Ellis remains loyal to his craft at MSU
Jim Ellis has been loyal to his craft.
As Mississippi State baseball players and coaches have come and gone over the last 46 years, Ellis has remained behind the radio microphone describing the effort of the Bulldogs at the plate and on the mound.
Ellis said his career as a broadcaster hasn't come without “a bump in the road here or there,” but he has enjoyed the ride.
That journey led Ellis to be inducted with the 2024 class into the Ron Polk Ring of Honor recently.
“It's been special,” Ellis said of the honor “It means a lot to me to be with the guys already in the Ring of Honor. So many of them are guys I enjoyed their careers and it's about being a part.”
In 1979, Ellis began telling the story of MSU baseball. The native of West Point graduated from Mississippi State in 1969 and began his broadcasting career under legend Jack Cristil.
Ellis has watched the Bulldogs achieve many successful moments, including the 2021 national championship.
“It's hard to believe that Jim has broadcasted 32 NCAA Regionals, seven SEC Tournament championships, five SEC championships and 11 trips to the College World Series,” former MSU head coach Ron Polk said. “I've been along for many of them and I'm blessed.”
After many years of Ellis interviewing Polk on his post game radio show, the two men team up now on the air as Polk serves as a color analyst.
Ellis said Polk has changed since his days as a coach.
“Ron was all business as a coach,” Ellis said. “He's a very different guy now and laid back. He's mellowed so much. (As a coach) he was very businesslike and to the point.”
Ellis was a four-time Outstanding Broadcaster in Mississippi award winner, but the most satisfaction he had in the business was developing a network of radio stations for Bulldog baseball.
When he started, games only aired on the local station in Starkville and maybe a couple of more would pick up the feed when MSU made postseason.
“The games themselves weren't being broadcast throughout the state,” Ellis said. “The first year I was here was 1979 and I wondered why we couldn't get these game on around the state. When we got to the postseason and the College World Series, we were able to set up a network of stations that carried the games around the state. It was the first time it had ever happened and it took a lot of work to do that. You had to call radio station managers and convince them that they could sell enough advertising on Mississippi State baseball where they could make something out of it.
“I did a lot of work those first eight or 10 years on building a baseball network and we had a network of about 30 stations. That was fruitful work.”
Ellis admits that his broadcasts are not perfect and he's his own worse critic.
He hopes to have painted an adequate picture of Bulldog baseball over the years.
“I've never done a game I liked,” Ellis said. “I can always go back and find something wrong with a ball game. I've always worked at my craft and tried to do things in a way that would be good for the listening audience.
“I like the broadcast where someone is telling the story and not try to be the story. That's what radio broadcasting should be about.”