Herb Bailey has been announcing longer than most P. A. announcers have been alive, and now he’s ready to click off the microphone one last time as the 80-year-old is ready to call it a career for this South Carolina announcer.

When people hear Georgetown, they think of the basketball powerhouse in Washington D. C., and they have an announcer, Father William McFadden, S.J., who has been behind the microphone for Hoyas basketball since 1973.  By that time, Bailey had already been on the mic for 14 years.

South Strand News: End of an Era

Bailey got his start in the military on the radio at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  A few calls to disc jockey Bill Ladd led to teaming up for a radio show that admits “was terrible”.

After leaving the Marines, Bailey continued on radio until a chance television audition that put him further in the public eye.  He would go on to work for Georgetown Steel and begin coaching youth sports teams.  His teams were successful and he was asked to announce games for the local high school.

He’s been in and out of the booth throughout the years, but leaving it going to be tough for Bailey, who is already thinking about getting back in there!