Longtime sportscaster Tim Brando talks to local media before speaking at the 16th annual East Texas Kick-Off Luncheon on Tuesday at the Green Acres Baptist Church Crosswalk Center in Tyler.

Tim Brando was the voice of the Pine Tree Pirates football team in the fall of 1973.

After stops at ESPN, CBS and now FOX, Brando returned to East Texas on Tuesday to speak at the 16th Annual East Texas Kick-Off Luncheon held at the Green Acres Baptist Church Crosswalk Center in Tyler.

“Almost 50 years ago, I was traveling with my broadcast team in East Texas,” Brando said. “My dad owned a piece of the Roadway Inn in Longview. Everyone in the media in East Texas and in Louisiana remembered my dad from television (Hub Brando) back in the ‘50s and ‘60s in Shreveport. I had quit playing football in the ninth grade to call high school football games with my dad.

“When he moved to the hotel here nearby in Longview, they needed a broadcaster for the Pine Tree Pirates. My dad said ‘you’re on your own now. I’m not doing them.’ It was the first time I was in the booth, the control man for KHER-FM, which was a big part of the Big K Media, so I used to come all of the time to East Texas, places like Gladewater, Center, Gilmer. I never got to do the big Lobos, though. I did the Mavericks — did Marshall — but never got to do a Lobos game, so that was a big miss early in my career.”

Brando said coming into Texas and seeing the facilities and passion for high school sports, particularly football, was very noticeable.

“It was a wakeup call for me then,” Brando said. “In the ‘70s, Pine Tree was a smaller new school at that time. Longview was the more established big school. I went to one of the biggest schools in North Louisiana, Fair Park, and we would routinely come over and play baseball at Longview. I couldn’t believe the facilities they had even then that they had for baseball.

“So when you take in Tyler, Kilgore and even smaller places like Hallsville, where Robert Newhouse is from, Friday Night Lights is an old story. It’s a new movie still, made in the last 15 years or so, but Friday Night Lights is Texas High School football. I used to joke when I was at ESPN, the first years of College GameDay, I remember we would go into Ivy League games at noon. I would joke with Beano Cook, the late Beano Cook, and I would say Texas high school football, Midland and Odessa is better than this. I’m sorry, it is, because I’ve been there. I’ve seen the level of competition. No disrespect to the Ivy Leaguers. But if you’re raised on high school football in this part of the world, it’s extra special, because Texas is so vast and so big, and they spend their money so wisely. The facilities are just so magnificent at these schools. That’s what jumps out.”

Brando spoke to coaches, administrators and players from All Saints, Arp, Athens, Big Sandy, Bishop Gorman, Brownsboro, Bullard, Cayuga, Chapel Hill, Edgewood, Elkhart, Frankston, Gilmer, Grace Community, Grand Saline, Henderson, Lindale, Longview, New Diana, Palestine Westwood, Pine Tree, Rusk, Spring Hill, Texas College, Troup, Tyler High, Tyler Junior College, Tyler Legacy, Van, Whitehouse, White Oak and Winona.

He spoke about name, image and likeness and college football as a whole. He also had a couple of messages for those in attendance.

“You young guys getting ready for football season — be patient, persevere and keep your priorities correct,” Brando said. “Those three Ps will serve you well. More than anything, enjoy the journey.”

Brando also reminded them to “adjust and adapt … and have some self awareness. If you’re a star player, be aware of how your teammates feel about you.”

As he closed his speech, he spoke of Spencer Tillman, who has been calling games with him for 16 years at CBS and now entering their ninth year together at FOX.

“Spencer is not just my partner, my colleague and comrade, he’s a confidant,” Brando said. “A friend, colleague, comrade and confidant, you can count on one hand. Your friend you have a really tight bond that is so strong that it will cut through anything, that will carry you through the rest of your life. Because no matter how great you are at what you do, you’ll never be able to get it all done without that kind of help. And the willingness to listen, be smart enough to listen to those who know the flaws you have because all of us do.”

Brando’s college football season will officially begin on Friday, Sept. 2 with a Big 10 game of Illinois at Indiana on Fox Sports 1. The Houston at Texas Tech game on Sept. 10 is also on his early season schedule.