James Harmon Henderson (born July 29, 1947) is a former

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

sportscaster based in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. He was the radio voice announcer of the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

and also worked as a football analyst for

WVUE-DT WVUE-DT (channel 8) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains primary studios on Norman C. Francis Parkway in the city's Gert Town sectio ...

from 2012 to 2018.Dave Walker
"Jim Henderson's semi-retirement to include working for WVUE-TV"
''

Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

'', August 5, 2012. Before that, he worked for

WWL-TV WWL-TV (channel 4) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Slidell-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WUPL (channel 54). Both stations share studios on Rampart Street ...

from May 8, 1978 to January 31, 2012.

Early life and education

Henderson grew up in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, where he began calling

Little League Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in English from the

State University of New York at Cortland State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

, he spent some time in the Army. He later earned a Masters in broadcasting from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic ...

.Dave Walker
"WWL sports director, Jim Henderson has finally gotten to see pigs fly"
''

'', February 7, 2010.

Career

Henderson began his sports reporting career with the sports director position at

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

's then NBC affiliate WDTB-TV (now

WMBB-TV WMBB (channel 13) is a television station in Panama City, Florida, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located on Harrison Avenue/US 231 in downtown Panama City, and its transmitter is l ...

, an ABC affiliate), then became a sports reporter at the NBC station in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

WSB-TV WSB-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Cox Media Group, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to rad ...

. Henderson joined WWL-TV on May 1, 1978 when he was offered a job as a sportscaster, succeeding the retiring Lloyd "Hap" Glaudi. Henderson with news anchors

Garland Robinette Charles Garland Robinette (born August 21, 1943 in Boutte, Louisiana) is a journalist in the New Orleans area. He was recently the host of "The Think Tank" on New Orleans radio station WWL (AM). Robinette was a news anchor and investigative repo ...

and

Angela Hill Angela Patrice Hill (born January 12, 1985) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the strawweight division. She was formerly signed with the Invicta Fighting Championships, of which she was the strawweight champion. She is also ...

and Chief Meteorologist

Nash Roberts Nash Charles Roberts Jr. (April 13, 1918 – December 18, 2010) was a New Orleans, Louisiana-based meteorologist widely known for the accuracy of his hurricane forecasts. He began his career in weather during World War II. He worked for Admiral ...

helped

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

become the dominant station in New Orleans, a position it holds to this day. Henderson is a 13-time winner of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association's Sportscaster of the Year Award, an award conferred by sports journalists from all over Louisiana. Henderson regularly traveled to the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

The Masters The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

, and the

Major League Baseball All-Star Game The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...

because of his work as a reporter for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

Newspath. Henderson was 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 ...

announcer on Saints radio broadcasts from 1986 through 2017, formerly teaming with former Saints quarterback

Archie Manning Elisha Archibald Manning III (born May 19, 1949) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New Orleans Saints. He played for the Saints from 1971 to 1982 and al ...

. Henderson and Manning broadcast Saints games to listeners (and preseason TV viewers) from 1986 to 1997, with the exception of the 1990 season (when Henderson called regional NFL telecasts on CBS). Henderson went on to team with former Saints running back

Hokie Gajan Howard Lee "Hokie" Gajan Jr. (September 6, 1959 – April 11, 2016) was an American football running back who played five seasons in the National Football League. Biography Gajan played football at Baker High School in Baker, Louisiana, and ...

on the radio. Gajan died in 2016 and

Deuce McAllister Dulymus Jenod "Deuce" McAllister (born December 27, 1978) is an American former football running back who played eight seasons for the New Orleans Saints in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Ole Miss and was dr ...

took over as the color analyst. Henderson was at the microphone for the Saints' first two

NFC Championship Game The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semi-final playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the world. ...

appearances, in 2006 and 2009, as well as their appearance in

Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champions New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

. His reference to that Super Bowl as the "Miracle in Miami" became his most famous call as a broadcaster (see below). In August 2012, six months after retiring from WWL, Henderson joined rival station

, owned by Saints owner

Tom Benson Thomas Milton Benson (July 12, 1927 – March 15, 2018) was an American businessman, philanthropist and sports franchise owner. He was the owner of several automobile dealerships before buying the New Orleans Saints of the National Football Leagu ...

, as an analyst and commentator for the Saints for 6 more years. Henderson occasionally works with

Spencer Tillman Spencer Allen Tillman (born April 21, 1964) is an American former professional football player who played running back for eight seasons for the Houston Oilers and San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League (NFL). College career Colle ...

on some College Football when Tim Brando is away. On Feb. 1, 2018, Henderson announced that he has fully retired from broadcasting."Legendary 'Voice of the Saints' Jim Henderson announces retirement from broadcasting"

, Feb. 1, 2018. Henderson has residences in both

Poplarville, Mississippi Poplarville is a city in Pearl River County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,894. It is the county seat of Pearl River County. It hosts an annual Blueberry Jubilee, which includes rides, craft vendors ...

, and

Mandeville, Louisiana Mandeville is a city in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. Its population was 11,560 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, and 13,192 at the 2020 United States census. Mandeville is located on the north shore of Lake Pontc ...

. He is married and has two grown children.

Quotes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Harmon Henderson National Football League announcers New Orleans Saints announcers Sportspeople from Rochester, New York State University of New York at Cortland alumni S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni College basketball announcers in the United States New Orleans Saints Living people 1947 births People from Poplarville, Mississippi People from Mandeville, Louisiana