The upcoming meeting of the Durham Sports Club will feature Bob Holliday, retired sports anchor of WRAL-TV.

Known as “The Captain” in the WRAL Sports department, Holliday served as sports anchor of WRAL’s highly successful weekend newscast since 1981, and he oversaw WRAL’s sports coverage during most of his tenure.

A University of North Carolina graduate, Holliday spent 10 years with the Village Companies, as news and sports director at WCHL radio. His time there included several years on the Tar Heel Sports Network.

Holliday moved to WRAL in 1981 and quickly made his mark as the station’s coverage grew. WRAL anchor Tom Suiter, with Holliday handling the logistics, launched the ambitious Football Friday show that covered 28 high school football games. That show became a WRAL staple and an enormous hit with viewers. Holliday has been a mainstay on the weekend news, knowing how to balance the ever-growing sports news in the market with information viewers needed on the national scene.

Holliday has been an integral part of WRAL’s coverage for decades, whether it was a U.S. Open in Pinehurst, covering Dale Earnhardt’s stunning death at Daytona, or reporting from the Final Four 18 times for WRAL.  He was in the Carolina Hurricanes’ locker room in 2006 for “the wildest celebration I’ve ever seen” after the Canes won the Stanley Cup. He was covering the Daytona 500 the day Dale Earnardt died. And he contributed to efforts that won four Emmy Awards, including a marvelous special on the history of Reynolds Coliseum. He interviewed Dean Smith soon after Smith retired from North Carolina in 1997 – the only local television reporter to be granted an interview at the time.

Mark Your Calendar

1/18/12 – Bob Holliday, Retired Sports Anchor, WRAL-TV
2/1/12 – Tom Walter, Head Baseball Coach, Wake Forest University
2/15/12 – Special Guest Speaker
3/7/12 – A Different Special Guest Speaker

Congratulations to Ingrid Wicker-McCree

One of the Durham Sports Club’s members, Ingrid-Wicker McCree, the Director of Athletics at North Carolina Central University, has been selected for induction into the George Washington University Athletic Hall of Fame.  Obviously, this is a tremendous honor for one of Durham’s own.  Read the story at:

http://www.nccueaglepride.com/news/2012/1/12/ATHL_0112122819.aspx?path=athletics