His voice was God-granted and God-graced. His broadcast skill, and certainly his personal decency, were gifts also, perhaps as self-enhanced as qualities can be.
They came to be known to a vast audience as purely Paul Carey.
Carey died Tuesday a month after turning 88 and after a duel with cancer had placed him in hospice care, the Tigers confirmed Tuesday night.
His nearly 50-year career in broadcasting was a rich mix of multi-sport expertise and status a no-frills Mount Pleasant native never quite saw in himself.
Most noteworthy were his nearly four decades at WJR when he was, at different interludes, assistant sports director, Pistons play-by-play announcer, and on late Friday nights the pre-eminent source for statewide high school football and basketball scores.