Guest Speakers - Durham Sports Club

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Steve Wiseman, Sports Editor for The Herald Sun and The News & Observer. He is an award-winning sports journalist and editor whose career has spanned more than three decades, including extensive coverage of college athletics, professional sports, and some of the nation’s most prestigious sporting events. He currently serves as McClatchy’s North Carolina Sports Editor, overseeing sports coverage for The News & Observer in Raleigh, The Herald-Sun in Durham, and The Charlotte Observer.

Wiseman is particularly well known throughout North Carolina for his coverage of Duke University athletics, especially the Blue Devils’ nationally prominent men’s basketball program. Since arriving in Durham in 2010, he has chronicled some of the most significant moments in Duke sports history, including the final years of legendary basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s career, his retirement in 2022, and the transition to current head coach Jon Scheyer.

In May 2025, Wiseman was promoted to sports editor after serving as Duke athletics beat writer and assistant sports editor. His appointment recognized both his extensive reporting experience and his leadership in an increasingly challenging and rapidly evolving sports media environment. In his editorial role, he helps guide coverage of the Triangle’s major college athletic programs and the broader North Carolina sports landscape.

Originally from Illinois, Wiseman graduated from Illinois State University in 1989. His journalism career has taken him through several newspapers across the Southeast, including the Hickory Daily Record, Charlotte Observer, Sun Herald in Biloxi, Mississippi, Herald-Journal in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and The State in Columbia, South Carolina.

His reporting assignments have been remarkably diverse, ranging from the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints to University of South Carolina athletics, high school sports, professional hockey, minor league baseball, and even the South Carolina General Assembly.

Throughout his career, Wiseman has covered seven NCAA Final Fours, three Super Bowls, nine college football bowl games, and three College World Series. His reporting has earned numerous professional honors, including repeated national recognition from the Associated Press Sports Editors. He received top-10 national honors for beat writing in 2019, 2021, and 2022, along with recognition for breaking news, explanatory reporting, and event coverage. His work covering Duke’s 2025 Final Four appearance also earned national recognition.

Wiseman has also expanded his contributions to sports journalism through broadcasting, teaching, and publishing. He has participated in the “Bleav in Duke” podcast, offering insight into Blue Devils athletics alongside former Duke basketball standout Shelden Williams.

He is also the author of Duke Basketball: An Illustrated Timeline, a book exploring more than a century of Duke men’s basketball history, from the program’s beginnings in 1906 through the Krzyzewski dynasty and into the Scheyer era. Wiseman has additionally served as an adjunct professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy.

Away from the newsroom, Wiseman and his wife, Kelly, have a daughter, Bailey, who is an attorney. Although originally from Illinois, he considers North Carolina home and appreciates the state’s passionate sports culture.

With his extensive experience, historical perspective, and firsthand knowledge of Duke athletics, Steve Wiseman has established himself as one of the region’s most respected sports journalists, bringing readers informed coverage of the teams, personalities, and stories that define North Carolina sports.

Mark Your Calendar
11/4/26 – A Special Guest Speaker
11/18/26 – Lewis Bowling, Author & Historian
12/2/26 – A different Special Guest Speaker

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Jones Angell, the longtime radio play-by-play voice of University of North Carolina football and men’s basketball, a position he has held since 2011. As the lead announcer for the Tar Heel Sports Network, Angell has become one of the most recognizable voices in college athletics in North Carolina, calling many of the biggest moments in UNC sports for listeners across the state and beyond. He will be speaking to us about UNC basketball.

A North Carolina native who grew up primarily in Jacksonville, Angell was a Tar Heel fan long before becoming the program’s radio voice. As a youngster, he listened to legendary broadcaster Woody Durham call Carolina football and basketball games, an experience that helped spark his interest in sports broadcasting.

Angell attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studying journalism and mass communication. Between his sophomore and junior years, he began an internship with the Tar Heel Sports Network, where he learned the broadcasting business from the ground up. While still a student, he began calling high school football and baseball games and also gained experience covering UNC women’s soccer and women’s basketball.

After graduating from UNC in 2001, Angell continued working with the Tar Heel Sports Network in a variety of roles. Baseball became an important part of his early broadcasting career. He spent nearly a decade calling Carolina baseball, including five trips to the College World Series. He also worked as a host and analyst on football and men’s basketball broadcasts, giving him the opportunity to work closely with Durham and learn from the man whose broadcasts he had listened to growing up.

When Durham retired in 2011 after 40 seasons as the “Voice of the Tar Heels,” UNC conducted a national search for his successor. Angell was selected to take over play-by-play duties for both football and men’s basketball. At the time, he had already been part of the Carolina broadcast team for nearly 70 football games and more than 200 men’s basketball games, including UNC’s 2009 national championship season.
Since moving into the lead chair, Angell has called some of the most memorable moments in modern Carolina athletics. His tenure has included ACC championships, NCAA Tournament runs, rivalry games against Duke and NC State, bowl games and the Tar Heels’ 2017 NCAA men’s basketball national championship.

Angell’s work extends beyond game broadcasts. He has produced and hosted features for UNC athletics, contributed to coaches’ television programs and written about Tar Heel sports. He also serves as co-host with Adam Lucas of Carolina Insider, a podcast devoted to UNC athletics that combines game analysis, interviews, behind-the-scenes stories and discussion of the Carolina sports program.

More than a decade after succeeding Woody Durham, Angell has established his own identity behind the microphone while maintaining the tradition associated with one of college athletics’ most prominent broadcasting positions. His preparation, familiarity with Carolina athletics and ability to describe a game clearly and enthusiastically have made him a familiar connection between UNC teams and generations of Tar Heel fans.

Mark Your Calendar
10/21/26 – Steve Wiseman, Sports Editor, Raleigh News & Observer
11/4/26 – A Special Guest Speaker
11/18/26 – A different Special Guest Speaker