Jeff Charles, the longtime voice of East Carolina football and basketball, died suddenly in New Orleans on Friday.
Charles was scheduled to describe the action as the Pirates visited Tulane for a basketball game on Saturday. The matchup will be rescheduled in deference to his passing at age 70.
Charles called his 1,000th ECU basketball game earlier this season. He came to ECU in 1988 from Virginia Tech. Charles had worked previously in broadcasting at Illinois and Furman.
The Piqua, OH, native was North Carolina Sportscaster of the Year in 2000 and 2014.
His trademark phrase when an ECU victory was assured was ‘”you can paint this one purple.”
Charles had a passion for weightlifting and riding his motorcycle. He survived a battle with cancer after a diagnosis in December of 2012.
WITN reported that a source indicated that Charles succumbed to a heart attack.
“Jeff was the consummate professional,” tweeted ECU football coach Mike Houston. “He was always on point and always first class.”
Charles was a contributing writer for Bonesville in the early days of the website.
He hosted radio programming in addition to his play-by-play duties.
Charles was recognized as an honorary alumnus of ECU in the fall of 2015.
Tremendous loss. I feel like I’ve lost a close friend
I moved to Greenville in 1989. This is like Warner Brothers losing Mel Blanc. The game will never sound the same.