NC State radio analyst Tony Haynes reflects on career ahead of his final regular season broadcast

Tony Haynes was sitting in an NC State speech communication class, talking with a classmate about radio broadcasting.

He revealed his secret dream of one day becoming a play-by-play announcer for a college or professional sports team. The only problem was that he had no experience, no skills and little knowledge of the profession other than a childhood of listening to New York Yankees games on his transistor radio at home.

His classmate had a suggestion: call Bruce Winkworth.

At the time, Winkworth was a long-term student at NC State, working his way through college as a sportswriter and broadcaster with a particular passion for baseball. Winkworth — who later became editor of The Wolfpacker and a 30-year assistant sports information/communication director at NC State — would often broadcast baseball games, keep the official scorebook and write up recaps in the paper for head coach Sam Esposito’s team, living out his own childhood dream.

In the early 1980s, Winkworth needed a partner on the student-run broadcasts on WKNC-FM and was willing to let Haynes give it a try.

“He let me join him,” Haynes says. “I was terrible, of course. It was a lot harder than I ever thought. Bruce, for whatever reason, saw some potential in me and he kept giving me opportunities.

“I got more comfortable with it and I think I got better at it.”

Haynes, who has been a radio analyst for NC State athletics since 1998, announced his retirement prior to the beginning of this year’s football season. Saturday’s game against North Carolina will be his final at Carter-Finley Stadium. Like longtime broadcast partner Gary Hahn, who retired following NC State’s miracle run to the NCAA Final Four in 2004, Haynes career will likely be extended with a postseason appearance.

The last four months have been a constant reflection of his 38-year broadcasting career, accepting thank yous, well wishes and congratulations from the fans, coaches and media colleagues he’s gotten to know through the decades.

“You know, I feel like I’m the one who should be thanking them because without their support, there would be no Wolfpack Sports Network or Tony Haynes calling in some State games,” he says. “People have been so incredibly kind to me the last three months.

“It’s really been a humbling experience.”

A native of Lynchburg, Virginia, Haynes grew up in Raleigh and graduated from Broughton High School. Golf was his early passion, but he burned out after one season at Sandhills Community College in Southern Pines.

After six years of higher education — two at Sandhills and four at NC State — Haynes graduated with a degree in speech communications in 1984 and started a job at Raleigh country radio station WKIX.

He would spin George Jones and Conway Twitty records during the graveyard shift but also hone his play-by-play skills broadcasting high school basketball and football games. He still did some sports announcing, including as a fill-in announcer for the Durham Bulls.

“I don’t know that I ever thought I’d at that point I would be doing Final Fours and bowl games and the College World Series,” he says. “I knew I had to pay my dues, and eventually, if I took advantage of that opportunity, they’d get me off the graveyard shift, and I’d be on my way.

“That’s kind of the way it worked out.”

Haynes got his biggest break when he was hired by the Duke Radio Network to be a color analyst for football and basketball. It wasn’t the play-by-play job he had dreamed of, but he worked daily with legendary coaches like Steve Spurrier and Mike Krzyzewski and broadcasters Jay Bilas and NC State graduate Bob Harris during his 12 years with the Blue Devil network.

“I was lucky enough to be exposed to so many smart people,” Haynes says. “I tried to be like a sponge, absorbing all of that knowledge I was being exposed to. I’ve been always fascinated by game strategy and X’s and O’s. So being put in a position where I could watch practices, and I could talk to those coaches and ask them questions and I could have that kind of access to their programs.

“It’s possible to become a lot smarter. I think I did a good job of taking advantage of that.”

Haynes returned to his alma mater in 1998 on the same day he completed his final season with Duke football. He went straight from the Duke-North Carolina game at Wallace Wade Stadium to an NC State-Coastal Carolina basketball game that night at Reynolds Coliseum.

He’s been at it ever since, creating an audible bookmark for every major success and failure, every win and every loss, in Wolfpack athletics along the way, most of the time with broadcasting partner Hahn until his retirement 18 months ago.

“I’ve just been lucky and blessed,” he says. “You know, the doors kept opening for me. I never had to leave Raleigh to go to work and I got to do what I wanted to do. I don’t think it gets any better than that.

“I’m incredibly appreciative for the good fortune, and maybe I had something to do with that good luck. When determination, perseverance and good luck intersect, then maybe you have a chance to have some success.”

There have been favorite Wolfpack moments of course—the 2024 ACC title and Final Four appearance in men’s basketball, the 2013 College World Series for baseball and the 2002 season that ended with a win over Notre Dame in football—but one of the most gratifying moments was at a Durham Bulls game in the early 1990s, when he was a parttime play-by-play announcer for the most famous minor league team in the country.

“They put me on the road and I did a few home games,” Haynes says. “I remember seeing Bruce at a game one night in Durham. He came up to me and said ‘Wow, you’re really good at this. I am proud of how far along you’ve come.’

“I wouldn’t have had that chance without him. He kept giving me opportunities to work with him and then as a result, I got better and I got more comfortable with it.”

Now, the 65-year-old Haynes is looking forward to dusting off his golf clubs and relaxing after decades of the daily grind of preparation, travel and long afternoons and nights of analyzing NC State athletics.Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at [email protected].