Inductees

In the movie classic “It’s A Wonderful Life,” Clarence the Guardian Angel delivers two memorable lines, saying “Each man’s life touches so many other lives.” He goes on to say, “No man is a failure who has friends.”

Perhaps those words best describe Edwin T. “Ned” Reynolds, the longtime sports director of Springfield-based KYTV.

For years, Reynolds used his celebrity to improve the lives of thousands of the Ozarks’ underprivileged or ill children, by hosting the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon and donating financially to the United Way and numerous other charities.

Reynolds, born in 1941 to William and Edwina Reynolds just outside of Philadelphia in a town called Haddonfield, N.J., has called the Ozarks home for almost 48 years. His story is one of charting his own course, of enhancing broadcast media and of making a lasting impact on others.

His retirement in December 2014 as sports director of KY3 TV ended nearly 48-year run in which Reynolds not only won numerous awards and covered some of the Ozarks’ most memorable events but was a friend to all.

Reynolds literally traveled a long way to reach the top of his profession. At age 14, he first appeared on TV on NBC’s “Today Show,” but it would be years before he would be on TV again. He graduated from Temple University in 1962 as an English and Arts major and sought a radio career. However, it was on hold as Reynolds served the next six years in the U.S. Navy, including the first four as a land-based surgical technician.

Reynolds’ father, a teacher and later superintendent, tried to steer his middle son toward a career in education.

However, Reynolds hopped in an old Ford Fairlane and drove west, stopping at numerous radio stations to ask for auditions before finally reaching Kansas City, where an uncle was living. From there, he took a gander at small stops as far away as western Kansas and was set to take a job offer in Colby, Kan., before seeing about an opening at KYTV in Springfield.

Reynolds was hired almost on the spot at KY3. Soon, he was asked to be the sports director, and his first assignment was interviewing none other than legendary Kansas basketball coach Phog Allen.

Over the next four decades, the Ozarks TV watchers would eat their weeknight dinners as Reynolds delivered the 6 o’clock sportscast and again at 10 p.m. Often, his opening line was, “Hey, Gang!” a terrific way to connect.

Reynolds dedicated his time to numerous charities and, in the late 1990s, volunteered to assist the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in producing video tributes for its annual enshrinement ceremonies, events that often draw 1,600.

Reynolds kept busy, including picking up the game of tennis, and never lost his love for sports. His has anchored morning sports talk radio on KWTO 98.7 FM beginning in 1982 and continues the “Sports Reporters” show that began in the late 1990s.

Reynolds also has broadcast Missouri State University and Drury University basketball games as well as those of the Springfield Cardinals, who recently honored the broadcaster with a Ned Reynolds Bobblehead Night.