Rivalry Highlights Haynes’ Final Home Game

Tony Haynes (’84) has always been loyal.

So loyal, in fact, that on the day in 1998 he was supposed to start his new job as a football and men’s basketball radio analyst at NC State, he went ahead and worked his last game for the Duke Radio Network. As soon as the Blue Devils beat UNC-Chapel Hill in Durham, he scurried to Raleigh to kick off his career as the Wolfpack’s jack of all sports: a radio analyst who could host coaches’ television and radio shows; a pregame and postgame show producer; a halftime interviewer; and, in recent years, a podcaster.

“That first day, I literally got in the car and drove from Wallace Wade Stadium to Reynolds Coliseum to do my first NC State basketball broadcast,” Haynes said earlier this week. “I actually broadcast games on two different Triangle radio networks on the same day.”

He’s been at it ever since for NC State, even as the network evolved from Capital Broadcasting to Wolfpack Sports Network to Learfield Properties.

Like broadcast partner Gary Hahn, who retired at the end of the 2023-24 men’s basketball season, Haynes has spent decades as the familiar voice calling Wolfpack football, men’s basketball and, on a more limited scale, baseball games for generations of State fans.

Obviously, Haynes has quite a few memories that stand out above the rest.

At the top of the list is the magical run by men’s basketball two years ago, when D.J. Burns and DJ Horne led the Wolfpack on an unlikely run of five victories in five days to win the first Atlantic Coast Conference championship since 1987 and continued that roll all the way to the program’s first NCAA Final Four appearance since 1983.

“When State beat North Carolina for the first ACC title in 37 years, I looked up in the stands and saw grown men crying,” he said. “There were generation after generation of NC State fans who had been waiting to celebrate another ACC championship for years.

“Then I went down on the court and talked to DJ Horne and Casey Morsell and they were in tears, too.”

For the usually even-keeled sideline reporter and clear-thinking broadcast booth analyst, it was a moment to allow his eyes to well up as well.

“There’s nothing that tops that,” he says. “I haven’t seen anything like that anywhere, nor did I think I would actually be a part of something like that.“

Broadcasting NC State baseball’s first appearance at the College World Series in nearly half a century when the Wolfpack played North Carolina in Omaha, Nebraska, was equally emotional.

“The two teams were lining up before the game, and on the third baseline everything was Carolina blue, and on the first baseline it was all red and white,” Haynes said. “I took a picture of it and kept thinking to myself that it was so awesome seeing these two teams play each other in the College World Series.”

Calling each of State football’s 14 games in 2002 — when quarterback Philip Rivers, wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery and linebacker Dantonio Burnette were stalwarts for coach Chuck Amato and led the Wolfpack to a school-record 11 victories and a 2003 Gator Bowl win over Notre Dame — left long-lasting memories from State’s longest-ever football season.

“What made that season so amazing was the guys on that team,” he said. “They had so much charisma, just like their coach.

“They were just fun to be around.”

The 65-year-old broadcaster shared many of those memories with his longtime broadcasting partner Hahn. Together, they were among the longest-lasting broadcasting tandems in the country.

“I could not have asked for a more talented professional to work with than Tony,” Hahn said. “He was with me for the majority of my career at State and added so much insight into what was happening on the field or the court. 

“He was always prepared, and that showed so clearly in his work. The way he added to the description of a broadcast with additional insight, information and humor was a real work of art. Listeners not only heard a play call; Tony told them why it worked or it didn’t.

“I sure hope he enjoys retirement as much as I do.”

The way he added to the description of a broadcast with additional insight, information and humor was a real work of art. Listeners not only heard a play call; Tony told them why it worked or it didn’t.

Haynes has been contemplating retirement for a few years, as college athletics has gone through many changes, travel becomes more taxing and the daily grind remains never-ending.

The three-month transition since he announced his retirement in August has allowed him to savor some of his greatest memories with the Wolfpack, bringing to an end the full-time broadcasting career he once dreamed of having as a kid listening to New York Yankees games on a small transistor radio.

At one time, he thought his future was in golf, which is why he spent two years at Sandhills Community College in Sanford as a member of the school’s golf team.

When he came to NC State to pursue a degree in communications, however, he switched his pursuits to radio broadcasting, first calling baseball games and reading sports reports on student radio station WKNC-FM.

Stepping away won’t be easy for the native of Lynchburg, Virginia, whose parents moved to Raleigh when he was 14. He’s been hearing from fans, alumni and media colleagues throughout the fall. When the Wolfpack played at Duke in October, there was a poster and a sealed envelope waiting for him in the broadcast booth that contained a handwritten note from Blue Devils Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski, who spoke fondly of Haynes’ 12 years in Durham.

Gestures like that one have taken away much of the wistfulness Haynes thought he would feel during his last season on the headset.

“When you’re broadcasting games, you put the headphones on and you’re just talking; you never really stop to think of how many people are listening or who’s listening or if anybody is listening,” Haynes said. “You don’t really know what kind of an impact you’re making. One thing I’ve learned is that … people do appreciate what you do.

“They are constantly coming up and thanking me. That has been magnified over the last three months since I announced that I was retiring. They have been incredibly kind. It’s nice to know you are doing something that matters to people.”

It’s a humbling experience, waking up from a dream.