Jim Durham (February 12, 1947 – November 4, 2012) was an
American sportscaster. Durham was born in Chicago, IL, and graduated from Donovan High School in
Donovan, Illinois, and later attended
Illinois State University in
Normal, Illinois.
Career
Durham spent more than 37 years calling NBA games on TV and radio; his previous assignments were with the
Chicago Bulls, the
Dallas Mavericks,
TNT and
TBS. With the Bulls, he was the
play-by-play announcer when
Michael Jordan,
Scottie Pippen, and their teammates won the
1991 NBA championship. In
1998, Durham called men's
NCAA basketball tournament games for
CBS.
Early career
Early in his career, Durham worked on
WJBC radio in
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census showed the city had a population of 78,680, making it the List of municipalities in Illinois, 13th-most populous ci ...
. During his time there, he covered the career of
Illinois State University basketball star
Doug Collins, later coincidentally the coach of the Bulls during the early Jordan years in Chicago, including the famous call listed below.
NBA career
Durham was the
play-by-play voice of the
Chicago Bulls from 1973 to 1991. During his first twelve years covering the ballclub, he was exclusively on the radio broadcasts on
WIND (1973–1980, 1982–1985),
WVON (1980–1982) and
WGCI-FM (1981–1982; shared arrangement with WVON). Primarily working solo, he was paired with
Norm Van Lier in 1980–81 and
Dave Baum in 1982–83. For the remainder of his time in Chicago beginning with the 1985–86 season, he and
Johnny Kerr handled the
simulcast on
WMAQ (1985–1988) and
WLUP (1988–1991) on the radio and
WFLD/
SportsVision (1985–1989) and
WGN/
SportsChannel Chicago (1989–1991) on television. Five weeks after being relegated back to radio only on May 29, 1991, Durham was dismissed on July 3 as a result of a
contract dispute with Bulls management. He was succeeded by
Wayne Larrivee (WGN) and
Tom Dore (SportsChannel) on television
[Nidetz, Steve. "After 18 Years, Bulls Fire Durham," ''Chicago Tribune'', Thursday, July 4, 1991.](_blank)
/ref> and Neil Funk on the radio.
Starting in 1995, he called numerous National Basketball Association games for ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
and ESPN Radio.
The Shot
Durham's most memorable call was for " The Shot" made by Michael Jordan in Game 5 of the 1989 Eastern Conference First Round between the Bulls and Cavs:
Major League Baseball
Durham also did play-by-play for Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
, first in the 1980s for the Houston Astros, then from 1989– 1990 for the Chicago White Sox and for ESPN Radio from 1998 until his death in 2012.
Death
Durham died on November 4, 2012, due to complications from a heart attack.
References
External links
Jim Durham ESPN Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durham, Jim
NBA broadcasters
Mass media people from Chicago
Chicago Bulls announcers
Durham Jim
Houston Astros announcers
ESPN people
Major League Baseball broadcasters
Dallas Mavericks announcers
NFL announcers
Illinois State Redbirds basketball
1947 births
2012 deaths
College basketball announcers in the United States