Thanks for the memories, Jim

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Thanks for the memories, Jim

Jim and Andy

Very few color commentators can say that they ever called a game while hospitalized, or received surgery in the training room between games, but Jim Eckhardt can tell both of these stories with pride.
Eckhardt began providing color commentary for Hillsdale football and basketball games before almost anyone in the student body was born. On Sept. 5, however, a chapter closed as Eckhardt called his final game for the Chargers, ending his 40-year run in the booth.
Emotions were high as Eckhardt signed off of WCSR for the last time.
“It was tough, but I also knew it was time,” Eckhardt said. “I used to spend two weeks memorizing numbers and other stuff about players, and I just didn’t do that anymore. It’s just like any other job where you slowly get worn down.”
Eckhardt also cited medical reasons and a desire to spend more time with his wife, Sally, as reasons for hanging up his headset.
“I have spent pretty much every Saturday of our 47-year marriage at the college,” Eckhardt said. “Don’t get me wrong, we were both having a blast, but eventually you really start to think about that.”
In 40 years, Eckhardt has missed only one home game, and this was due to a death in the family. It is this level of commitment that has allowed him to have such a strong impression on so many people connected to the college.
“Jim has been around Charger football for so long, and he is such a gregarious guy, that he has friends in every generation of Chargers that we come in contact with,” said Andy Brown, who has been Eckhardt’s partner since 2001. “It was interesting to me that these kids, these players, would have developed a relationship with the radio guy, but they really did and that just speaks to who Jim is.”
It is not only the players and his partners that understand Eckhardt’s impact on the college. In 2009, the college honored Eckhardt by electing him to the Hillsdale College Athletic Hall of Fame.
“That really was an honor to be put in since I didn’t even play sports there,” Eckhardt said. “It meant everything to me, and it still does. I am very, very proud of that.”
Eckhardt, who grew up a Chargers fan, and to this day declares them his favorite team at any level, has done far more for the college than call football games. He also spent years calling basketball games, served as a public address announcer, a recruiter, a booster, and even helped coach the golf team.
While coaching, Eckhardt was famous for telling his players that they were there to play, and not to work, so they should smile. This kind of attitude carried over into how he called games.
“I was playing up there,” Eckhardt said. “I never worked one single day in that booth and I think that showed.”
For his partners and listeners, his love of the booth certainly did show, and because of it, Eckhardt’s broadcasting style couldn’t be mistaken.
“Sometimes he would just start singing during our broadcast,” Brown said. “He had this catchphrase when the game was boring and already decided, he would say, ‘It’s time for those famous three words: Let it end!’ There was no pretense with Jim, he just said what he felt at the time. He was just enjoying watching and talking about the games, and I think the listeners appreciated that.”
If you spend a Saturday walking around Frank “Muddy” Waters stadium, you’re more likely to hear Eckhardt call someone by a warmhearted nickname than the name they were given at birth, and the response is bound to be a smile from ear to ear. This exemplifies how Eckhardt lives his life.
“You have to be a people person, and I just love people,” Eckhardt said. “How long does it take to just be sincerely nice to someone? Really not that long, and I think we often miss that. If you can help someone you should just do it.”
According to Brown, Eckhardt has a way about him that proves that he practices what he preaches.
“Jim is a great big guy with a huge heart, an infectious sense of humor, a great laugh, and he just loves to make people smile,” Brown said.
Taking Eckhardt’s place, at least for this year, will be Hillsdale high school senior Martin Petersen. Petersen, the quarterback for the Hornets, will bring a wealth of football knowledge to the booth.
“I know that I can’t go out there and try to be Jim Eckhardt, because he is a legend, and you can’t fill those shoes,” Petersen said. “What I know I can do is use my experience as a player to provide a little bit of a different angle from the booth.”
Eckhardt was adamant that although his days calling games may be done, he still plans to support his favorite team.
“I’ll be around,” Eckhardt said. “I may not make every home game like I did for years, but I’ll be around plenty.”
Many Charger fans look forward to having Eckhardt join them in the stands of Frank “Muddy” Waters Stadium, because even if he is no longer on the radio, Eckhardt is a vital part of gameday in Hillsdale.