2014 Inductee
One month after graduating from the University of Georgia in 1971, Hope Hines found himself in Nashville, raw and in-experienced, to become Sports Director of News Channel 5. His significant contributions to the world of sports broadcast will never be forgotten.
Hines quickly built a respectable reputation based on hard work, penetrating interviews, and presenting fact-based insights in an understandable, informative, and entertaining manner that sports fans across the mid-state depended on for 33 years. He was not only respected in the state of Tennessee but throughout the country as a seasoned professional sports anchor and play-by-play broadcaster during his 40-year television career.
Hines expanded his career in 1975 when he left Nashville to be a TV sports anchor in San Diego and a play-by-play radio broadcaster for the NFL Chargers. Young and ambitious, Hope’s next move was as a television play-by-play announcer for the New Orleans Saints and in 1979, he moved to Charlotte, North Carolina where he worked for Ted Turner, the owner of the NBC affiliate, while Turner was in the process of building CNN.
After making his mark in Charlotte, Hines moved to Baltimore, Maryland where he became a successful TV sports anchor and television play-by-play announcer for the Colts. Hines’ name was gaining recognition and in 1983 he returned to both Nashville and Newschannel 5 establishing himself as the sports anchor who reported all of the breaking stories. Hines remained with Newschannel 5 until his retirement in 2011.
Hines’ career was not unnoticed. Throughout his career, Hines won 6 broadcast Emmy Awards, an Iris Award for producing the best local half-hour sports documentary in the nation, was named best Sportscaster in the Southeast and in 1995 received the Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts& Sciences for his distinguished career and service to the broadcast industry. Among his proudest accomplishments is his annual Hope Hines Fore Kids Celebrity Golf Tournament that has supported the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home since 1994.
Hope’s latest projects include the publishing of his autobiography, “In Hines Sight: The Ups, Downs and Rebounds of 40 years In Sports Broadcasting” in June 2012. He is in his fourth year as a radio show host of “The Other Side of Sports” on Nashville’s 104.5 “The Zone”, a 2-minute sports vignette that airs every day before noon and is syndicated in 20 markets across Tennessee.
Hope and his wife Pat have been married for 40 years and are active members of the First Baptist Church in Franklin, Tennessee. They have 3 children and 7 Grandchildren.