Richard Hyatt: Former WRBL rookie Rece Davis will shine on GameDay
Rece Davis has translated the ramblings of Dr. Lou Holtz. Now he’ll have to keep a straight face when Lee Corso dons those silly mascot heads.
But those assignments don’t compare to what the ESPN anchor endured as an energetic rookie at WRBL-TV.
He once did 67 consecutive days on the air and in 1989 he crawled through the rafters at Jordan-Hare Stadium to pull wires so Channel 3 could broadcast live on the historic week that Alabama came to Auburn for the first time.
“I’m still proud that Roger Manis and I pulled that off. We did two live shows without a photographer or a producer and the station didn’t even own a live truck,” Davis said, remembering five busy years at the CBS affiliate.
The ink on his diploma from the University of Alabama was still damp when he reported for duty at WRBL-TV in 1988. It would be the best stop of his career because of what he learned and because he married Leigh Langley, a local girl who was the station’s top sales executive.
“I worked with some great people. We just didn’t have enough of them,” said Davis, who made his debut on ESPN within a year after leaving Columbus for Flint, Mich.
Next season Davis joins “College GameDay” — the definitive show in college football. Longtime host Chris Fowler will become the network’s primary play-by-play voice.
The chemistry and personality may change but not the format of a show that after 28 years is vital to ESPN’s coverage of the college game.
Davis is already closely identified with the sport so the transition should be smooth.
“It’s easier to be your best when everyone around you wants to do their best,” he said. “Chris and I are two different people but there will be subtle differences. Those things will just happen but there is no need to go and overhaul it.”
This is an opportunity for Davis to share his passion for college football and broadcast journalism.
As a high school student in Muscle Shoals, he wrote a paper about broadcasting and he picked up a microphone after dreams of playing quarterback came to an end.
Channel 3 was his first venture into the profession away from home, and he did more than sports. “There is no substitute for live reps and I was on camera a lot,” he said.
He exhibited a calm maturity that has helped him move to the top on a network that has had its share of bombastic and sometimes whacky personalities.
That’s not Rece Davis, and that’s why he will shine doing three hours of live television that sometimes begins before the sun signs on.
He learned to survive at WRBL-TV. “I learned that you can pull off just about anything.”
— Richard Hyatt is an independent correspondent. Reach him at hyatt31906@knology.net.
This story was originally published February 10, 2015 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Richard Hyatt: Former WRBL rookie Rece Davis will shine on GameDay."