Paul Keels will be inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame on June 6. Photo Courtesy of: Paul Keels
Since 1998, the “Voice of the Buckeyes,” has broadcast the moments for Ohio State’s football and men’s basketball teams that have created lasting memories for fans.
Paul Keels, the radio play-by-play announcer for the Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Network and WBNS Radio broadcasting Buckeye football and men’s basketball, will now get a moment of his own.
On June 6, 2026, Keels will be inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame at the Hilton Polaris in Columbus.
Bill Hosket, board member of the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame and member of the inaugural 2006 Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame Class, nominated Keels to be inducted into this year’s induction group.
“[Keels] is one of the premier radio broadcasters, not only in the Big Ten, but probably in the country,” Hosket said.
During Keels’ broadcasting career, he has won six National Sports Media Association Ohio Broadcaster of the Year awards and was inducted into the Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2007.
But the induction into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame stunned Keels.
“I was floored and shocked,” Keels said. “Really kind of blown away.”
Of the 14 inductees in the 2026 Class, Keels is the only broadcaster.
The Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame consists of men and women that were players, coaches and contributors at the high school, college and professional level; Keels will enter as a contributor.
“Players have to be retired, coaches should be retired before they’re inducted in the Hall of Fame,” Hosket said. “In the case of contributors, it’s usually someone that’s done something extremely well and benefited the game of basketball in the state of Ohio over a number of years.”
Hosket said Keels, who has broadcast Ohio State games for 28 years, has maintained professionalism on-air throughout his career.
“He’s always fair and so many of the guys who get situated with a team kind of lean toward becoming homers over time and say ‘we’ and all that type of stuff on the air,” Hosket said.
“[Keels] has always been so professional and refrained from all of that. He’s just great at what he does.”
Ohio State men’s basketball coach Jake Diebler, who joins Keels and Ron Stokes on The Jake Diebler Show on The Fan 97.1 FM weekly, said Keels is worthy of the honor.
“The level of respect is extremely high,” Diebler said. “He’s a legend.”
Diebler compared Keels’ talent on the radio to a great point guard on the basketball court.
“He’s like a great point guard when you’re on the radio with him,” Diebler said. “He just kind of gets you open looks, but he’s not afraid to ask tough questions.”
Keels attended Moeller High School in Cincinnati, then graduated from Xavier University with a degree in communications.
Prior to calling Ohio State games, Keels broadcast other Ohio sports teams such as the University of Cincinnati in 1988 and from 1994-98, the Cincinnati Bengals in 1996 and served as its preseason announcer from 2000-10 on WKRC-TV. He also broadcast for the Cincinnati Reds on Fox Sports Ohio in 2010.
“You don’t have to be from Ohio to be in the [Ohio Basketball] Hall of Fame, but [Keels] has Ohio roots and spent a lot of time in Cincinnati,” Hosket said.
As a broadcaster for Ohio State, Keels has covered 17 NCAA Tournaments and two Final Four appearances for the Buckeyes men’s basketball team.
“His voice is recognizable to any Ohio State fan,” Diebler said.
Despite his award-winning career, Keels hopes that listeners will remember how he broadcast the core elements of each game.
“To feel like they were being kept up to date with the time and the score,” Keels said.
In addition to Keels’ accolades as a broadcaster, Hosket commended the type of person Keels is off-air.
“A lot of people will see him going into the Hall of Fame and know of his work, but they probably don’t know him personally as well as some of us,” Hosket said. “He’s just a tremendous person.”
