One of our most requested ‘Posts of the Day’ is on the former “Voice of the Greensboro Coliseum” Larry Dunlap[RIP Larry Dunlap]

GREENSBORO Larry Alexander Dunlap, Sr., 73, died Monday, October 1, 2018. A service will be held at a later date.
++++++++++The last 7 years of Larry Dunlap’s life were very difficult….We say Rest in Peace/RIP, Larry Dunlap and we know you are in a better place now…Maybe playing a round of golf with Woody Durham, Jim Pritchett, Mike Hogewood, Rich Brenner and Bob Harris up at the ‘Heavenly Holes Golf Course’, where the best of the best, play and rest, on a daily basis……….++++++++++

Let’s take a look back at one of our most requested posts of the day, going back into the archives, that readers can pull up from Google and Twitter, and it takes a look at Larry Dunlap, former Greensboro Coliseum Public Address Announcer for all major Greensboro Coliseum events, including the ACC Men’s and Women’s basketball tournaments….Larry also worked in radio at WGBG, WBIG, WMAG, WHSL and other key local radio stations and along with Johnny Phelps, they did/ran the SRN/Sports Reports Network, sending out a 2-3 minute sports report each day(Monday-Friday) for around 20 years and local WPET(Greensboro) and also WMFR in High Point, were two of the stations that carried the Sports Report Network…..

Larry Dunlap was very well-known for his work on radio and TV ads for many, many years, while working for Crescent Ford in High Point….He helped carry out that theme, “Crescent Ford, We Keep You Rolling”….Larry even worked right at the Crescent Ford dealership for quite a few years, as their advertising director/media rep…..

Larry Dunlap had a great voice and made the most of it for probably 40 years-plus right here in the Triad and in Greensboro/High Point, in particular….Larry Dunlap’s story is not totally complete, but this what we had for you at GreensboroSports.com a few years back….

**********This post ran with us back in January of 2011 and it is on the former Public Address Announcer, “Voice of the Greensboro Coliseum” Larry Dunlap…..**********
Former “Voice of the Greensboro Coliseum” facing serious surgery today…
Posted by Andy Durham on January 27, 2011 at 11:18 am under College, Professional | Read the First Comment

The man who was the public address announcer for many years at the Greensboro Coliseum, Larry Dunlap, will be facing very serious surgery today……

Dunlap called out many of the all-time great ACC basketball players names and his voice was heard all around the nation, as fans tuned in to watch games, from the Greensboro Coliseum…..The ACC would even have Larry travel to out of town venues, such as Atlanta and Charlotte, when the ACC Tournament would be held in cities outside of Greensboro….

Best of luck to Larry Dunlap during his surgery and our thoughts and prayers go out to this man, who had one of the most recognizable voices, in Greensboro Sports history….

The news we received earlier this morning:

Larry Dunlap will be undergoing Emergency Surgery today at Cone Hospital for an Aorta Aneurysm…….

Larry could also be heard on local radio with his Sports Reports Network which he founded along with Johnny Phelps back in the late 70’s/early 80’s……

Here is what we read today in the News and Record:
GREENSBORO Larry Alexander Dunlap, Sr., 73, died Monday, October 1, 2018. A service will be held at a later date.
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**********Here is a post by Robert Bell, from the News and Record, circa 2005 and Mr. Bell’s take on what it takes for Larry Dunlap to call/announce the ACC Basketball Tournament…….**********

ACC GAMES: THEY’RE HIS CALL
By Robert Bell Staff Writer Mar 12, 2005

WASHINGTON — The ACC Tournament has a new look, what with Hokies and Hurricanes mixed in with Blue Devils, Tar Heels and Demon Deacons. But this slice of basketball heaven still has one tradition going for it: High Point’s Larry Dunlap, who will announce his 173rd tournament game when Georgia Tech and Duke meet in today’s championship game.

For 23 years, Dunlap’s voice has been a security blanket for ACC fans everywhere. Always there, always soothing. ESPN “SportsCenter” anchor Dan Patrick once anointed Dunlap the “voice of God.”

True, his words are deep and handsome, each enunciated with great care. But compared with other P.A. announcers, Dunlap is largely forgettable.

Which, by the way, is just how he likes it. After all, the voice of the ACC Tournament has 20,301 fans and 11 schools to please. That means screaming, nicknames and catchy phrases are out.

Dunlap tried such gimmicks when he first started announcing. “Then I realized that while one team may like what you’re doing, there was another team who felt just the opposite,” he said.

Since then Dunlap, who is 60, has played it straight. The only time he gets excited is when he announces the starting lineups. “I do that out of respect for the kids. It gets them up for the game.”

Once the game starts, however, he mutes his emotions and lets the game take over. “I want fans’ memories to be of the game, not me,” he said. “If I do my job right, nobody knows I’m there.”

That’s worked most of the time, but not always. Take the year the scoreboard in Charlotte went on the blink and Dunlap was forced to announce the score after each basket, while checking the time left in the game on his stopwatch.

Then there was the game in Greensboro when he innocently introduced a certain North Carolina freshman as “Mike Jordan.”

UNC coach Dean Smith rushed over to correct Dunlap. “It’s Michael,” Smith said sternly.

Dunlap’s first gig came early in life when, as a fifth-grader at Sandy Ridge Elementary in Stokes County, he got to announce the weekly bingo games.

He went on to work at WGHP, then an ABC affiliate, in 1965 before moving to WFMY a year later. There, Dunlap was the voice to the station’s public service announcements. He has been the regular announcer at the annual Little Four tournament since its inception in 1976. His first ACC Tournament assignment came in 1975.

“I guess there’s always been a part of me that (enjoyed) being the center of attention,’’ Dunlap said. “I’ve always had that affinity for announcing stuff.”

Dunlap said the ACC pays him well for lending his voice to the tournament, though he won’t say how much. These days, however, he’s looking for work beyond the four days in March. He lost his job as ad director for a High Point car dealership last summer. “It’s been tough,” Dunlap said. “This has been a nice escape.”

Dunlap has no plans of walking away from the microphone anytime soon. He loves the connection, however slim, he has to the tournament and its players — many of whom he’s watched grow up in Greensboro. On Friday he ran into Loyola (Md.) assistant coach Matt Kovarik, a Grimsley High School graduate who went on to play at Maryland. And he had a front-row seat this week to watch Cameron Bennerman, another Grimsley graduate, help N.C. State upset Wake Forest in Friday’s quarterfinals.

He’ll prepare for today’s championship the way he has for the other 172 games he’s announced. He’ll study the lineups over a morning cup of coffee and make sure his voice is rested and ready. Come tip-off time he’ll spend the next two hours keeping 20,301 fans apprised of what’s going on around them.

“It’s not as simple as announcing who fouled who,” Dunlap said. “You have to stay focused and know everything that’s going on in the game. That can be hard to do for 10 games over four days. Then again, I’m not complaining one bit.”