Jim Hawthorne is a former radio sportscaster. He is best known for having called radio play-by-play for the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...

sports teams of

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

for over 36 years, from 1979 to 2016, earning the nickname, "Voice of the Tigers". Before LSU, he called radio play-by-play for his alma-mater

Northwestern State Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSU) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the Univer ...

and Centenary College, as well as

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

baseball and in the short-lived World Football League (WFL). Hawthorne began calling LSU basketball games during the 1979–80 season. He began calling

LSU football The LSU Tigers football program, also known as the Fighting Tigers, represents Louisiana State University in college football. The Tigers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and ...

games in 1983 and

LSU baseball The LSU Tigers baseball team represents Louisiana State University in NCAA Division I college baseball. The team participates in the West Division of the Southeastern Conference. It ranks seventh overall with 18 College World Series appeara ...

in 1984 taking over for John Ferguson. Overall, he was LSU's radio play-by-play announcer for two BCS National Championship titles in football, all six of its

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

championships in baseball, and three Final Four appearances in basketball. His final season at LSU was the 2015 football season and 2015–16 men's basketball season. His final baseball season was the 2015 baseball season with Chris Blair taking over for the 2016 baseball season.

Notable calls

* The " Earthquake Game" on October 8, 1988, in which the Tiger Stadium crowd's reaction to LSU's game-winning touchdown pass against Auburn is reported to have registered on a seismograph on campus. *

Warren Morris Warren Randall Morris (born January 11, 1974) is an American former college and Major League Baseball player. He is most remembered for his two-out, 9th inning walk-off home run that won the 1996 College World Series for the Louisiana State U ...

' walk-off home run for LSU in the 9th inning of 1996 College World Series, which Hawthorne singles out as his favorite call. * The "

Bluegrass Miracle The Bluegrass Miracle was a 74-yard game-winning touchdown pass by the No. 16 LSU Tigers with no time left on the clock against the Kentucky Wildcats on November 9, 2002 at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky. The ball was tipped by a Ke ...

" on November 9, 2002, a football game won by LSU against

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

with a last-second touchdown pass. The call is notable in part due to Hawthorne erroneously identifying the touchdown receiver as Jack Hunt, when it was actually Devery Henderson. Hunt was a defensive back and was not on the field. Hawthorne acknowledged it was Henderson later in the broadcast. The mistake was later deleted from archived versions of the broadcast. * The 2011 "Game of the Century", a highly anticipated football game between No. 1 LSU and No. 2

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

on November 5, 2011, which LSU won in overtime, 9–6.

Awards and recognition

In 2015, Hawthorne was honored by the

National Football Foundation The National Football Foundation (NFF) is a non-profit organization to promote and develop amateur American football on all levels throughout the United States and "developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the dr ...

with the Chris Schenkel Award as an individual with a "long, distinguished career in broadcasting with direct ties to a specific university." In 2016, he was inducted into the

Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame is located in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame & Northwest Louisiana History Museum – Natchitoches in a new facility in the downtown historic district in Natchitoches, Louisiana. After years of planning and con ...

, and also received the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

References

External links

LSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawthorne, Jim Living people American radio sports announcers Minor League Baseball broadcasters College baseball announcers in the United States College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers LSU Tigers baseball announcers People from Vernon Parish, Louisiana LSU Tigers men's basketball announcers LSU Tigers football announcers World Football League announcers Northwestern State University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)

Notable calls

Awards and recognition

See also

References

External links