Bill Macatee: An El Paso sports voice for all to hear

EL PASO, Texas - Bill Macatee has painted the scene of sport for over four decades from behind the microphone as a sportscaster.

You may know Macatee from golf’s biggest stage where last month he said farewell to the Masters at Augusta National, capping one of the most successful runs by any broadcaster in sports history.  

“I tried to just remember everything," said Macatee of his final call at Augusta, where he played out the action on the course's 14th hole.

"The 14th tower is very high and I tease you that you need a Sherpa when you go up there because it’s a steep tower. But I was coming down it and I thought ok, this will be the last time I do this and it sure has been a lot of fun.” 

But some might not know that that Macatee’s voice for the game, took shape in his hometown of El Paso.

When his father was stationed at Fort Bliss, Macate moved to the Sun City in the 7th grade.

And what started as some fun with friends on the golf course, turned into practice for a career that lied ahead.

“When I was playing golf with my friends at Fort Bliss and I was in junior high, we would announce each other, and I would announce my friends playing golf and I always thought that would be really neat!” 

Macatee’s interest behind the mic grew when he was a 14-year old freshman at El Paso's Burges High School, where he lettered in three sports including football.

"My freshman year in high school at Burges, I actually went over to UTEP. They have a great communications department," says Macatee of when he was a kid.

"And I sat in on classes and they said 'Are you a student?'Because I was just young."

"And I said no but I’d like to sit in on these classes...and they said ok!” 

Mastering his broadcast craft, Macatee’s passion took him beyond the Sun City to the national stage at NBC, where he was hired as the network’s youngest sportscaster at 26. 

After a successful stint as Sports Correspondent for NBC's "The Today Show," Macatee moved to CBS to lead play-by-play coverage for Grand Slam tennis in addition to Golf and the NFL. 

Macatee was now at the top of the game, but he never once forgot where his passion and curiosity took him. 

“I did the NFL for 16 years and I would always take a lap around the field before the broadcast would start and I’d just remind myself of what I was getting to do."

"Just a guy from El Paso Texas and I’m getting to call an NFL game. I never wanted to lose touch with that and how lucky I was to be in the position that I was in.” 

Macatee’s memorable journey has taken him across the world from Roland Garros, to Augusta, to NFL Stadiums across the country.

But the small memories of home, from the young kid back at Burges, are the ones that still catch up to the now legendary sportscaster.

"I remember walking home from football practice at Burges through the neighborhood in Cielo Vista and smelling the mesquite from people's fireplaces and stuff like that," says Macatee of a childhood memory.

"To do this day, whenever I smell mesquite burning in somebody’s fireplace I think about those evenings coming back from football practice. Those are special memories.”  

Whether it be from the winner’s circle or his hometown, Bill Macatee has stayed constant for a lifetime.

In his smile, his sound, and his start....back home in El Paso, Texas.