{"id":35428,"date":"2022-11-11T11:59:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T16:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/?p=35428"},"modified":"2024-02-13T15:04:45","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T20:04:45","slug":"nashville-voices-mike-keith-of-the-tennessee-titans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pressbox615.com\/ro\/nashville-voices-mike-keith-of-the-tennessee-titans\/","title":{"rendered":"Nashville Voices: Mike Keith of the Tennessee Titans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NASHVILLE –<\/strong> It is hard to become synonymous with a team as a broadcaster. Similarly, it can be hard for many play-by-play announcers to build a career in just one place with one team, but the select few who can become legends\u2013synonymous with the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is impossible to think about the Tennessee Titans and their history without the brilliance of Mike Keith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keith\u2019s calls each week have become a must-listen, even when you\u2019re watching the game on TV. Not many people know the team and its history as well as he does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Houston Oiler made the move to Tennessee, he\u2019s been there seeing the franchise grow in good times and in bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was very driven to get an opportunity with the team,\u201d Keith shares with\u00a0Steven Boero of Pressbox615<\/em>.\u00a0\u201cI didn\u2019t know play-by-play would be [my in] but it just sort of fell that way. It\u2019s really kind of remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His voice is unmistakable, from his classic lines like \u2018Saaaaaaaack!\u2019 to his blood-rushing \u2018Touchdown Titans!\u2019 But how did the man behind the Music City Miracle call become the broadcaster we all know and love?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mike Keith at the 2022 Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Photo: Courtesy of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Keith had his awakening at a young age when his family took him to see a University of Tennessee football game in October of 1974. At the same time, his second-grade class was doing mock news broadcasts where he and his classmates could pretend to be reporters and TV anchors. This was around the time Keith began listening to the legendary Hall of Fame broadcaster\u00a0John Ward<\/strong>\u00a0call Volunteer football games regularly.\u00a0 Those things coming together sparked something, beginning a lifelong love affair with sports and broadcasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince all of that hit at the same time, I knew in second grade what I wanted to do,\u201d Keith puts simply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In high school, Keith was already getting his feet wet in the broadcasting realm. As he explains, people who went to school with him aren\u2019t surprised to know what he\u2019s doing for a living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life and it can be very intimidating, but for Keith, it was crystal clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was the lucky one who knew exactly what they wanted to very early on,\u201d he shares. \u201cWhen I went to the University of Tennessee, I was pretty singularly focused on being in broadcasting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Despite his love for football and being the Titans guy we now know him for, some of Keith\u2019s first gigs were in baseball. He loved the sport and played it growing up. He did minor league baseball play-by-play when he was 19, and was the voice of Tennessee baseball for almost 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did a ton of high school football and junior varsity football at Tennessee when they had the occasional game. I certainly worked football when working for John Ward.\u201d He continues, \u201cI was around it, but I wouldn\u2019t say I had a predisposition towards one sport over another. If I had to bet, I would\u2019ve probably thought I\u2019d become a basketball announcer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keith did Lady Vols basketball for several years, filling in for Tennessee legend Bob Kesling<\/strong>. He thought this was going to be where he planted his feet in the early years of his career, but everything changed when WIVK, the Knoxville radio station he was working for, got the broadcasting rights for Oilers games after the franchise first moved to Tennessee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI sent the president of the company a letter saying, \u2018I\u2019m from Nashville and I love the NFL. I would love to be involved in that somehow some way,’\u201d Keith recalls. \u201cI never thought John Ward would quit at Tennessee and I thought Bob Kesling would get the job when Ward did retire. I was really looking for another opportunity and it came when the Oilers moved to Tennessee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Oilers came to town, they were winning a lot with a 29-8 record in their first two seasons in the Volunteer state. The newly named Titans went to the Super Bowl in just its third season of being in Tennessee, and Keith attributes this early success to the team\u2019s longevity, as well as his.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you win, people give you the benefit of the doubt in a lot of different ways,\u201d Keith explains. \u201cThe problem in the NFL is eventually you\u2019re going to lose. Through those times when we won, particularly in the first five years, people got used to what we did. It gave us a chance to grow and there was a really positive sense because we were associated with\u00a0Steve McNair<\/strong>,\u00a0Eddie George<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Jeff Fischer<\/strong>. That was just so lucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t have been more blessed. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve ever known a broadcaster who got more breaks than I did starting this thing off.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/Titans\/status\/1587858144168140800\n<\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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19 years ago today: @titans<\/a> had one of the most memorable finishes in NFL Playoff history: the iconic Music City Miracle. #titans<\/a> #nashville<\/a> #musiccitymiracle<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/IcoXYHQaNa<\/a><\/p>— Project 615 (@project615) January 8, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote>