:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/assets/1164782/Tim_Healey.jpg)
On this 100 Day Countdown to Kickoff list, we've been including the best reasons to love Sun Devil football. So far, we've had amazing records, great moments and unforgetable players. Now, we give the list not just a voice, but "The Voice".
I think we all can just about agree that if there is any sound that immediately associates with Sun Devil football, it's the glorious fight song. Nipping at the heels of the song, however, is the insightful and euphonious play-by-by announcing of Tim Healey, known simply to many die hard fans as "The Voice of the Sun Devils".
While I was growing up in the Valley in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was Healey who artfully narrated the Sun Devil action on the field for the local Channel 3 game broadcasts. Like the best play-by-play men in the business, Healey is able to blend both bring an accurate and entertaining call with a wealth of historical and insightful observations to a game.
Unlike other TV announcers for major networks who skim a media guide before calling a game, Healey has been tied to Sun Devil sports for years, and that bond is immediately evident during any of his broadcasts. Whether it's been his work as a sports anchor for Channel 3, as host of various coaches shows or in his current capacity as ASU's Director of Broadcast Operations, Healey has become an ASU institution.
But one does not become "The Voice of the Sun Devils" simply by calling football games. Healey is also the play-by-play man for men's basketball and baseball, and each sport is the better for that.
Since his full-time move to radio--in perhaps the greatest testament to his position among Sun Devil faithful--there have been a large segment of fans who fire up the Sun Devil games on their televisions, promptly mute them, and turn on the radio to hear Healey's call of the action along with long-time color analyst and Sun Devil great Jeff Van Raaphorst.
For the uninitiated (if you exist) or if you just want to get back in the ASU football mood, here are some of Healey's recent calls of great moments from the 2011 season:
Jamal Miles' TD Pass vs. Missouri
Cameron Marshall's 70-yard TD vs. USC
See the previous entries on House of Sparky's 100 day countdown here.
Follow @HouseofSparky on Twitter for the latest news and Like House of Sparky on Facebook