Our Take
Tom Suiter inducted into the NC Sports HOF
Former WRAL Sports Anchor Tom Suiter's acceptance speech at the NC Sports Hall of Fame banquet.
it's been a great night, I don't think 51 years ago anybody thought that I would be in the north Carolina Sports Hall of Fame In 1971 when I went to work at WREL. The only thing I knew about television was how to turn the television set on. But I love sports and I also thought it would be pretty cool to be on tv because I meet a lot of girls. But that didn't happen because I wasn't very good. I struggled everybody watching tv. I knew I was struggling. I knew I was struggling. Example, 1972, Crabtree Valley Mall had just opened and I was out walking around looking at things and out of the corner of my eye this little girl was pointing at and I'll kind of wave at her, she keeps pointing and she's pulling at her mother's dress and she says, mommy, look, there's that guy you and daddy are always making fun of on television And I turned about eight shades of red and I kind of went and I went and I scooted on out of there. I was embarrassed but I vowed I would work harder and I'd get better and I think I did and I think I did some good things but you never know Fast forward. Some 30 years later I'm presenting one of my extra effort awards at Leesville Road High School, we do the presentation on the football field and after the presentation I'm walking up towards the school and the JV football team is coming down to practice and one of the JV football players says, look, there's tom suiter and his teammates are looking around. He says, he's an idiot and he may well be right, but nothing puts you in your place like being told you're an idiot by a JV football player growing up in Rocky Mount. I love the and I love listening to the legendary Hall of Famer. Ray Reef do his broadcast and in the background of every rare eve broadcast was the legendary voice of Reynolds coliseum. See a Dylan basket by Pucillo and I'd go around my house saying basket by Paciello, drove my parents crazy and I'd go out in the backyard. I'm the announcer in. All 10 players are recreating a CC basketball games. Always, with my Ray Reeve impersonation. I first met Mr Reeve on February 4, 1961 the famous duke Carolina basketball game, the Art Haman Larry brown fight game. And at halftime, I was out in the corridor with my mother and Mr Reeve is out there and she walks up to Mr Reeve and introduces herself and introduces me to him. And little did I know that 10 years later. He would hire me at W. R. L. T. V. And I was in awe of him. This was the voice that I grew up listening to and my desk was right next to his and I would just sit there and look at him and hope he would bestow his knowledge on me and I learned so much from him. But I learned from so many along the way, I learned from nick Pond organization and how to write a script that a director could easily read. I learned from the great rich Brenner, how to use video and how to try and take people to the game and make them feel like they're there. I learned from our sports director bob holiday. I learned patience and planning and bob. I can't tell you how much I admire the way you handled so many diverse personalities in our sports office. You were amazing. I learned from my good friends, Jeff Bradley and J Jennings. How do you how a how great local video can make a good sports cast, a great sportscast. And I learned from our legendary anchor, charlie daddy, how to be a professional and everyday from charlie. I saw grace, kindness and dignity. You were amazing. I learned from our parents what is right and what is wrong. I learned how to stand up for yourself and how to respect others and from my wonderful wife, julie. I learned love, She knew every single day how hard it was for me to go in and do a job that I was not suited for and she was always there with loving kindness, Kind words, encouragement. I could have never made it 45 years at W. R. E. L. Without her. I'm not a Hall of Fame person, but I worked with Hall of Fame. People from Jim Goodman, the owner of Capitol Broadcasting Company, to our longtime news director rick. Call to anchors, reporters, producers, directors behind the scenes people and the wonderful, wonderful photographers who made our football friday show so special. But most of all The people, the men and women I worked with in sports and the sports department over a 45 year period. Those were some of the best people I have ever known. We laughed together. We joked, we got on each other. We debated, we argued, we tossed around ideas and every single night we came together to try to put together the best sportscast we possibly could. I love you guys and we're a team. And this award is for all of us. Just know that I am humble. I am grateful. This award means everything to me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for including me. This is everything. Thank you so much.