The man behind the mic: Paul Keels

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

On any given Saturday afternoon or night during the autumn months, the golden tones of Paul Keels can be heard on radios throughout Ohio.

Keels is entering his 21st season as “The Voice of the Buckeyes”, broadcasting Ohio State football games during the fall on the Ohio State IMG Sports Network, which is comprised of more than 70 radio stations, including WKSD 99.7FM.

He also broadcasts most Ohio State basketball games, and is the host of the popular Buckeye Roundtable and the Urban Meyer Call-In Show during the football season, and the Chris Holtmann Show during basketball season.

Keels, along with on-air partner Jim Lachey, describe the action of each football game in fine detail. For his efforts, Keels has been named as the NSAA Broadcaster of the Year four times – 2007 (shared with Marty Brennaman), 2010, 2011 and 2012, and he was inducted into the Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2007.

If you’ve ever listened to Keels, it’s obvious he has a natural talent for sports broadcasting, but that talent is matched with a lot of hard work and preparation.

“A large part of the work is the week leading up to the game,” Keels explained. “Ohio State’s weekly press conference along with attempts to interview opposing head coach, the weekly coaches radio show, Monday through Friday daily interviews with the head coach and weekly sports updates all go into it.”

“Maybe the biggest part is putting together game chart to be used on game day, and watching if possible, previous game on tape from upcoming opponent,” Keels added.

While Keels is considered one of the premiere collegiate sports broadcasters, he idolized other broadcasters while growing up.

“Probably the first was Reds radio announcer Jim McIntyre, followed by Dom Valentino, who was the radio announcer for the NBA’s Cincinnati Royals,” Keels said. “Also worth mentioning would be Phil Samp, the original announcer for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Before landing the job in Columbus, Keels was the play-by-play announcer for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats from 1994-1997, and the Cincinnati Bengals in 1996. He did preseason television work for the Bengals from 2000-2010, and he helped broadcast TV games for the Cincinnati Reds in 2010.

While the Horseshoe is his favorite place to broadcast games, Keels noted another Big 10 stadium, and one in the Pacific Northwest are great locations.

“Outside of Ohio Stadium, Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin might be top of the list,” Keels said. “Another strong entry would be Husky Stadium at University of Washington – very scenic with it’s open end facing Lake Washington.”

During his time in Columbus, Keels has broadcast two national championship seasons, 2002 and 2014. He was asked for his opinion on which one was more exciting.

“It’s hard to choose between 2002 and 2014 but if forced, I might go with 2002.” Keels stated. “Many people guessed it would be the following year Ohio State might contend for a national title, and the distinction might be despite numerous close calls, they went undefeated as opposed to a one loss team in 2014.”

“Plus, it was their first national title in so long (1968), with the 2014 title 12 years removed from the previous one,” Keels added.

Keels wrote a book after the 2002 season, Tales from the Buckeyes’ Championship Season.