Occasionally Speaking (1/28)
One of the great things about my job is the people I get to work with. These are people you let into your offices, living rooms and cars regularly. Their names are familiar and often people talk about them as if they are part of their family. I’m talking about our play by play announcers.
The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame have selected their state-wide winners of the Sportscaster of the Year. Ten of those selections are gentlemen that are play by play announcers for Learfield Sports. They will be listed at the end of this article, but I just want to congratulate each and every one of them publicly.
Learfield Sports, as you know, is in Jefferson City, Missouri. My wife and I were standing in line at a Wal-Mart store and a retired couple in front of us noticed a North Carolina jacket I had on. They were a couple from Carolina and were driving the country visiting state capitols in their RV. They wondered if I was from North Carolina (a usual question whenever I am wearing something with the school’s logo). I replied that no, I wasn’t from Carolina, but did work with the radio crew of the Tar Heels. Their response was, “do you know Woody?” A similar type of question has come from many people I’ve encountered in my 20 years at Learfield.
The fans want to know what our announcers are like. They are just like you and me. The only difference is their job takes them all over the country and they describe the action to you. Sometimes we take that for granted, but it was a letter from a fan of the Missouri Tigers, who was blind, that told me how much he appreciated the job our Missouri crew does as he listens to each and every Tiger game. He said he always knows what’s going on in the game. This story is repeated time and time again with all of Learfield Sports properties.
Over the years, many of our announcers have won the NSSA State award and some of the names listed below are multiple winners and some will have won for the first time….I’ve also included three others that I have worked with in the past that were also award winners this year. Again, congratulations to all and I am proud to work with each and every one of them.
Chris Stewart-Alabama—pregame/postgame show host for Alabama Crimson Tide football, play by play announcer for men’s basketball and baseball
Don Fischer-Indiana—play by play announcer for Indiana Hoosiers football and men’s basketball
Dave Nitz-Louisiana—play by play announcer for LA Tech football and men’s basketball
Rich Kimball-Maine—play by play announcer for Maine Black Bears football
Dave Lee-Minnesota—play by play announcer for Minnesota Golden Gopher football
Mike Grimm-Minnesota—pregame/postgame host for Minnesota Golden Gopher football and play by play announcer for men’s basketball
Mick Holien-Montana—play by play announcer for Montana Grizzly football and men’s basketball
Woody Durham, North Carolina—play by play announcer for Carolina Tar Heels football and men’s basketball
Matt Lepay, Wisconsin—play by play announcer for Wisconsin Badgers football and men’s basketball
Reece Monaco, Wyoming—play by play announcer for Wyoming Cowboys women’s basketball, pregame contributor for Wyoming football.
Larry Morgan, Iowa—20 years ago, he was color commentator for Learfield’s Iowa Hawkeye football and men’s basketball network
Bob Davis, Kansas—also a past Learfield acquaintance as play by play announcer for Kansas football and men’s basketball
Mick Mixon, North Carolina—was the commentator for Carolina football and men’s basketball and now is the voice of the Carolina Panthers
What are these guys like? A great group of professionals who are at the top of their game….
Keith Sampson
