Long time WRAL-TV sports anchor Tom Suiter was inducted into the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame this Saturday.
In a career that covered sports from the high school level to the pros, from the 1983 N.C. State National Championship in basketball to the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup, Suiter has finally solidified his place in sports history.
From a very young age, he had a passion and desire for sports. He always knew that he wanted to do something in sports, possibly in the field of journalism.
In high school, Suiter began writing for his school newspaper. That transitioned into college where he eventually became the sports editor of The Mirror, the student newspaper of Erskine College in Due West, S.C.
Fresh out of college with a Bachelor of Arts in History, he was determined to make an immediate impact in the world of broadcasting.
“Coming out of Erskine College, I applied to every TV station in North and South Carolina, and the only station that didn’t send me a form letter was WRAL,” Suiter said.
Former senator Jesse Helms was, at this point in time, running the station and invited Suiter in for an interview. Following the interview, he was hired as a sports reporter and began work on June 2, 1971, earning $90 a week.
In 1981, Suiter received a promotion to become the lead anchor at WRAL. That same year, he began a revolutionary program called Football Friday. The show features high school football highlights across the viewing area and still airs to this day during the season with Suiter still at the helm.
“I always thought there was a place for high school sports,” Suiter said. “I had a good experience playing high school athletics. I just felt like, Friday nights during football season, hey! What else do you have to do Friday nights, except cover high school football?”
Not only has the show helped showcase high school football, it has also helped jumpstart countless careers in broadcasting.
“A lot of people have gotten their foot in the door in television at Football Friday, from photographers to reporters, and I feel good about that,” Suiter said. “I enjoy letting people have a chance to see what goes into the show.”
Also in 1981, Suiter started the “Extra Effort Award.” Suiter presents the award on a weekly basis to a deserving high school student-athlete in the viewing area that has shown stellar performance in the field, as well as the classroom.
“We started the “Extra Effort Award” as a way to highlight [and] spotlight outstanding high school athletes simply because it was a good thing,” Suiter said.
Suiter has put forth sweat, blood and energy towards his career and has worked tirelessly to be placed in the position he is now in – a NCHSAA Hall of Fame inductee. However, he remains extremely humble throughout all of his experience.
“I’m very honored by this, and I’m really somewhat embarrassed by this,” Suiter said. “I’m really not sure I belong in there. It’s the coaches, the administrators, the athletic directors – those are the men and women [who deserve this honor], who are around the kids every day.
“I don’t think I deserve it, because I’m not a teacher [and] I’m not a coach. I don’t have a direct influence on these kids. I just did my job and thought covering high school sports was really important.”
Although he doesn’t feel deserving of the honor, he does recognize his significance of what he has done for high school athletics.
“I think the reason I got in was because I was sort of pioneer for local television coverage of high school sports,” Suiter said. “We were kind of like the trend setters. Everybody has their own version of Football Friday now, but we were the first.”
