After 10 years of providing color commentary on the Boilermaker Sports Radio Network, former Purdue guard Steve Reid is leaving.

The 42-year-old Reid is taking a new job and relocating to the Savannah, Ga., area. He will become the president of Coastal Transport. Reid begins his new job May 10.

"For sports fans I equate it to being an assistant coach for 15 years and now having the opportunity to be the head coach of a truck line," said Reid, who was the vice president of operations at Schilli Transportation Services in Lafayette. "It was a career opportunity that I really felt like was in the best interest of my family and myself.

"I hate leaving the Lafayette area and Purdue community. I’ve been here for the last 14 years. I’ve pretty much raised my family here and have a lot of friends and a lot of ties. We’ll miss the comfort of being around Lafayette."

Reid said he’ll also miss broadcasting Purdue basketball games, but made his family a promise regarding the Boilermakers.

"My kids made me promise that we could get the college basketball satellite package so we could see the Boilermakers," Reid said. "I will miss the radio end of it and the things that go along with doing that. It has been a lot of fun staying close to the program."

When Gold & Black Illustrated asked Reid what his most memorable moment in broadcasting was, he said doing his first game in the Big Island Invitational in Hilo, Hawaii, to start the 1994-95 season.

"My first game (Purdue versus Niagara) was very memorable just because of the nervousness and uncertainty of how things were going to go," Reid admitted.

"As far as great Purdue games that I broadcasted, there were a lot of memorable moments, but the one that sticks in my mind was the one where Chad Austin hit the jumper at IU pretty much at the buzzer to beat them (89-87 in overtime Feb. 18, 1997). I remember that just because it was a great basketball game and I got the call wrong. I made up a new players in Purdue basketball history. It was Chad Miller (a cross between Chad Austin and Brad Miller). They combined to make that last shot."

Reid hasn’t heard any names of possible replacements mentioned for the color commentator position.

"I would love to see somebody with Purdue ties," Reid said. "I think fans like having an ex-player that played at Purdue. I think Larry (Clisby, the voice of the Boilermakers) is comfortable with ex-players.

"Larry and I had a great rapport and that’s what made it so much fun. Larry was such a pleasure to work with. He never got offended if you stepped on his toes. He’s just a very easy going, professional guy at the broadcast table."

Reid said his family will move to the South in the summer after school is finished. He and his wife, Brenda, have four children (Kristin, 16, Eric, 14, Alex, 11, and Austin, 7).

From 1983-85, Reid scored 1,084 points, which currently ranks 32nd in school annals, and dished out 416 assists (eighth-best all-time in Purdue history).

Arguably, more important was Reid’s contribution during the 1983-84 season when he averaged 12.3 points, shooting 43.5 percent (134-of-308) from the field and 83 percent (88-of-106) from the free throw line, to help lead the Boilermakers to the Big Ten championship, the first in Coach Gene Keady’s career in West Lafayette.

Reid transferred to Purdue from Kansas State after his freshman year. He was not only a standout on the hardwood, but got the job done in the classroom, too. Reid was an Academic All-American in 1983 and 1984 and an Academic All-Big Ten selection in 1983, 1984 and 1985 in industrial management.

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