RIP Ron Franklin

Another local broadcasting legend has passed away:

Ron Franklin, who spent nearly 20 years as a prominent voice on the Houston sports scene before rising to national prominence with ESPN, died Tuesday at the age of 79.

Franklin worked 24 years at ESPN, primarily as a play-by-play announcer for college football and college basketball. He was the voice of ESPN’s prime-time college football game from 1987 to 2005 before moving over to ESPN on ABC to call primarily Big 12 games.

Before ESPN, Franklin was the sports director at KHOU Channel 11 from 1971 to 1980 before moving over to KPRC Channel 2 where he stayed until joining ESPN in 1987.

Franklin was, along with anchor Ron Stone and meteorologist Doug Johnson, part of the KPRC news team I grew up watching on a nightly basis in the 1980s. His decision to join ESPN in 1987 may have come as a surprise, as that network was still relatively young and did not dominate the sports landscape the way it does today, but it clearly worked out well for him. That is, until his career at ESPN ended in controversy:

Franklin's run at ESPN came to an end during the 2010 college football bowl season when Franklin allegedly called sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards “sweet baby” during a production meeting, then called her an expletive after she objected. Franklin was fired by ESPN after the incident.

In addition to his local news duties, Franklin also spent much time as the play-by-play commentator for the Houston Oilers and for University of Texas athletics. Tributes from his former KPRC co-workers can be read here.