Knoxville, Tenn. – The start of Bob Kesling’s broadcasting career was very successful.
He was the sports director of WIVK radio right out of college. He was the sports director at WBIR Channel 10 at 26. He called the first two national championship games for the Lady Vols.
But the former Tennessee football walk-on wanted more.
He felt he was “spinning his wheels a little bit,’’ so he sought advice from Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt.
“I just needed a kick in the pants,’’ Kesling said.
Summitt gave him a kick, a harsh kick.
“She leaned across the table; she gave me the stare,’’ Kesling recalled. “And she said, `I don’t know the politics in hiring people in your business. My guess is the reason your phone is not ringing is you’re not good enough.’’’
“I went, `What!.’’’ Kesling said. “That isn’t what I was expecting to hear. She hit me in the head with a hammer. She just went, `Bam!.’’’
Summitt then told Kesling to work harder and make that day’s broadcast his best-ever.
The next year, Jefferson-Pilot, which carried SEC football and basketball games on TBS, called Kesling and offered him the play-by-play job.
That was in 1989.
Summitt’s hammer hit wasn’t the first time Kesling’s ego had been shattered. A decade before, Kesling asked legendary Voice of the Vols John Ward to critique one of his play-by-play tapes.
Ward’s response: “Try advertising.’’
Kesling was with Channel 10 for 18 years until 1999, when Ward retired after more than 30 years of calling football and Vols basketball.
As fate would have it, Kesling’s contracts with Channel 10 and Jefferson-Pilot were to expire in April 1999.
The Monday after Ward’s last basketball game in March, then-UT athletic director Doug Dickey called Kesling into his office.
Kesling wasn’t sure if Dickey wanted a recommendation to replace Ward or if Dickey wanted to hire him.
Dickey immediately asked Kesling if he was interested in replacing Ward. Kesling said he was interested in talking about it.
Two days later, Dickey asked what it would take to lure Kesling to UT.
That Friday, Kesling went to Dickey’s office to pick up the contract offer.
But Kesling, who had been negotiating with Channel 10 but hadn’t reached an agreement, didn’t open UT’s package. Instead, a few days later, he took it to his attorney friend to read.
The attorney informed Kesling that everything Kesling had asked for was in the contract.
“Now, this is over,’’ the attorney said. “Doug Dickey met your demands.’’
When Kesling went back to Channel 10, general manager Jeff Lee was about to hand Kesling the TV station’s offer. Before Kesling took the proposal, he told Lee he had accepted the Tennessee job.
Lee put the contract under his arm, shook hands with Kesling, and said: “Congratulations.’’
One of Kesling’s mentors was the late great Lindsey Nelson, a former Voice of the Vols and a well-known national broadcaster who called Notre Dame highlight videos, Mets games, and the Cotton Bowl.
Nelson told Kesling to treat his job in a professional manner. So Kesling wore a tie to call football and basketball games.
But if UT lost a football game, Kesling would ditch the tie.
“I was never going to wear a tie with a loss in it,’’ Kesling said. “Two (in 2024) didn’t make it to the bus after the game. One was at Ohio State (a first-round College Football Playoff loss).’’
Once, at a Tennessee banquet honoring football managers, then-Athletic Director Mike Hamilton complimented a manager on a nifty orange Neimann Marcus tie.
“Where did you get it?’’ Hamilton asked the manager.
“I got it out of the trash can at Notre Dame when Kesling threw it away,’’ the manager said.
While at Channel 10, Kesling was known for his humorous – and sometimes controversial – practical jokes.
He once reported that the University of Texas had won a trademark lawsuit that would prohibit the University of Tennessee from wearing orange. Vol fans were outraged.
He reported in 1994, Tennessee was digging up the artificial turf at Neyland Stadium to put in grass, but found numerous rare black bear skulls. Because it was such a unique find, Kesling said, excavators wanted to keep exploring the migration pattern of the black bears. So UT would have to move its home games that season to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. Dickey called Kesling on that one, not amused.
When the Smokies were considering building a stadium off Lovell Road – near Kesling’s neighborhood. Kesling reported the proposal got nixed, but there was approval to build a dog track there and that anyone who lived nearby could race their dogs for prize money.
Kesling’s favorite April Fool’s joke was when he reported John Ward was retiring as the Voice of the Vols to be a mechanic at Bob Jones Automotive. Ward was all in on the prank, getting a jumpsuit with his name embroidered on the upper pocket. Ward was shown on TV wheeling himself under the car, then telling Kesling he needed to take some quarters of oil to another customer, who happened to be former Vol Bill Anderson, Ward’s color analyst on football games.
“How many (quarts) should I take?’’ Kesling ask.
“Give him six,’’ Ward said, using his trademark call when a Vol scored a touchdown.
Ward then threw an empty oil can into a nearby trash can and proclaimed: “Bottom,’’ – the word he used when a Vol hit a shot in basketball.
On May 8, Kesling and color analyst Bert Bertelkamp will be honored with the McNabb Center’s Spirit Award, which goes to someone who’s made a significant contribution to the organization that assists the mentally handicapped.
Kesling and Bertelkamp have chaired the Bob and Bert golf tournament for more than a dozen years, raising over $1.5 million for the McNabb Center.
“I just think it’s always important to give back if you can,’’ said Kesling, who has worked with many other charities, including the Greater Knoxville Boys and Girls Club, The United Way, Goodwill, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Big Brothers, Big Sisters.
“We all need to. You’ve got to pay it forward.’’
Kesling has done that and more – even as he took a hit from a hammer from Pat Summitt.