Bob Harris, retired Duke athletics radio voice who called five NCAA basketball titles, dies

The legendary, longtime voice of the Duke Blue Devils has fallen silent.

Bob Harris, who as Duke’s radio play-by-play broadcaster called all five of the school’s NCAA basketball championships, died Wednesday in Durham. Harris was 81.

“It is with a very heavy heart that I report that Bob Harris passed away this morning with Bob’s wife Phyllis at his side, holding his hand,” Wes Chesson, who worked as a color analyst on Duke football broadcasts with Harris, wrote Wednesday morning on the GoFundMe page that raised funds for Harris’ hospice care.

Born in Albemarle in 1942, Harris called 471 consecutive Duke football games from 1976 until his retirement in 2017. He also was behind the mic for 1,392 Duke basketball games, including 16 Duke ACC championship game wins as well as 13 Final Fours and 10 NCAA championship game appearances.

He retired as the longest tenured play-by-play announcer in ACC history.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Bob Harris,” Duke athletics director Nina King said in a statement. “We send our heartfelt condolences to Phyllis and the entire Harris family. Duke, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the entire collegiate athletics community has lost a true icon. For over four decades, Bob represented Duke with the utmost professionalism while delivering to our fans worldwide an acute account of Blue Devil football and men’s basketball games. He will be greatly missed, but his legacy will live forever.”

A three-time N.C. broadcaster of the year award winner, Harris was inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. He’s also enshrined in the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame and the Stanly County Sports Hall of Fame.

“Bob’s life on this earth has ended,” Chesson wrote, “but as he announced at the end of an assured Duke victory, today Bob is proclaiming `How Sweet It Is’.”

The ACC honored Harris with its annual Skeeter Francis Award for distinguished service to the league. In 2016, Gov. Pat McCrory awarded Harris the state’s Order of the Long Leaf Pine, symbolizing Harris’ “exemplary service to the State of North Carolina and its communities.”

Mike Krzyzewski, Duke’s Naismith Hall of Fame coach who retired in 2022 as the sport’s all-time leader in coaching wins, called Harris his friend and “much more than an announcer to all of us.”

“Duke lost another one of its greatest treasures with the passing of Bob Harris,” Krzyzewski said in a statement. “For decades as our radio play-by-play broadcaster, Bob told the story of Duke athletics better than anyone. He was much more than an announcer to all of us. He was a family member who absolutely loved Duke and everything it stands for. We are so thankful that it was his voice that shared our journey each season with so many Duke fans around the world. He was adored by so many of them. The Krzyzewski family offers our deepest condolences to Phyllis and their loved ones. It was my honor to call Bob my friend.”

When Harris announced in July 2016 that he’d retire the following year, Duke’s since-retired athletics director Kevin White said, “Bob Harris has served Duke passionately and professionally for 40 years, which is an amazing accomplishment. To be sure, his voice is synonymous with the Blue Devils men’s basketball and football teams.”

On March 28, 1992, Harris told listeners along the Blue Devil Radio Network about Christian Laettner’s buzzer-beating shot that beat Kentucky and sent the reigning NCAA champion Blue Devils back to the Final Four.

Here’s how Harris described Grant Hill’s pass and Laettner’s famous shot:

“They throw it the length of the floor... Laettner catches, comes down, dribbles… Shoots… Scores! ... Christian Laettner has hit the bucket at the buzzer! The Blue Devils win it 104 to 103. Look out, Minneapolis! Here come the Blue Devils!”

When his retirement became official in spring 2017, Harris wrote a letter to Duke fans summing up his career.

“To all the Duke fans who have taken the time to tune your radios to our network outlets over the past 41+ years,” Harris wrote, “I just want you to know how much I have appreciated the honor of representing Duke University and its wonderful athletic teams.”

Harris went on to say how much he’d miss the excitement of the games, his interactions with coaches and people in Duke’s athletics department as well as those from the ACC office and member schools.

But he said he’d mostly miss getting to know the players and their families.

“I have received emails, letters and phone calls from many of them,’ Harris wrote. “Some from my early days at Duke in the late 70s. Getting to know the athletes and, in many cases, their families too, will certainly be something I won’t ever replace.”

After growing up in Stanly County, Harris attended N.C. State for two years before leaving school to work for Goodyear. After returning to Albemarle to sell insurance, Harris began working part-time for radio station WZKY in 1967.

Having eventually become the station’s sports director, Harris moved to Durham in 1975 for a radio sales job at WDNC. He started hosting a sports talk show and added color analyst duties on Duke football and basketball broadcasts alongside longtime Duke announcer Add Penfield.

When health issues prevented Penfield from working games, Harris filled in. Penfield retired in 1976 and Harris became Duke’s play-by-play announcer, holding the job for four decades.

Harris is survived by his wife, Phyllis, daughter Bobbi Harris-McCoy, son-in-law, Ron McCoy, and grandchildren, Tripp and Meredith Winkler. Bob and Phyllis Harris were married for 61 years after meeting at N.C. State.

“We started dating in August 1961 and I had never watched a football game in person,” Phyllis Harris wrote on the website promoting Bob Harris’ 2010 autobiography, `How Sweet It Is.’ “That was about to change when Bobby was a sophomore at NC State. It was Homecoming Day, Bobby gave me a corsage, and he sat with me at the NC State/South Carolina game explaining that whole game to me.”

She called her experiences and their marriage “a great life.”

“Frankly I don’t know what we would have done if it were not for sports broadcasting,” Phyllis Harris said. “I’m sure our lives would have been boring, so I’m very happy we had the great experience along the way.”

After Harris was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, a GoFundMe account was set up to help with costs for his care. With the goal set at $100,000, a total of $101,100 was raised from 565 contributors.

“Phyllis and the entire Harris family thank you for your love and support,” Chesson wrote. “Your financial support has significantly eased the monetary strain on Bob’s family and knowing that 565 people care about and love Bob enough to take the time and be willing to contribute to Bob’s support has made all the difference.”