By C. Liegh McInnis
Jackson Advocate Guest Writer
Congratulations to Jackson State University alumnus and long-time sports broadcaster Robert “Rob Jay” Jeuitt for being inducted into the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Hall of Fame. However, Jeuitt is not only known for his sports presence and acumen. He is also known for his radio character, Pops, loosely based on Richard Pryor’s Mudbone character. Pops has been a mainstay on the WKXI morning drive programs and especially on the Saturday Morning Blues Workshop.
Along with being a noted sports journalist – having worked for every television station in the area – and radio personality, Jeuitt has been the voice of JSU football for over 20 years, calling games on radio and television. He is an institution within the institutions of JSU and SWAC football. Although I have season tickets to JSU football, I love listening to Jeuitt and any of the co-anchors he’s had over the years when JSU travels.
Jeuitt is one of the prime reasons that I prefer to listen to the games on the radio rather than traveling with the team. Now that I can watch JSU football on television when the team travels, I prefer to mute the television and listen to Jeuitt and his co-anchor. (The only other sportscasters I like calling HBCU football are Jay Walker (Howard) and Tiffany Green (FAMU) because they love HBCU football as much as they know it.) Like Walker and Green, Jeuitt loves everything about HBCU sports and is as knowledgeable and passionate about the JSU opponent as he is about JSU.
Moreover, my father’s cousin, whom I take to the home games since my Pops died, still brings his “transistor radio” to the game so that he can hear Jeuitt because he is the perfect combination of knowledge and fun, presenting the game in a manner that is relatable/authentic to his listeners. Even when Jeuitt served as sports director for some of the “mainstream” television stations, he never changed how he reported on the games, and he always made sure that the state’s HBCUs were fairly represented.
I recently learned that Jeuitt began his broadcasting career driving every week from Jackson, Mississippi, to Montgomery, Alabama, which is 248 miles or a three-and-a-half-hour drive, to call football games for Alabama State University. That’s the epitome of dedication, proving that diligence is always rewarded.
In this Instagram/Twitter culture, with so many young people choosing insta-fame over developing an actual skill, Jeuitt’s legacy proves that fame is fleeting and greatness is forever because greatness is based on mastery of craft, which sustains regardless of the passing fads.
For more information about Jeuitt and the other inductees, y’all can visit https://swac.org/news/2021/10/21/general-swac-announces-2021-hall-of-fame-class.aspx.
C. Liegh McInnis is a poet, short story writer, author of eight books, former editor of Black Magnolias Literary Journal, and a retired English instructor from Jackson State University.
