Beasley Young Reece, Jr. (born March 18, 1954, in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the List ...

) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

and

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

. He played college football at

North Texas State University The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School ...

Early years

Reece attended La Vega High School, where he played as a

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create turnove ...

. He walked-on at

in the spring of 1972. The next year he played part-time. As a junior, he became a starter at left cornerback and had 2 interceptions. As a senior he posted 2 interceptions.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Reece was selected by the

in the ninth round (264th overall) of the

1976 NFL draft The 1976 National Football League draft was an annual player selection meeting held April 8–9, 1976, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, New York. The draft lasted 17 rounds, with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks ...

. The team drafted him as an athlete, so he spent his first weeks in

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

as a

, before being switched to wide receiver. Playing against the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

in week 2, he registered his only

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

reception, which went for 6 yards, but also fumbled on the play. The next year he requested the opportunity to compete at

. He was waived on September 12,

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrati ...

New York Giants

On September 14,

, the

claimed him off waivers to play as a

. He became the starter at

strong safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their duti ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 – ...

, before being switched to

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dutie ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major off ...

. In

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, he asked for his release after rookie

Terry Kinard Alfred Terance "Terry" Kinard (born November 24, 1959) is a former American college and professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. He played college football ...

was given the starting

position and he was cut on October 17.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The

claimed him off waivers on October 18,

. Despite playing only half of the season (8 starts), he registered 33 tackles, 5 passes defensed and led the team with 6 interceptions. The next year, he started 14 games at

, finishing with 70 tackles, 12 passes defensed, one interception and 7

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

tackles. He was waived on September 2,

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

TV Broadcast

After his retirement from playing Reece worked as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and th ...

and sideline reporter for NFL coverage on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

and CBS, and served as an analyst for the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

for NBC. During this time, he was the sports director for

WVIT WVIT (channel 30) is a television station licensed to New Britain, Connecticut, United States, broadcasting NBC programming to the Hartford–New Haven market. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division al ...

(NBC-30) in Hartford, Connecticut. He would also work in at WTOG

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...

. When he came to CBS, he joined

KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is Owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations divisio ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, and became their Sports Director, a position he held from July 1998 to July 2015. Reece is an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

and recipient of the

Distinguished Eagle Scout Award The Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (DESA) is a distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). It is awarded to an Eagle Scout for distinguished service in his profession and to his community for a period of at least 25 years aft ...

.Reece bio at cbsphilly.com
Retrieved 2010-12-19 In 2012, the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia inducted Reece into its Hall of Fame. On July 1, 2015, Reece was fired from KYW along with evening anchor Chris May and chief meteorologist Kathy Orr as a new general manager decided to take the Eyewitness News program in a different direction.

Personal life

Reese and his wife Paula have been married since 1978. They have two children. Reese is an avid classical piano player and is a member of the

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved in ...

fraternity. He is a cousin of former

players

Greg Pruitt Gregory Donald Pruitt (born August 18, 1951) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) from 1973 through 1984. He was selected to five Pro Bowls, four as a member of the Cleveland Browns and one as a member o ...

and

Randy Logan Randolph "Randy" Logan (born May 1, 1951) is a former American football player. He played 11 seasons as a free safety in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1973 to 1983. He was a second-team All-NFL player in 1980, ...

References

External links

Beasley Reece, So many stories to tell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reece, Beasley 1954 births Living people Sportspeople from Waco, Texas Players of American football from Texas African-American players of American football American football cornerbacks American television sports announcers Dallas Cowboys players National Football League announcers College football announcers New York Giants players North Texas Mean Green football players Olympic Games broadcasters Television anchors from Philadelphia Philadelphia television reporters Tampa Bay Buccaneers announcers Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Notre Dame Fighting Irish football announcers Waco High School alumni 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople