I don’t know if I am just getting old because nobody has commented on the death of a BYU icon and maybe most here are a lot younger than me and don’t really remember Paul James that much. I realize he hasn’t broadcast BYU football since 2000, and he quit doing basketball sometime in the 90s, but everybody who was a BYU fan anytime between 1965-2000 would remember Paul. Greg Wrubell does a fine job but there will never be another Paul James.
Paul was there for most of the great moments in BYU sports history, he broadcast most of the great Holiday Bowl wins, Ainge;s last second drive against Notre Dame in 1981, the 1966 NIT championship, and countless other events. For years BYU was rarely on TV and Paul’s radio broadcasts were our access to BYU sports for those of us in Utah who couldn’t afford to attend many games, or when the team was on the road. When I moved to Texas in 1977 for many years after it was rare to pick up a BYU game on TV. I had to listen to radio broadcasts at night. KSL had a strong signal and I could generally pick up most of the basketball games since most were at night. I remember living on a hill in a rural Texas town and when I couldn’t get the KSL signal in the house I would drive to another spot on the hill until I could get a good signal and listen in my car. For a few years in the late 70s KSL would replay the football broadcasts late Saturday night and as a BYU fan in the wilderness I was grateful for that. I was a huge BYU fan from about the age of 10 years old in 1960 to the present day and KSL and Paul James was all I had to keep me in touch with the Cougars for a a number of years after moving from Utah.
RIP Paul. You will always be loved by many of us older loyal Cougars!!
I posted this topic in un-categorized and noted the topic would be removed in one hour. I hope to get a few thoughts from those who remember Paul so I re-created the topic in the football category where there aren’t any time constraints!
I was sad to learn of PJs passing yesterday. I listened to Paul for football games and the legendary postgame football broadcasts with Lavell from 1972 until he retired in 2000. When I think of BYU football PJ was right up their with players and coaches. Part of it is that I am getting old too. Watched Paul of KSL TV for many years also. Even though I never met him, Paul was a part of my life for almost 3 decades. Rest in peace PJ and prayers for your family.
Paul James defecting to BYU is what converted my dad from a Utah fan to a BYU fan. My dad is a true blue BYU fan, so it was hard for me to imagine switching allegiance simply because the announcer switched, but that’s why he did.
How many of you have read James’ book “Cougar Tales?” Lots of good stories and experiences in that one. I doubt the hypnotism one, though.
I am old enough to remember Paul James as voice of the Utah Utes (then Utah Redskins) in the early 60s… He came over to BYU at the beginning of the 1965 football season and I remember being shocked to hear him call the first BYU football game of 1965 on KSL radio. I was young and hadn’t gotten the news that he had switched to KSL. I was only 15 years old and I was suspicious of him for several years. I figured he was still a Ute at heart and who could blame him because the U is where he went to school. He was a Utah grad and had been their broadcaster for football and basketball for about 5 years I remember his color guy for the Utah broadcasts was named Harry James but I don’t know if they were related…I listened to many a Ute broadcast with James at the mike. In those days local college sports were never on TV so I listened to most of the BYU and Utah football and basketball games on the radio. After a number of years had passed I believe he became a loyal Cougar. It seems to me he once admitted it took him a few years to change his loyalties but now he will forever be known as voice of the Cougars.
His first year at BYU was a great year for Cougar sports. BYU won its first ever conference football title in 1965 and the basketball team won the NIT in 1966 when it was still a great tournament.
I remember Paul James like it were yesterday. One in a million voice and could make you feel like you were there.
Never forget as a young geologist in Winnemucca, Nv. We were playing Hawaii, it was 3 AM in the morning, I was glued to the radio in our truck behind our home, very important game because if we lost we would have not gone to a bowl game and in those days BYU never went…
.James, "Hawaii is on the one foot line, ready to score with no time left on the clock…wait… Kyle Morrel, our free safety has timed the play and leaped over the line and caught the Quarterback by the pads pulling him backwards and tackled him…ifs over, its over…….BYU wins.
