University of Tennessee Athletics
John Ward Remembered
June 21, 2018 | Football, General, Men's Basketball
The Vol Network
The Vol Network
"It is with a heavy heart that we announce a great voice has gone silent. Mr. John Ward, legendary advertising executive, and one of the most beloved broadcasters and ambassadors for the University of Tennessee, passed away this evening in Knoxville.
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"Mr. Ward brought Tennessee football and basketball to life for millions of Tennesseans and listeners worldwide for over three decades. He propelled Tennessee to the forefront of marketing and broadcasting and remains the standard by which all others are measured. While it is a sad day for all Vol Fans, we take great pride in the fact that John belonged to us. Only the Tennessee Volunteers could call John their own, and he was proud to be 'Voice of the Vols.' He loved his alma mater, the fans, and the state of Tennessee. He remains the very heartbeat of the Vol Network.
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"Mr. Ward is preceded in death by his beloved wife, Barbara."
Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee Director of Athletics
"Our entire Tennessee family mourns the loss of the great John Ward. The University of Tennessee has lost one of its most beloved ambassadors.
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"For generations of Vol fans, John's voice brought to life many of their fondest memories of Tennessee football and basketball. His visionary thinking paved the way for the Vol Network's rise to prominence as the standard bearer for intercollegiate athletics marketing and broadcasting.Â
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"Despite our shared sadness, I believe it is appropriate to proudly reflect on and cherish the fact that John was ours. We will ensure that his legacy and memory are appropriately honored in the days, months and years to come."
Peyton Manning
Tennessee Football VFL
Peyton Manning, Tennessee Football VFL
"When I think about John Ward, I think about what an incredible life… what an incredible man… and what an incredible Tennessee Volunteer he was. Back when I was in school, and later when I was playing pro ball, whenever I would call someone in the Tennessee Athletic Department—whether I was calling Coach Fulmer, Coach Cutcliffe, Joe Harrington or anyone in the football department—I used to like when one of the assistants would answer and put me on hold, because when they put you on hold, you got to listen to John Ward radio calls from that season or some of his legendary calls from memorable games. That was the 'holding music.' And I used to just love staying on hold—I almost didn't want the person I was calling to pick up. I just loved hearing his voice and hearing some of his great calls of Tennessee football history.Â
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"When I got inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame last year, someone sent me a bunch of old radio calls of John Ward calling some of my touchdown passes to Joey Kent or Marcus Nash. And when I was there last fall on the field for a game, we got to recreate a touchdown pass to Joey Kent, and we kind of tried to sync it up with John Ward's voice as it was playing over the loudspeaker at Neyland Stadium.
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"He was a big part of my football life there at the University of Tennessee, and he was a part of all Tennessee football fans' lives. His voice and his passion for the Tennessee Vols are simply unmatched. Rest in peace, John. I love you. And I, along with all Tennessee faithful, will miss you."
Rick Barnes, Tennessee Men's Basketball Coach
"Steve Early brought John Ward to campus so that we could meet shortly after I got to Tennessee. John's love for the university was evident to me immediately. I could have listened to his stories for hours. He sent me a wonderful note shortly afterward. In the few years I've been blessed to be a part of the Volunteer family, one of the most striking things about our history is the universal love Tennessee fans have for John Ward. I'm very thankful to have known him."
Johnny Majors
Former Tennessee Football Coach & VFL
Johnny Majors, Former Tennessee Football Coach and VFL
"John Ward is an icon in the history of Tennessee Athletics. It's certainly a loss for the people who love and follow the Volunteers and all of sports. There was nobody quite like John. I enjoyed immensely working with him during my 16 years of coaching here. I appreciated the great job he did and I respected him. He was a master of his profession and we had a lot of fun together."
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Condredge Holloway
Tennessee Football VFL
Condredge Holloway, Tennessee Football VFL
"John Ward was a great friend of mine and he will be missed. He had a passion for broadcasting and was a master of his craft. Nobody will ever do it like he did it."
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Link Hudson, Senior Director of Broadcasting
(On the impact Ward had in the broadcasting industry as a whole)
"Well, just like so many people across the state of Tennessee, it's settled in that we've lost an icon and a treasure. He meant so much to so many different people. For UT grads certainly there was an unbelievably big spot in their hearts for him with the stories that he wove as he made his calls. I'll tell you, the thing that I think that may not get talked about as much over these next few days that I would like to talk about is his legacy among the broadcasting community. The reality of it is that John Ward had a standard, and that standard was an unrelenting, high standard. The only thing that we knew how to do as people that worked with him was to meet that standard and go about passing it down to our students and the people that we worked with, and that goes across all the TV stations in this market, it goes across all the radio stations, it goes through the university, the technical folks—John had a technical side to him, too, both behind the microphone on the radio and in front of the camera on television—so his legacy reaches so many people and how the media even approaches their jobs today by being prepared. Those are the two greatest words you could hear John tell you: you were very prepared, or you're a pro. And if he ever said those words, you knew he meant it, and you knew you had been given the highest compliment."
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(On watching Ward during the 1998 national championship game)
"I was holding a camera. I was a camera guy shooting, and so I was on the field, and I kept thinking while I was shooting, 'I cannot wait to hear the calls of this game,' because I knew they were going to be legendary. I got a chance to be in the locker room when he interviewed Coach [Phillip] Fulmer for the last radio show and I thought, 'How did I get here? How is a knucklehead from West Knoxville here, watching two of these unbelievable titans of this sport?' And again, he was prepared and professional to the very end, no tears—I think he got a little quivery at the end of his broadcast—but he was always the consummate pro."
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Steve Early
Vol Network General Manager
Steve Early, Vol Network General Manager
(On what Ward meant to the state of Tennessee)
"I've never ceased to be amazed at his popularity, and today the overwhelming amount of tributes that are pouring in from all quadrants of the state. He is the headline story. I've been with him on a summer day in Etowah, Tennessee, or Philadelphia or Cookeville and we'll be at some out-of-the way place because John loved to find the off-the-beaten-path restaurant – he was a food connoisseur, loved the out-of-the way place – and word would spread in any of those towns that John Ward was in town and it would be a parade of people peering around the corner, some people might be brave enough to come up and approach him, and he was always incredibly gracious. He meant a lot not just to Knoxville, Tennessee, not just to the University of Tennessee, but the entire state of Tennessee reveled in the fact that John Ward was our guy."
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(On if Ward's career during the "radio era" added to his mystique with Tennessee fans)
"I think that era produced so many talented broadcasters, John certainly being one, but there were a number of them and they all had their different styles. There was no television, there was no cable TV, there was no Internet or digital—radio was it, and you had to paint the picture, and the description that he could provide… He was meticulously organized, and he was all about pattern and repetition, setting the play, all of the various sets, but all of the other information that he would provide—and I've seen the clipboards he would have at either side that would have player hometowns, coaching staff, all of their information, their bios, all the way to the president, the chancellor—you got all of that information if you were listening to a Tennessee broadcast. There was never any dead air. John was going to fill it, and he was going to provide you with all of this detail, and that's what radio guys did."
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Heath Shuler
Tennessee Football VFL
Heath Shuler, Tennessee Football VFL
"Like so many Vol fans, John Ward was my first connection to the University of Tennessee. As a young boy, I would listen to the games on the radio and close my eyes while imagining running the football toward the checkerboard as he counted down the yards before he famously would say 'Give Him Six!' John, you have a special place in all of our hearts. Thank you for giving us so many great memories. God, 'Give Him Six.'"Â Â
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Gus Manning, Longtime Friend and Former UT Athletics Administrator
"John Ward was a perfectionist. He never did a broadcast of a game that he wasn't fully prepared to do, both from Tennessee's standpoint and that of our opponent. Ward and Haywood Harris loved good restaurants, and they went to many of them. They were both a pleasure for me to be associated with these many years."
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Bud Ford
Former Tennessee SID
Bud Ford, Former Tennessee Sports Information Director
(On Ward's skills as a basketball play-by-play broadcaster)
"I've always felt like basketball was his true calling. He was a tremendous basketball announcer, in my mind. His first game he did, he was working for the Knoxville Journal, and he did a high school game because he was covering it for the Journal. And at this game, they didn't have anybody to announce because the announcer didn't show up, so John called that game as a 'cub reporter,' as he called it. And from that point on, that became a career in broadcasting. He used to do the public address in Neyland Stadium before he became the (Vol Network broadcaster), so he had a lot of places that he fit into.
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"In basketball, he had a way of letting you know where the ball was on the court—was it the left wing, right wing… he identified players, and you felt like you could see the game through his call. He was good in football—had a lot of clichés there—but I believe basketball, in my mind, was where he really excelled."
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(On Ward's graciousness to Tennessee fans)
"Most important of all, John was accessible to his fans. Whenever he was out, he was gracious, and that's a big part of endearing who you are. He wasn't this 'rock star' so to speak, but he was gracious, and I think that's why people appreciated him. He'd speak with people all the time because he felt like that was a responsibility of his as a representative of the university, which he was."
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Bob Kesling, Director of Broadcasting
(On what made Ward so gifted)
"John just had that gift. He wasn't a yeller or a screamer, but he had such great control of his voice and emotions that he was able to capture the moment without using a lot of words. He used the perfect words, and that is what made him so special. Just look at all the great calls he made. He was succinct, precise and accurate, and that was his big calling card. He also had that colorful flare that made him stand out and unique."
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(On Ward's preparation for games)
"He would have a clipboard with 30 to 40 pages of typed notes, and he would occasionally thumb through it. I think he had most of it memorized. He might only use 20 or 30 percent of it, but that just tells you how much preparation he did. I think that is from his law background. He attacked every game as if he were about to go in a courtroom and had to make his case."
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(On Ward's persona behind the microphone)Â
"He was one of those special announcers that only come along every once in a while. He had a flare that a lot of guys don't have. He didn't fake it, and it wasn't phony. He had a flare for the dramatic."
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Bret Bertelkamp
Tennessee Basketball VFL & Vol Network Color Analyst
Bert Bertelkamp, Tennessee Basketball VFL and Vol Network Color Analyst
"I feel truly blessed to have a unique perspective regarding John Ward. I grew up in Knoxville listening to him call Tennessee basketball games on the radio. He also called every college game that I played in while at UT. And finally to have the opportunity to work for the Vol Network alongside Bob Kesling, who followed John as the Voice of the Vols, has been an awesome experience. John helped put UT basketball on the map. He touched my life in a positive way, and the lives of countless others throughout the state of Tennessee. He will be missed!"
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Bill Justus
Tennessee Basketball VFLÂ
Bill Justus, Tennessee Basketball VFL
"The relationship between John Ward and our basketball teams was extremely close. We were together for close to 30 games, half of which were two- or three-day road trips. And the number of players was only 10 to 12. He was our voice, but so much more than that… he was a great friend to all of us. The celebration after the triple-overtime game for the 1967 SEC Championship in Starkville saw John doused in the shower in his orange blazer just like the rest of us. And, yes, there was a smile on his face.
"He was the 'Voice of the Vols,' absolutely. But to basketball Vols, he was one of us. I remain a proud Vol still today, and I'm reminded of just how special our time at UT with John Ward, our coaches and teammates and our great fan base was. And yes, there is a tear on my cheek."
Ernie Grunfeld
Tennessee Basketball VFLÂ
Ernie Grunfeld, Tennessee Basketball VFL
"John was a great broadcaster and, more importantly, a great friend who will be remembered as a true Tennessee legend. His booming voice and passion for Volunteer athletics touched the lives of generations of fans and made him a great ambassador for the University. He will always be part of the most cherished memories of my playing days in Knoxville, and his legacy as the voice of the Volunteers will stand the test of time."
