese began his radio career as a sportscaster for WPAZ in Pottstown, Pa., calling high school football games.  Reese then began working for WBCB in Levittown, Pa.,a station he still has ownership in today. Ultimately he landed at the Eagles’ flagship radio station, WIP in Philadelphia, in the early 1970s.

By 1977 Reese was on Eagles broadcasts providing color commentary alongside Charlie Swift, the team’s play-by-play voice 1969.

When Swift passed WIP tabbed Reese as a fill-in for the lead play-by-play job and the rest is history.

Reese marks the Eagles' Super Bowl LII win over New England as the highlight of his career and his call of the famed "Philly Special," perhaps his most enduring call.

A lifelong Philadelphia native, Reese attended Temple University and has previously been honored as the Pennsylvania Sportscaster of the Year, the Lindsey Nelson Award for Excellence in Sportscasting, as Philadelphia’s Best Sportscaster by Philadelphia Magazine and has been inducted into the
Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, Temple University Communications Hall of Fame and Overbrook High School Hall of Fame.

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