{"id":14019,"date":"2017-08-08T06:45:40","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T12:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/?page_id=14019"},"modified":"2017-08-19T01:56:20","modified_gmt":"2017-08-19T07:56:20","slug":"ralph-black-aba-hall-of-fame-class-of-2017","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/ralph-black-aba-hall-of-fame-class-of-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Ralph Black – ABA Hall of Fame class of 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RalphAsk people who are familiar with Troy State University to give you the name of a famous person connected with the school, and although alumni include an astronaut, a television network journalist, a politician and a screenwriter, the name you hear will not be one of theirs. Instead, you\u2019ll hear the name, Ralph Black. As the \u201cVoice of the Troy State Trojans\u201d for 26 years, Black has called them all, making him an institution in the world of Alabama sports broadcasting. The Alabama Broadcasters Association is honored to induct Ralph Black into its Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

Black tells how his broadcasting career began in his trademark, no-nonsense style. \u201cI was over at Auburn as a student and I worked as an audio engineer at Alabama Public Television. The chief engineer there was also the engineer at WAUD-AM and he told me they needed somebody and to go see a gentleman by the name of Bob Sanders. That\u2019s what I did and he hired me and that\u2019s how I got into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"atAn engineer\u2019s position didn’t exactly give Black any sportscasting experience. \u201cNo, no, no. When I started at WAUD \u2026 I might have called a high school game here or there \u2026 but really, my sportscasting career started when I got to Troy,\u201d he explains. \u201cThat was in \u201871 and somewhere in the middle of the seventies, I got the job as the radio voice for Troy and the university.\u201d<\/p>\n

How exactly does someone without significant experience become the radio voice for a university\u2019s sports program? \u201cThey didn’t have anybody to do it!\u201d exclaims Black. \u201cLet\u2019s put it this way – I said heck, let\u2019s see what we can do. They evidentially liked it because I got put in the Hall of Fame the other day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"onBlack has been honored so many times he had to take a minute to make sure he remembers each and every induction. \u201cI got into the Baseball Hall of Fame at Troy University \u2026 that was about \u201905 \u2026 and in April of last year I got put into Troy University\u2019s Sports Hall of Fame \u2026 and then I got into the Wiregrass Sports Hall of Fame last summer. The chancellor stopped me the other day and said \u2018When are these things going to stop?\u2019\u201d laughs Black. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018I don\u2019t know!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Black says he\u2019s pleased to have been part of the university\u2019s sports program during what he thinks of as it\u2019s hey day. He called national championship games for Troy in three sports; two in football, two in baseball and one in basketball. The regional, high school and youth games he\u2019s called are simply too many to name.<\/p>\n

Black signed up an impressive number stations on his football network, too. \u201cI wound up with eighteen stations – pretty well covered the state – and I was very, very proud of that,\u201d he says. \u201cIt may not have been the largest 1-AA (FCS) radio network, but I venture to say it was probably pretty darn close\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Ralph_with_cancer_patient_edited\"Ask Black what stands out in all his many years as a sportscaster and he won\u2019t tell you about a particular game or play or player. Instead, he tells about a child he talked to during a live remote for the Children\u2019s Miracle Network at a local Dairy Queen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew she had been up to the Children\u2019s Hospital in Birmingham and I asked her to stop by because I just wanted to check on her a little \u2026 to see how she was doing. Well, we\u2019re live on the air and she tells me, \u2018they told me I\u2019m cancer free.\u2019 That one was a knock out. That got me right in the gut – I\u2019ll never forget it. That\u2019s one of the highlights.\u201d<\/p>\n

These days you can hear Black during his Morning Show, Monday through Friday on WTBF-FM. \u201cWe\u2019ve got news and weather and sports information and we play music and do interviews, keeping the community involved and informed,\u201d says Black. \u201cI have a ball doing this morning show, but getting up early is tough. God almighty, I get up at 4:20 every morning and I\u2019m 76 now and so that\u2019s gets a little tougher,\u201d he chuckles. \u201cBut I have a ball, I really do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ask people who are familiar with Troy State University to give you the name of a famous person connected with the school, and although alumni include an astronaut, a television network journalist, a politician and a screenwriter, the name you hear will not be one of theirs. Instead, you\u2019ll hear the name, Ralph Black. As … Continue reading Ralph Black – ABA Hall of Fame class of 2017<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14019","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14019"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14169,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14019\/revisions\/14169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}