Eagles broadcasting legend Merrill Reese joins Neil Hartman’s History of Sport in Philadelphia class

Merrill Reese, who since 1977 has been the “Voice of the Philadelphia Eagles,” brought his celebrated voice – and face – to Rowan University April 7.

Reese, the longest-serving play-by-play announcer in the NFL, came to Rowan not through TV or radio, the media in which he’s spent his career, but via a WIFI connection that delivered him straight to Neil Hartman’s History of Sport in Philadelphia class.

Hartman, director of Rowan’s Center for Sports Communication & Social Impact, is a longtime associate and friend of Reese and a former Philadelphia broadcasting star in his own right. For nearly two decades, he was the main news anchor for Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia and was a sports anchor at CBS3, WPHL-TV and on sports radio WIP.

For more than an hour, Reese regaled the class with stories about not only broadcasting for, and traveling with, the Eagles, but about commitment to his craft.

“Preparation is unending,” Reese told the students, many of whom seek sports-related careers of their own through Rowan’s Sports Communication and Media program. “During the season preparation starts from the end of one game on Sunday and goes through Saturday night before the next. My weeks during football season are 70-80 hours long.”

Which isn’t to say it’s all work, Reese said throughout the Webex webinar.

“I love every Sunday,” he said. “I am scared to death because I’ve worked so hard all week memorizing and preparing for it but I love every single game.”

Drawing on an encyclopedic memory ranging back long before the students were born, Reese, in a light yellow polo showing a sparkly gold Eagle on a chain, dashed off answers practically before students finished their questions.

“What was your favorite era?” wondered Tyler Strasser, a proud fan of the Eagles’ longtime nemesis, the Dallas Cowboys.

“Well, the Andy Reid era was the most successful. Under Reid the team won four consecutive NFC East titles, the longest streak in franchise history,” Reese said. “The most fun was the Buddy Ryan era. He was a character! And you cannot imagine what an amazing coach Dick Vermeil was.”

Kayla Santiago, who interned with Reese last summer, and who Reese described as among the best interns he’s worked with the past 25 years, asked about Reese’s favorite game.

Despite the Super Bowls he’s covered with the team – there were two – and the many NFC championship games, he didn’t hesitate to name December 19, 2010 – the so-called “Miracle at the New Meadowlands”, a come-from-behind grudge match against the New York Giants in which the Birds were down 24-3 at halftime.

With little more than eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Reese recalled, the Eagles scored four unanswered touchdowns in seven and a half minutes of play.

“The Eagles came back in the second half to win!” he exclaimed.

Hartman, who’s made Philadelphia sports-legend appearances in his classes a hallmark at both Rowan and at Temple University, where he formerly taught, said stories told by players, journalists and broadcasters themselves can make some of the most powerful lessons.

“My primary role is to mentor students and set them on a path toward success,” he said. “For me, I wanted to take exactly what we do in the classroom and mimic it online. And that’s what we did today.”