Merrill Reese REACTS to Winning HOF Pete Rozelle Award, Best Eagles Stories, Memories & more

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you know I saw this and we had merilon I love Merl Reese’s comments too when I tried to get him on the other day he goes listen here I can’t miss a golf shot here can’t do it now okay I can’t miss this golf shot Dan so I can’t miss any holes I don’t want any okay it’s not gonna happen this is a tournament that matters too so I can’t miss any golf shots so I absolutely love that when he said that but last week Marl ree was and the great Folks at the Pro Football Hall of Fame who I’m very close to my uncle’s in the Pro Football Hall of Fame obviously some of my dearest friends are in the Pro foot I’ve been there I’ve got a lifetime pass because of being a former player to go to the Hall of Fame and they got a section in there for the Roselle award it’s some of the greatest broadcasters of all time if John Facenda is in it um you have Harry callus you are some of the greatest voices in the history of Philadelphia sports think about what I’m saying to you Harry Callis and John Facenda I mean and then you see something in your phone and you’re like this Canton Ohio and this is Merill I’m just assuming this is Canton oh Canton Ohio must be a life insurance company he picks it up and it’s the Pro Football Hall of Fame and it’s John and the guys let’s bring in the legendary voice hopefully I portrayed that right Merl ree hopefully I portrayed that right and how it you did with with one exception with one exception uh Harry Callis is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame he is in the Baseball Hall of Fame see baseball’s version of the Pete Rosel award is I believe it’s called the Ford Frick award it is and that’s what Harry is in how but all those men were they actively working still when you got into the business uh bo wasn’t fenda still doing NFL film he yes of course yes John fenda was yes and um boy I I would imagine John Madden was coaching yeah John Madden was and yeah that’s right John Madden was coaching back in because John quit in like 81 something around there then he got into CBS and he went into broadcasting but for you coming up during that era where Harry Callis is talking Phillies baseball fendo who was a I think was a sports caster no he was news he was he was a news anchor you know he would he would finish every newscast by saying do have a nice night tonight and a pleasant day tomorrow that that was John he was he was on channel 10 in Philadelphia for many many years my grandmother loved him what is does it feel to be in that room and in that group now that you’re being honored with such a prestigious award because the Roselle award is a prestigious award in Marill I know you’re a humble man but you’re in a conversation with those men I don’t know I I am humbled by it I was shocked and I am humbled by it I was went you know the funny thing Dan was in 2016 Jeffrey Lorry called me and told me that I was selected for the Eagles Hall of Fame and was I was happy I was thrilled my reaction was one of joy and it it was I I mean I guess I kind of figured that after broadcasting the Eagles for so many years that eventually I would sneak in there but this is something I never considered it was not on my bucket list it was unattainable it was out of my mind I never thought about it and when Jim Porter called me from the Hall of Fame I was driving at the golf for a change I was I was driving and all of a sudden he told me called me and I see I see on the screen Camp Ohio and I’m thinking who do I know in Canton Ohio and I I I answered the phone and he said congratulations and and you have won the PE Rosel Ward and you’re into the whole all I could do was cry I mean I was I was so emotional I could not believe it and then he told me we’re going to release it tomorrow at 11:00 so please we don’t want it on social media we do not want anyone to know until 11: you can only tell your wife so I called my wife and and again she answered the phone and I am emotional I’m crying she thought I was in a car accident and I’m finally yelling no Hall of Fame so it’s it was crazy well who was the first person you thought of when you realized what the call was and you got the opportunity now to have yourself enshrined in Canton what who was the first person you thought of who was the P first person I thought of I I I mean other than my my wife and my son and my daughter they were the first they were the first people I thought of that that they were going to be proud of their hopefully we’re able to connect here again here because this is great stuff here man I mean you know you’re you’re enshrined in Canton and I got to tell you Merl I’m so thrilled for you because it’s such a hallowed place my my my family we have family members in that and I I I wanted to get moments from you what was the greatest Eagle moment for you as a broadcaster oh that’s easy that that one I can answer quite easily that was February 4th 2018 or 2018 after the Eagles won the Super Bowl and that that moment when they won that Super Bowl oh my goodness oh I mean that was it I mean for years I Paul Dom the inquir uh the week before the Super Bowl did a whole interview and he said to me will you write down a couple of lines because it’s going to last forever of if the Eagles win what you will say and I said no I said if it happens it’s going to come from my heart and the the Genesis of it really is for years Angelo caldi would have me as a guest on the morning show from time to time and he’d say I want the Eagles to win the Super Bowl for you for all you’ve gone through for all these years and I said to him and I was not being disingenuous I said Angelo I’ve had miracles of the meal lands I’ve had great things to describe I said I want it for the fans because these fans come out there in any kind of weather these fans some of whom get second mortgages so they can buy season tickets they spend their last minutes their their last dollar around the holidays to get their kids Eagles jersey and memorabilia I want it for them so when it occurred first of of all Dan I was scared to death and the reason I was scared to death was not because I thought Tom Brady was going to complete a Hail Mary to win the game because I I think Aaron roders has that kind of arm I never thought Tom Brady had that kind of Hail Mary ability mean not that he wasn’t the goat but of course in pure arm strength but I was nervous because you know the newer the stadium the newer the stadium the worst R seats are because now those seats are super boxes and whatever so at US Bank Stadium we were seated seated in the exact opposite corner of the end zone so that play was going to culminate 110 yards away from where we were seated and you know that we can’t use monitors for something like that anymore because it thanks to Janet Jackson everything’s on the so so Brady goes back and he starts to stumble forward and as he lets go of the ball inexplicably everything slows down I’m looking at it like it’s one of these NFL films in slow motion and I see it come down and I see it knocked around and it hits the ground and I look up at the clock and all I can say is it’s incomplete the game is over Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl champions and then I said Eagles fans everywhere this is for you let the celebration begin so that was the crowning moment absolutely man I mean it’s an iconic moment in a city known for passionate sports fans and you mentioned and I’ll take the Super Bowl out of this would one of the most distinctive moments because I heard it the other day when I heard that you were inducted or going to be inducted with the honor I went back and I listened to some of your calls and I went back in the miracle in the metal lands funny my uncle was the general manager at the time of the Giants when that whole thing went down and I heard your voice of all the games you called and all the moments that you called would you say that that moment was the most improbable moment that you had in any of your broadcasting was when something was so and vermil being the guy too who always always preached never give up never Never Surrender and there it was never surrender and Herman picks it up takes it in pasaric drops the ball goes in I think zanka ran into somebody and there you were you you it was like you couldn’t believe it was that the most dramatic moment in your broadcasting career it I would I would rank that number two that was November 19th 1978 I would rank that number two because what then that game was over and and all of a sudden that occurred over crazy but number one because the actual play was more Dynamic was December 19th 2010 and that was at The Meadowlands and that was where the Eagles were so bad in the first half that I said it halftime the score is the Giants 23 the Eagles are still back at the hotel and then Michael Vic put together the greatest 30 minutes of quarterbacking I ever saw to bring them back from the dead a touchdown pass to Brent celik and onsides kick by David agres recovered by Riley Cooper a touchdown pass to Jeremy Macklin a quarterback draw by Michael Vic and suddenly it’s even and the Eagles who couldn’t stop anybody stopped the Giants that time stopped the Elon company and the Giants had the punt and Mike Quick said there is no way are putting this ball to Deshawn Jackson with three seconds on the clock and inexplicably Matt Dodgers punt came down and Desa muffed it and then he picked it up and then the Red Sea parted and somewhere downfield Jason nant leveled somebody with a block and Des Shawn just kept running and running and running and then he stops at the one yard line and per wets and does a dance and I’m saying just I don’t care what what he does just get into the end zone and he did that was the most incredible comeback I have ever seen the players that you’ve covered was there one player that you enjoyed covering more so and I know you have great affiliations and respect for everyone that you’ve ever covered but was there one guy that every time he stepped on the field something maybe brought a great call out of you maybe it was just the way the fans acted towards him was there one guy that you enjoyed talking about more on the air than anyone else yes the the most well that my saying he was the best player I’ve ever been wa no but the most exciting player in my hundred years Randall C wow you just never knew it was going to happen I mean he he got off a 91 yard punt he he jumped over people there’s a picture of my office of Randall hurling the entire Giant’s defensive line you never knew whether he was I don’t think he knew what he was going to do next Randle Cunningham he was he was instant excitement but there were other brilliant performers like Brian Westbrook and Shady McCoy I mean the great running backs wber Montgomery those guys the great wide receivers arrol Carmichael and Mike Quick and Des Shawn and and the two they have right now Devon Smith and AJ Brown I mean they were amazing I mean there have been great players in every position now if your next question is going to be and I’m reading your mind yes of all the players you’ve covered as an eagle in my tenure who was the greatest Eagle of all time or or from 1977 to today that would be Reggie White that would be Reggie White he was he was right there with the best who ever played defense and number two would be Brian Dawkins those two wow but Reggie number one Reggie was the best best defensive end I ever saw the first year he came into the league coming from the usfl I think he had like nine games 12 games and he had 21 sacks yeah it was it was like he was getting two three sacks a game and it looked like he was so far Advanced from everybody and I was I started I was in college at the time at Miami and then obviously when I got and Jerome and I would watch him and he came from the Memphis showboats I believe yes and he got and he got to Philadelphia when they had to supplemental draft for him and we could not he didn’t wear I don’t think he wore his traditional numbers first year I think it was 91 the first year and then he became 91 then he went to 92 the second year correct yeah but the funny thing is I there was only one other player I used to say this about that how he would give offensive coordinators nightmares all week that you never know where he was coming from but you knew he was coming and that was the Giants great Lawrence Taylor and I felt the same way about Reggie they moved him around you never knew what he was going to do next he totally dominated a game coaches you’ve had a very colorful list of guys to have a post and pregame and maybe even an in-game conversation with so you get vermil who Randy cross tells me one of the most intense people you’ve ever seen don’t let the California guy fool you because he was a very fiery guy he didn’t believe in taking time off but he was also a really emotional guy and if you knew anything about Dick verile you understood it came from a place of love then you had of course you had um you had Ray rhods you also had um buy Andy buddy I mean of all these coaches who did you enjoy and who did you have more fun with interviewing the most in your time since 77 as a coach for the Eagles my favorite is Dick uh because in the dictionary if you go to see under the word Charisma there’s a picture of dick veril I never saw anybody who who communicated with his team the way dick F did but there have been so many I I had a lot of fun with buddy I you know buddy was controversial I love buddy you never knew what he was going to say next but he was great to me and he took me into his confidence and he said things that I would never repeat on the air because it would get him fired sooner than he eventually was in fact in fact when he was fired after a loss to uh the Washington team uh and he called his own press conference that Monday morning and as we all came into his his den he turned around and he said well it’s the first time anyone’s ever been fired for winning and then later he bought a racehorse and he named it fired for winning buddy was Buddy was the most remarkable he was funny he was he was great and I loved Ray Ray was Ray was a a laugh a minute if you got to know him he was he was terrific he he was the he was great Ray was I loved Ray and then I mean I Andy was terrific coach Andy’s Hall of Fame bound you know that oh yeah and a wonderful person I I love Andy and Doug love Doug Doug Doug was Doug was terrific nobody realized that Doug would be the kind of coach that he was but he he he was a terrific person he he gave me the the most inside look at the game that any coach did because I knew him for 19 years by the time he became the Eagles coach I knew him when he was brought in here as the sacrificial lamb until Donovan McNab was ready to play and he’d go out there and get beaten up every week so I knew Doug really well and Doug shared things with me Doug could I could go into Doug’s office and he’d tell me the gadget plays they were going to use that week he draw them up for me and then I looked like a genius when I could describe them and see them coming but he was he was a he was he was a great friend is a great friend I can pick up the phone when we get off the air and call Doug and and have a great chat with him he’s he’s he’s a wonderful wonderful person couple last questions for you Merill Merill you know for me as a broadcaster I’ve been doing this now for about 36 years I’ve been on the air and I’ve been on I was on the radio for 32 and I’ll say this to you that I had more fun when I didn’t know what I was doing when I was younger and I was going through and I was learning and I was learning the business and I was learning my mistakes and it’s just seemed that the journey was a little bit now um it you know I’m I found out the more I’m more like me the more I resonate with folks back then I was still trying to find when you were younger in your broadcasting career and you were getting getting your feet wet in 7778 in that time do you how do you look at your earlier time as a broadcaster compared to now did you enjoy it at the beginning do you enjoy it more now D this I mean aside from dreaming about being a quarterback when I was 10 on once I realized that 5’8 was it um but but I realized that this is my dream job and I have loved play byplay and I have loved football forever so I did enjoy it from the very beginning and I enjoy it as much now I love I love every single second of it however when you’re talking about the difference in those early years I was careful in the sense that I would not be overly critical because I did not want to be the former voice of the Eagles and I know the realities of what you can say and what you cannot say and even to this day oh yes I’m not going to take anybody apart or call for anybody’s job or say anything unkind however when the Eagles played the Giants in the last game of the regular season last year I heard it and I said this is not this is not a good football team and I did not I did not believe for a second that they were going to beat Tampa Bay in the playoffs on that Monday night because they had lost it they couldn’t find it they had weeks of opportunities to turn it around and they couldn’t so I’m honest I feel that my longevity in that booth has given me a feeling of credibility so people know I love the Eagles as much as they do I’m not there to to hurt the team or belittle anybody but I have great respect for Eagles fans and I feel an obligation to be honest with them at all times don’t you agree merold that for you if you were to give advice to a young aspiring play-by-play guy it would be what you just said is to build the cred the equity with the fans up first before you can start being and expanding what you and how you see like you said because when I heard you I was driving back from my daughter’s college and I had you on SiriusXM and I just went like this he never talks like that on my program and I go but he’s like this is not Eagle football you were you and Mike were both going back and forth and you it was really like I couldn’t believe and I was like Wow and but to me it’s about building Equity up with the fans and with the organization and with the community when you say that that would be some advice that you give build your Equity up before you start going in slashing and burning also remember that that you are not not a fan there are two things you will you will never hear come out of my mouth and I have never said it from the very beginning I have never said we I have never said us I talk about the Eagles now it does my voice reflect the tenor of the game and what is happening of course at the same time I feel as if I’m a journalist angling the game to an Eagles fan in other words they want to Know Why the Eagles are beating the Giants or why the Eagles are trailing the Cowboys not vice versa you’re not part of the team you may feel it inside you may love them you may want them to win but you are calling the game with as objectively as you possibly can finally who was your first color analyst that worked with you in the booth well when I took over with two games to go in the 77 season after Charlie Swift suddenly died um Dean Tyler the program director at wiip left it up to me he said Merl go get a color analyst for the last two games and I said okay and I called a a native Philadelphian who I knew who I had met uh at the station and who was one of my favorite players and one of my favorite people people and in the Hall of Fame the great herb adway oh my god did the first two games with me no way yes yes number 26 Green Bay Packers but Philadelphia’s Northeast High School and Michigan State so I did those first two games with her now I didn’t know if I would get the game because after the season I didn’t find out until the following March that I was it so I mean I I I never knew but but herb herb was my color man then the following season after I got the games after I got the games uh and was named the play byplay voice of the Eagles and sports director of WIP herb couldn’t do them anyhow because he had then in the off season joined Wayne Harden’s Temple coaching staff so we had auditions and the person who got the car job for a couple of seasons was a Philadelphia writer journalist by the name of Jim barniak and when Jim left after for a couple of Seasons Bill Bergie was in the booth and after Bill Bergie for a couple of Seasons came the character of all characters Stan walers the Eagles All Pro left tackle and Stan was a riot you never knew what Sam was going to say we’re doing a game against the Cowboys and St is looking at he’s getting angry because there were so many marginal calls and everything went against the Eagles and Stan walers Stan Waters says Tech Ram has these officials in his pocket he’s a member of the competition committee he has them in his pocket and the writer’s Booth is right next to us and all of a sudden we hear a pounding on the window and we look into the glass and tex Ram is standing there Shing that there’s nothing in his pockets and and he was scheduled to be Stan’s halftime guest and he didn’t show didn’t show up and but what’s more they took Stan off the Cowboys mailing list and Stan said good I don’t want to be on it holy cow I learned so much right there are you trying to tell me mar Reese is the guy who handed off the PD job to Bill Bigby are you the guy that handed that off to him what to to Bill no Bill I said Bill Bergie oh no no no who wasn’t there a guy by the name of Big B that was the pro Tom Bigby Tom Bigby yeah did you hand the PD job off to him hand it off no I wasn’t ever the PD I wasn’t in position anybody’s job Tom P hat he was the only he hated I hated that guy you know why he hated me and I he I don’t like you know he passed away I know I got it but but you know why he hated me he hated me because he wanted me to get into the booth each week and get into an argument with Sam wers and become controversial and go back and forth like the morning show does on a talk station I wouldn’t do it I wouldn’t do it and and he he he really wanted to get rid of me but the the the company wouldn’t let him but I tell you what so I got I got an opportunity to go to he said I don’t care if you believe it or not you say something to start an argument in that Booth I said I am sorry I will not do that well then so he he wanted me out but he he didn’t he he was program director he wasn’t the he wasn’t the company president who said don’t you dare leave him alone and um years later he apologized to me believe or not but that you know in fact Angelo Cal had it in his contract that Tom Bigby wasn’t allowed to talk to him he told us he comes on once a week here on our show and he told us that because I said I go look Tom Bigby um was trying to get me to go and he wanted me with some sort of light in the in the booth where get this a lot of people don’t know this that he didn’t like callers on past a minute or some and I was like I’m not doing that if it’s good content he goes well then you know Andy Bloom was trying to hire me then he ended up getting getting fired but he I went up to Philly three times and I told Angelo I go Angelo I was supposed to follow you um like back when Bigby was there when my first got started in it and he goes it was over the light bulb he goes you know I had something on my contract that that guy could never talk to me yeah he did he did now unfortunately he could talk to me but I didn’t have to listen well Merill we’ve been listening for all these years and congratulations to you and your family it’s a tremendous honor to be enshrined in that building there’s so few that are in that building it personifies everything that I love about pro football and the people the voices of it the men that played it to just to be a part of it like that has to be a thrill for everyone including your family so congratulations thank you thank you Dan I appreciate it and I always enjoy coming on with you thank you so much my friend I appreciate it God bless Merill thank you byebye you got it that is the great Merill ree the voice of the Philadelphia Eagles now being enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame all right where are we in the like list I got to take a time out here much love to Merl ree where are we on the like list where are we please tell me we’re close in getting there how close are we um 185 I need 15 by the end of the program okay 15 more folks do me a favor hit the like list keep it here national football show if you missed any of today’s show on the Jacob media channel listen to the podcast on your way home available on YouTube apple and Spotify