Bill Campbell (September 7, 1923 – October 6, 2014) was a sportscaster in the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

area. He was born in the Logan section of North Philadelphia. Campbell began his broadcasting career in high school at multi-ethnic WTEL, a Philadelphia radio station. He moved to

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

in 1941 as a Minor League Baseball announcer, and then settled in Philadelphia in 1942, where he lived the rest of his life. Campbell first started in area radio at WIP, before moving to

WCAU WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jerse ...

in 1946 as sports director, taking the same position when

WCAU-TV WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jerse ...

began its historic telecasts, in 1948; he remained in that position until 1966. Campbell was play-by-play announcer for the

Philadelphia Warriors The history of the Golden State Warriors began in Philadelphia in 1946. In 1962, the franchise was relocated to San Francisco, California and became known as the San Francisco Warriors until 1971, when its name was changed to the current Golden St ...

from their debut in 1946 until their move to San Francisco in 1962, calling

Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game Wilt Chamberlain set the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association (NBA) by scoring 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a 169–147 win over the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962, at Hershey Sports Arena in ...

. He was also play-by-play announcer for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

from 1952 to 1966,

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

from 1963 to 1970, and

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

from 1972 to 1981. Campbell later held down the 10 AM to noon slot at his first

Delaware Valley The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...

broadcasting employer, WIP, when it switched to an all-sports format, from 1987 to 1991. The

Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is a state-chartered, federally recognized, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, devoted to collecting information about and promoting cultural work related to broadcasting and communications in Philadelphia, Pe ...

inducted Campbell into their Hall of Fame in 1999 and named him their Person of the Year in 2008. Campbell was awarded the

Curt Gowdy Media Award The Curt Gowdy Media Award is an annual award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to outstanding basketball writers and broadcasters. It is named for American sportscaster Curt Gowdy, who was the Hall of Fame's president for ...

by the

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

in 2005. He died on October 6, 2014, aged 91, at a hospital in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

. On February 1, 2016, the inaugural Bill Campbell Broadcast Award was presented by the

Philadelphia Sports Writers Association The Philadelphia Sports Writers Association (PSWA) was founded on May 12, 1904, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.About
webpage. PSWA D ...

, to longtime Eagles announcer

Merrill Reese Merrill Alan Reese (born September 2, 1942) is an American sports radio announcer best known for his role as the play-by-play radio announcer for the Philadelphia Eagles on SportsRadio 94.1 WIP-FM. He has been the voice of the Eagles since 1977. ...

References

External links

Bill Campbell
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)

at Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Bill 1923 births 2014 deaths People from Atlantic City, New Jersey American radio sports announcers College football announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Minor League Baseball broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers Radio personalities from Philadelphia Philadelphia 76ers announcers Philadelphia Eagles announcers Philadelphia Phillies announcers Television anchors from Philadelphia Philadelphia Warriors announcers Burials in New Jersey