The Radio Voice Known Throughout Western North Carolina

By Brandon Stephens

(Cullowhee) – – There is a feeling you get is like no other when you are tuned to a game being broadcast by Gary “The Bear” Ayers.  When your tuner, these days streaming app, picks up his broadcast you get a good feeling whether you are a fan of the Catamounts or Swain County Maroon Devils, or an opponent.  The rhythmic nature of his voice and the description of the game, along with a few good-humored comments have been the keys to why Gary Ayers is very deserving of being inducted into the Western Carolina University (WCU) Athletic Hall of Fame.  Tune in some time and you will know, regardless of the team he is broadcasting having success or getting beat, you never want to tune out.  Ayers is the voice that will pick you up, turn you into a fan, and never let you down.

The last several years he has been the iconic staple announcer at Swain County High School for the Maroon Devils, where he is also a member of the athletic hall of fame, and the press box is named after him.  This past August Western Carolina University (WCU) announced Gary Ayers will be inducted into the 34^th Hall of Fame Class with others like Brenda Johnson Hamilton (Women’s Basketball Coach in the mid-1970’s) and long-time track and field coach Danny Williamson.

Gary Ayers in Radio

The radio journey for Gary Ayers started in Bryson City at WBHN (1590-AM).  The earlier days of the radio station limited broadcasting to what we call “sun-to-sun” where a station signs on at sunrise and signs off at sunset.  Gary carried around a large cassette tape recorder and modified a set of headphones with a hand-held microphone, because the station didn’t have money to buy a professional headset.  He would record a Swain County High football game and play it back Saturday morning.  Since those days in the 1970’s as a high school student learning radio broadcasting, he has made full circle.  Later he left Bryson City to work for a while in Franklin at WFSC (1050-AM) and WRFR (96.7-FM) doing a regular radio show and high school football for the Panthers.

Gary made a business venture and became the Voice of the Catamounts.  In the 1980’s he purchased the Canton radio station WWIT (970-AM) where he eventually made bid for the WCU Radio Network, shortly after the Catamounts made its 1983 appearance in the national championship game.  Ayers replaced long-time play-by-play man Zeb Lee who owned an Asheville AM radio station WSKY.  Gary says he was handed a suitcase with a worn-out audio mixer, a bad set of headphones, a dial-up telephone, and a pair of alligator clips to do the game.  Gary rewired the WCU network with up-to-date technology for the time to send his broadcast to about a dozen stations from Murphy to Marion.

Gary has not just been a voice to the Swain County and WCU communities.  While in Canton he served as the voice of the Pisgah Bears, earning his nickname, Gary The Bear Ayers.  Franklin’s long-time announcer Randy Raby left WRFR.  By this time, Gary sold WWIT and he picked up the broadcast where Raby left off.  From time to time, he filled in for me in Sylva doing broadcasts for Smoky Mountain High School.  The Cherokee Braves called on him to do an audio broadcast of a women’s state championship game in 1998 on the Tribe’s cable television access channel.  He even did a few games on WCNG-FM for Murphy High School, which is the rival school to Swain County High.  Gary has probably bled the colors of every high school in western North Carolina at one time or another.

Gary Ayers cannot be replaced.  The only down note that can ever be made about Gary’s radio career is some administrators at WCU decided to replace him, at least twice.  Once another company bid to get the Catamount Sports Network and decided to use another announcer, Don Munson, who is the current Voice of the Clemson Tigers.  Gary was named arena announcer until the next season, when the company went out of business.  Another time the administration thought it was making the best move for athletic marketing by allowing a Myrtle Beach company to take over the network.  After a year Gary is back on the Catamount Sports Network.  During those years silent of having THE Voice of the Catamounts (Ayers), you heard comments from fans that the radio broadcasts are not the same. Beyond the good descriptions, the spirited voice, and knowledge of Catamount sports history, there is a relationship Gary has with people giving him a unique ability to convey something many announcers don’t have.  The players, coaches, fans, and even the officials know and love Gary Ayers.  It’s really his love conveyed over the electromagnetic airwaves and now clicking ones and zeros of the Internet, that can’t be replaced, nor should he ever be replaced as long as he can do the job.

Gary has seen the best and brought us the best in sports.  He had to wrestle the microphone out of Jim Valvano’s hands at NC State.  Valvano stopped by to visit with the Catamount Sports Network while WCU played football at NC State and would not shut up as Gary was trying to resume play-by-play announcing.  Sometimes he even stopped doing play-by-play of basketball games to chat with Frankie King who played at WCU and eventually for the Sacramento Kings or former Catamount GOAT Henry Logan.  Gary talked us through Southern Conference basketball championships and tried his hand at a baseball game or two.  From the Swamp in Florida to Rocky Top in Tennessee he has followed WCU with Purple pride of the Catamounts.  The agony of defeat may have been when he announced the thrilling missed three-point jump shot that would have made WCU the first 16 seed team to win over a number one seed, Purdue in New Mexico.  Wherever and whenever the Catamounts or Maroon Devils play, I hope Gary is there to keep the airwaves hot.

So what fuels and inspires the Gary Ayers broadcasts?  Let Gary tell you.

The Gary Ayers Experience

Behind the scenes of any radio broadcast there is always a funny story that adds color to doing the job.  Maybe it’s the night when there is no space in a high school press box and you have to broadcast from the stands or a scissor-lift utility trailer.   There are the times the roster you get is totally inaccurate.  Here are a few from my memory that made Gary Ayers golden.  Any good announcer can work through the worst occurrence and keep you listening for the score, the plays filled with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.  Gary can do exactly that.  Here are a few vignettes.

The Squirrel

Western Carolina University was hosting Marshall.  The Thundering Herd has always been one of the toughest teams in the Southern Conference.  This night in Cullowhee, WCU and Marshall are playing the game close and through the opening quarter of the game, the Catamounts may be in the driver’s seat and could win.  I am working the controls at WRGC, which served as the flagship station of the Catamount Sports Network.  A true flagship station feeds all of the other stations by dedicated lines.

WRGC’s station is located just outside of the Sylva city limits near some wooded residential communities of Addie and Fisher Creek.  The main power station is located nearby.  This night a squirrel jumps across the wrong power lines and kills power to the station.  The power dies just as WCU is making a good play series against the Thundering Herd.  The most difficult thing I had to do was pick up the com-line and inform Gary the power is out.

The radio booth is not always a secure place and has lots of visitors, which sometimes includes the Chancellor, Athletic Director, and VIP Alumni.  Through the line you can hear Gary making frantic calls to Nantahala Power and Light to see if they can restore power to WRGC; hanging up and resuming his broadcast that is not being transmitted.  Later I asked Gary why he continued his broadcast when he was off the air.  “You make it appear all is well when the Chancellor pops his head in the box,” Gary retorted.

What’s the Score?

These days colleges and universities have the responsibility to provide reliable telephone and Internet connections for broadcasters.  Back in the 1990’s the radio networks and stations had to make arrangements with Ma Bell (Phone Company) to work up a telephone line.  The work order didn’t always go through on time, or it was done very hastily.

Gary had to travel to North Carolina A&T to announce a football game.  The phone company wired Gary’s line incorrectly.  During the middle of the broadcast, it was discovered the line was also connected to someone’s local residence.  So, Gary is doing well with his broadcast when all of the sudden you hear “Who the hell is on my phone?”  Gary is shocked for a moment and continues to broadcast when the man becomes a little more belligerent.  Finally, Gary stops and explains to the belligerent and obviously drunk man on the line that a broadcast of college sports is taking place on the line and asks the man to hang up.  Reluctantly you hear the man disconnect. The broadcast continues for a little while until you hear the man chimes back in to say, “Hey sorry to bother you, but what’s the score?”

What the Heck is a Bearcat?

Bearcats are a wild animal that more closely resembles a wolverine, but they are neither a bear nor a cat.  Some high schools and universities have adopted the bearcat as its mascot.  Not many really know what it is or its origins.  Ask Gary if he knows about the origins of bearcats.  He also knows never to give me an open microphone to answer that question.

Very seldom can you stump Gary or find him speechless.  When going to Cincinnati with WCU to broadcast a football game, Gary did play-by-play and I was the sideline reporter.  Gary thought he would get cute and ask the question of what a bearcat is and directed it to me when I was supposed to give some analysis of what I was observing on the sideline.

“Gary that is an easy question to answer.  The bearcat originated on the banks of the Cahulawassee River in Georgia.  It is the created love child that was birthed from the notorious Ned Beatty scene in Deliverance,” I answered.  After regaining his ability to speak, he laughed uncontrollably.  I believe he stumbled a few times through that broadcast after answering back with the first thought that came to my mind.  That’s one of the few times he lost composure.

Gary Ayers has been a long-time high school football announcer.  We talked to him before the Swain County versus Murphy football game.  We share his comments about the rivalry again.

Go Gary The Bear Ayers!