Monrovie Jones Angell IV (born 1979,

Sanford, North Carolina Sanford is a city in Lee County, North Carolina, Lee County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 30,261 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Lee County. History Sanford was named for C.O. Sanford, a railroad civil engineer i ...

), known professionally as Jones Angell, is the current “Voice of the

Tar Heels Tar Heel is a nickname applied to the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is also the nickname of the University of North Carolina athletic teams, students, alumni, and fans. The origins of the Tar Heel nickname trace back to North Carolina's promi ...

,” the

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

radio announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, ...

for the

North Carolina Tar Heels football The North Carolina Tar Heels football team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the sport of American football or Gridiron Football. The Tar Heels play in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate ...

and men’s basketball programs.

Early life

Angell spent most of his childhood in

Jacksonville, North Carolina Jacksonville is a city in Onslow County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,723, which makes Jacksonville the 14th-largest city in North Carolina. Jacksonville is the county seat and most populous commun ...

. He grew up listening to

Woody Durham Woody Lombardi Durham (August 8, 1941 – March 7, 2018) was an American play-by-play radio announcer for the North Carolina Tar Heels football and men’s basketball programs from 1971 to 2011. Early life Born in Mebane, North Carolina, Durham ...

and

Mick Mixon Forest Orion "Mick" Mixon III is the former play-by-play radio voice announcer for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League. Mixon took this position during the 2005 football season, replacing Bill Rosinski. Previously, he was the col ...

calling Tar Heel football and basketball games on the radio with his family. Growing up, Angell wanted to do

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

play-by-play announcing, against the objections of his mother. While a student at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

, Angell enrolled in what was then known as the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Between his sophomore and junior years, he started interning with the

Tar Heel Sports Network The Tar Heel Sports Network is a radio network in the United States dedicated to broadcasting live events and programming relating to North Carolina Tar Heels athletics. It is operated by Tar Heel Sports Properties, a property of Learfield IMG ...

, where he feels he received most of his training.

Early career

Angell started out his career calling high school football and baseball games in

in 1999. Angell's first job with the Tar Heel Sports Network was calling play-by-play for a

Little League Baseball Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization WIZS WIZS (1450 AM) is a radio station licensed to Henderson, North Carolina Henderson is a city and the county seat of Vance County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 15,060 at the 2020 census. History The city was named in hono ...

while still an intern. John Rose, who was the engineer for the Tar Heel Sports Network at the time, is part of the family who owns WIZS. Angell continued to call high school football games while still an undergraduate at UNC Chapel Hill. He also started doing color commentary for

North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer The North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Atlantic Coast Conference of NCAA Division I soccer.

and

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It began being played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large part via women's college compet ...

. After graduating from UNC Chapel Hill, Angell worked in various radio and hosting positions within the Tar Heel Sports Network. Prior to becoming the voice of the Tar Heels, Angell was best known for providing color and later play-by-play commentary for Tar Heel baseball from 2000 to 2011, and for working alongside Durham and his staff as a host and color analyst for football and men's basketball broadcasts from 2005 until 2011. As assistant director of new media at UNC Chapel Hill, Angell produced many features that have been shown on the video boards at

Kenan Stadium Kenan Memorial Stadium is a stadium located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and is the home field of the North Carolina Tar Heels. It is primarily used for football. The stadium opened in 1927 and holds 50,500 people. It is located near the center ...

and the

Dean Smith Center The Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center (commonly known as the Dean Smith Center, Smith Center, or the Dean Dome) is a multi-purpose arena in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, used primarily as the home for the University of North Carolina at Ch ...

As the voice of the Tar Heels

A nationwide search was conducted to find Durham’s successor after Durham announced his retirement in 2011. Angell beat out several other candidates to become the new voice of the Tar Heels. Then-Tar Heel Sports Network general manager Gary Sobba and then-UNC Chapel Hill athletic director Dick Baddour flew out to

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

, during the

2011 College World Series The 2011 NCAA Division I baseball tournament began on Friday, June 3, 2011 as part of the 2011 NCAA Division I baseball season. The 64 team double elimination tournament concluded with the 2011 College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 29 ...

to inform Angell of the news. In Angell’s second season as play-by-play announcer for Tar Heel football, Angell called a game-winning punt return made by Gio Bernard against

North Carolina State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

, snapping the Tar Heels' six-game losing streak against State. Angell feels this call sparked his relationship with the Tar Heel fanbase and says people still talk to him about this particular call. Angell even parodied this call for a video for ''

The Daily Tar Heel ''The Daily Tar Heel'' (''DTH'') is the independent student newspaper of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was founded on February 23, 1893, and became a daily newspaper in 1929. The paper places a focus on university news and sp ...

’s'' sports department. When the 2016-17 basketball team won the school's sixth NCAA title, Angell ended the game by saying: His use of "dadgum" was a nod to basketball coach Roy Williams' frequent use of the word. Angell called part of the 2014 Tar Heel baseball season for

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an online streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communications ...

and

WatchESPN WatchESPN was a branding of the Internet television website and mobile application operated by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Cor ...

. Angell also wrote articles for the now-defunct magazines ''Tar Heel Monthly'' and ''CAROLINA: the Magazine'', as well as for GoHeels.com. Angell co-hosts a podcast, Carolina Insider, that launched on September 20, 2016, in a partnership with Learfield Communications and podcast provider DGital Media. Angell's co-host is Adam Lucas, a longtime TarHeelBlue.com and GoHeels.com columnist, an author of Tar Heel men's basketball books, and a contributor to Tar Heel Sports Network broadcasts. Angell worked with Lucas, who provided color commentary, on Tar Heel Sports Network coverage of Tar Heel baseball as early as 2004. Learfield offered Angell the podcast by himself, but Angell asked Learfield if Lucas could co-host the podcast with him. Both Angell and Lucas were considering working on a podcast together prior to Learfield's offer.

Personal life

Angell is married with two children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Angell, Jones College baseball announcers in the United States College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers American radio sports announcers UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media alumni 1979 births Living people People from Jacksonville, North Carolina American podcasters American sportswriters North Carolina Tar Heels baseball announcers North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball announcers North Carolina Tar Heels football announcers People from Sanford, North Carolina