After 26 seasons behind the microphone, the retired Tennessee broadcaster reflects on what mattered most — and why the banquet circuit still gets him out of the house.
For 26 years, Bob Kesling was the soundtrack of Tennessee football and basketball. Now a year into retirement, the voice Vol Nation grew up listening to is taking his seat at a different kind of podium — this time in Jackson.
Kesling served as the keynote speaker at the 40th Annual Jackson-Madison County Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet, trading play-by-play calls for a reflection on five decades in broadcasting, a career that officially wrapped in April 2025 after Tennessee’s Elite Eight loss to Houston in the NCAA Tournament.
“I’m just going to kind of reflect about the fact that I’m retired and what the heck I’m doing now and trying to stay out of trouble,” Kesling said in an interview previewing the event. “Then talk a little bit about some of my UT experiences and some of the things I learned, some of the things I enjoyed, and just talk about some of the inductees and how special this is.”
If that sounds like the voice of a man glad to be off the road, it is. Kesling said he doesn’t miss the travel – particularly the 4 a.m. return flights from Tuesday night road trips. What he does miss is the people.
“The one thing I miss the most is being around the players – getting to know them, getting to know their struggles, where they’ve been,” he said. “You see them on the plane after a big win. You see them on the plane after a big loss.”
These days, his travel schedule looks different.
“I’m a full-time grandpa Uber driver,” he said, laughing. “I drive. “I go all over the place. But that’s been the best part of it.”
Kesling’s path into broadcasting started in the least glamorous way possible: as a college kid arguing his way into better seats at a Knoxville Sox minor-league baseball game. By the end of that night, he had talked himself into a summer job with the team.
By the end of that summer, a local radio station, WIVK, had heard his 30-second game recaps and offered him a sportscaster job. Legendary WIVK broadcaster Bobby Denton made him sports director shortly after he graduated from UT in 1977.
From there, the resume built itself. Film editor on the Bill Battle Show. Spotter alongside John Ward in the Neyland Stadium press box for 15 seasons. Lead play-by-play voice for the Lady Vols, including Pat Summitt’s first six national championships. And in 1999, after Ward’s retirement, Kesling slid into the chair as the Voice of the Vols.
Asked about the current state of college athletics, Kesling didn’t pull punches. On Name, Image and Likeness and the transfer portal: “I don’t think anybody likes it. I don’t think any of the coaches like it … now it’s just a bidding war.”
He pointed to the awkward reality of 25- and 26-year-olds competing against 19-year-olds, and to quarterbacks now earning more in college than they might in the NFL.
“The NCAA just doesn’t seem to want to step in – well, I don’t think they can,” he said. “The courts are siding with the kids, which is probably a good thing for the kids, but it’s a bad thing for the sport. “If you’ve got a solution to fix it, I’d love to hear it.”
He was similarly direct on the SEC arms race, particularly with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas. “Everybody there shoved and pushed to keep generating more money, but it seems like it’s working because everybody’s getting bigger and better.”
What brings him to Jackson, though, isn’t the state of college sports. It’s the same thing that kept him in a press box for 50 years: the people being honored.
“I’m on the board of the Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame, and it’s one of my favorite nights of the year, just to see the accomplishments of some of these people,” Kesling said. “It’s amazing what they do. I just think it’s great to celebrate the accomplishments because athletics is really important to kids in school. It gives them guidance; it gives them discipline.”
He credits his own high school football coach – who remained a close mentor up until his death a few years ago – as one of the most formative figures in his life.
“I’m sure the people being honored (in Jackson-Madison County Sports Hall of Fame) would say the same thing about their coaches,” Kesling said.
(PHOTO: Jackson’s Tom Britt, left, visits with Bob Kesling during Jackson-Madison County Sports Hall of Fame festivities)
