Goodbye, Mr. Eells

For those of you on my list who don't know Paul Eells, he was the voice of the Arkansas Razorbacks, and I admired him greatly, as did thousands, if not millions, of others. I wrote my column this week about him, and thought I would share it.

I looked at my radio yesterday and thought that maybe, just maybe, if I closed my eyes and turned the knob, I could hear Paul Eells calling a Razorback football game. But I knew it wasn’t true.

The silence was almost too much to bear.

For me, and likely thousands of others across this state, Razorback football will never be the same again. Not without those trademark “Touchdown Arkansas! Oh my!” exclamations, and the traditional, easygoing play-by-play calls that Eells made famous.

It’s hard to even look at a radio right now, knowing that Eells’ voice will never again be there, live and in person, as he was every Saturday in the fall.

The loss of Eells has deeply saddened the state this week. He died Monday evening in a head-on collision with Dover resident
Billie Jo Burton on Interstate 40 near Russellville. He was 70. Burton, 40, also died in the accident.

There was just something special about hearing Eells on the radio. Whenever the Hogs played on television, I always muted the volume and cranked up the ARSN radio broadcast so I could hear Eells’ comments and perspective.

No matter how bad the Hogs were doing that day, Eells’ voice always soothed the wounds. The man with a gentle, endearing smile was Arkansas’ prime minister of sports, as some news reports are saying, and I couldn’t agree more.

He was as kind in person as he was on the radio — always respectful and taking time to greet his fans. But he never had an ego; instead, he carried his popularity deep inside his pocket, far away from the shoulder that most celebrities prop theirs on.

I never had a chance to meet Eells, but I always saw him in downtown Little Rock going to and from the KATV building that sits just across from the Democrat-Gazette, where I worked for three years.

Meeting him one day was always a goal, and unfortunately it’s one I put off for too long. I had plenty of chances, as several of my friends worked at KATV at one time or another. They all told me how endearing he was and how welcome he made them feel. That was classic Paul Eells, thinking of others before himself.

When asked about his life spent in broadcasting, Eells would most always say that he was “at the tail-end of a mediocre career.” Mr. Eells, that couldn’t be further from the truth. You were truly a legend in this state, and everyone considered you to be at the top of your game.

You will be missed by everyone, including this reporter who knew you always gave it your best. And you did. You truly did.