Paul Morris James (July 17, 1931 – October 6, 2018) was an American sportscaster. He was longtime play-by-play announcer on KSL 1160-AM radio broadcasts of football and basketball games involving the

BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the West ...

from 1965 to 2000.

Early life

James was born on July 17, 1931, in

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

, where he was also raised. A childhood accident, in which he broke his two front teeth, made him introverted until high school. But James conquered his shyness to become the student body president during his senior year at Ogden High. James had a strong desire to compete in athletics, but his doctors prevented him from participating because of a heart murmur that developed after a serious illness. After high school, James attended the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

on a

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...

scholarship.

Broadcasting career

James got his start as a broadcaster, filling in on weekend sportscasts with KDYL-TV in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, in the 1950s. He eventually started working for KDYL (AM) as well and he did play-by-play on University of Utah football and basketball games.Greg Wrubell: Paul James could not remain behind when LaVell Edwards retired
/ref> When KDYL lost the rights to broadcast the Utes' games in 1965 to

KALL KALL (700 AM) is a sports radio station in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area licensed to North Salt Lake, Utah, though in station identifications and the FCC database, the station is listed as being licensed to "North Salt Lake City". The ...

, James took an offer from KSL to call BYU games instead. At the same time, he took over as sports director at

KSL-TV KSL-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Bonneville International, the for-profit broadcasting arm of the Church of Jesus Chr ...

, a post he held until 1991. For his entire tenure at KSL-TV, he was teamed with anchorman

Dick Nourse Dick Nourse is a retired Salt Lake City, Utah television news anchor. He most recently worked for KSL 5 Television. Nourse joined the KSL news team in 1964 as the station's weekend anchor/reporter. Six months later, he was named the station's we ...

and weatherman Bob Welti. The trio were the longest-running evening news team in the nation at the time James left channel 5 to focus solely on Cougar football and basketball. James suffered a heart episode at Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium just prior to the BYU-Utah football game at end the 1996 season. He completed broadcasting the game after signing a release for the paramedics. After the game he drove himself to the hospital, where he was admitted and had a 6 bypass heart surgery performed . He only missed one game—the first ever WAC championship game two weeks later—because of the heart surgery. James subsequently recovered and returned in six weeks, to call the 1997

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...

where BYU defeated Kansas State 19-15. He did miss occasional basketball games, when dates for football and basketball games conflicted, before switching to football only. James ultimately chose to retire from being "the voice of the Cougars" after longtime BYU coach LaVell Edwards announced his retirement just before the 2000 college football season.

Greg Wrubell Greg Wrubell is a sports broadcaster based out of Cedar Hills, Utah. He is a commentator for college sports, including football, men's basketball, and women's soccer for Brigham Young University's (BYU) Sports Network and was the television voice ...

, who had been sideline reporter for football games since 1992 and the main basketball announcer since 1996, succeeded him as radio play-by-play announcer. In 2005, James was inducted in the BYU sports hall of fame. He died on October 6, 2018, at the age of 87.

''Cougar Tales''

James wrote a book '' Cougar Tales'', published in 1984, which chronicled his experiences calling play-by-play for BYU football and basketball up to that point.Paul James will autograph books
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Paul 1931 births 2018 deaths Sportspeople from Ogden, Utah Writers from Ogden, Utah American sports announcers University of Utah alumni BYU Cougars football announcers BYU Cougars men's basketball announcers College football announcers College basketball announcers in the United States