When Jim Reynolds calls the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Mocs’ first home football game of 2026, the Chicago native will mark his 47th consecutive year behind the microphone.
At 71, Jim is among the longest-running college sports announcers in the nation. Only a handful have reached 50 or 60 years of calling a college team’s games, and at the rate he’s going, “JR” may join their club in a few years.
I was in the building, literally, when Jim and his then-wife Patsy entered the WGOW building for the first time in the summer of 1980.
The station had bought the rights to broadcast UTC sports, and hired Jim fresh out of Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois State (his Alma mater). First impression? When we saw the red-headed, freckle-faced kid in the lobby, we asked, “Did we just hire Opie from the Andy Griffith Show?”
In addition to his play-by-play duties, Jim was up early each weekday (even after a late night game) doing hourly sports reports on my KZ-106 show and with Garry Mac and Dale Deason on WGOW, two doors down the hall. The hourly exchanges with the deejays revealed him to be a quick wit. It was a talent that would serve him well, co-hosting several decades worth of live call-in shows on talk radio. as well as a stint on the KZ Morning Zoo.
Having called some 1400 basketball games, and nearing 500 football games, Jim is the longest-running sportscaster in Chattanooga history. He gives our sporting events a big-market sound.
Enthusiastic and supportive, he can also serve up some constructive criticism. He has always respected the fact that most of the names he calls are those of kids not far removed from high school. He can be brutally honest, especially if a coach makes a questionable decision or a referee blows a call, but they’re grown-ups. It’s different.
As a side gig, Jim was a longtime umpire for youth baseball. So whenever he questioned a game official, it was well thought out. He had been there as one of the “blue” guys targeted by leather-lunged dads, moms, and coaches. He also donates his time as the announcer for the annual Area 4 Special Olympics track and field meet each May. Imagine hearing your name called on the PA system by the Voice of the Mocs. That must be pretty cool.
With six daughters, four granddaughters, and one long-awaited grandson, Jim has had, shall we say, a colorful personal life. This has provided an abundance of material for his ad-libbed morning radio shows, including his current pairing with Jed Mescon on Talk Radio 102.3. He has also become a skilled interviewer. When a political candidate appears, he or she had better come prepared. Jim doesn’t take talking points for an answer. He goes in deeper, and a poorly-prepared politician often limps away verbally wounded. It’s not that Jim is an attack dog or a shock jock. As the old-timers would say, he just doesn’t suffer fools gladly.
James Lee Reynolds III has been inducted into just about every Hall of Fame for which he qualifies: UTC Athletics, Greater Chattanooga Sports, and Tennessee Radio, to name a few. More honors are surely forthcoming.
Ever since the Jimmy Carter administration, Jim Reynolds has been the Voice of the Chattanooga Mocs. He has represented the Blue and Gold through championship seasons, and some losing ones too. In addition to the almost 2,000 games, he has also hosted a few hundred “coaches shows,” weeknight events hosted by various restaurants and sports bars. His comedic chemistry with longtime UTC basketball coach Mack McCarthy is legendary. The shows allow Jim to get past the “coach-speak” and reveal the men behind the headset.
Through the various football stadium and basketball arena changes, Jim has called the action every time the Mocs earned national attention. His work ethic is second to none. He has rarely missed a game (or a morning radio air shift) and, as his co-workers say, if Jim is out sick, he must be unable to make a sound.
Jim has set the standard in local sportscasting. Any time you hear a younger announcer calling a local high school game, you’ll hear a little JR in their style. He has often credited the voices of his youth (Chicago legends Jack Brickhouse, Milo Hamilton and Bob Elson) as being among his inspirations, and now he’s the icon that aspiring Chattanooga area broadcasters cite as their role model.
As I often tell him, even among his honors and accolades, my personal choice for Jim’s career pinnacle is his impressive run as leadoff man and 2nd baseman for the largely-forgotten KZ-106 Foul Tips softball team.
This collection of lightly talented disc jockeys and carefully chosen “ringers” entertained and mystified tens of fans in towns ranging from Gruetli-Laager to Resaca Beach to Hanging Dog, North Carolina. We actually played once before a sold-out crowd at Chattanooga’s Engel Stadium against the Alabama band of country music fame. Never mind who the crowd paid to see.
Best of all, he’s a breath of fresh air in an industry dominated by people who take themselves too seriously. If you think politicians can’t take a joke, check into the ego-filled world of broadcasting. We are an insecure breed, always looking for praise and affirmation. But nobody laughs harder at zingers aimed at Jim Reynolds than Jim Reynolds.
In May 2025, Jed Mescon surprised his partner with a 70th birthday bash at Chattanooga’s Big Bad Breakfast. It was part salute and part roast, and Jim seemed to enjoy the roasting more than the certificates and proclamations.
Sometimes we take certain people for granted, because they’re always there, they’ve always been there, and as far as we’re concerned, they’ll always be there. I do not take JR for granted. He’s a Chattanooga treasure, and although he’d be the first one to wave me off, he deserves every accolade we can bestow. He’s a constant in the lives of area sports fans, and win or lose, our Chattanooga Mocs have a broadcasting All-Star in the radio booth.
You can listen to JR’s call of UTC games on WFLI-AM 1070 and FM 96.1, as well as GoMocs.com and the Varsity Network app.
I clearly remember and appreciated JR’s call of UTC sports, always a clear, like you were there experience! I enjoyed his contribution to the WGOW morning show with Jeff in those same years. One memory that sticks out more than any, the morning of September 11, when he interrupted a commercial spot to say a plane has hit the building! It marked time for a lot of us! I was in line at the Hardee’s in Redbank waiting on my morning biscuits!
Thank you Sir! Thank you for not just having a job in Chattanooga, but a calling to “our”community and such an anchor in it!