Due to health concerns, Jack Cristil called his last game for Mississippi State Bulldog Sports Network in February.  Below is audio from Mr. Cristl announcing his retirement:

Jack Cristil Announcement

Mr. Cristil had called Mississippi State athletics for the past fifty eight years.  He was known for his clear, concise game descriptions that were free of any bravado or hyperbole.  Throughout his career he won the Mississippi Broadcaster of the Year award over twenty times and also earned the Ronald Reagan Lifetime Achievement Award.   One year, there was the sponsored Sonic Drive of the Game as one of the postgame show features. The Mississippi State offense hadn’t had a decent drive that day. So Cristil said on the postgame show that the drive of the game would be “my drive back home to Tupelo.” 

“You can wrap this one in maroon and white, my friends.”  -  Jack Cristil after Mississippi State victories

Yesterday, Bob Barry Sr. called his last game for the Oklahoma Sooners.  Barry was the voice of the Sooners from 1961-1972 (when legendary coach Bud Wilkinson selected him to be the play-by-play voice) as well as from 1991-2011.  Barry has been awarded Oklahoma’s Sportscaster of the Year by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, and was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2008, he was recognized as a distinguished alumni by the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma.  Here is Mr. Barry’s farewell:

Bob Barry Final Call

“Boomer Sooner” – Bob Barry Sr.

Sidebar:  Now before you make fun of me, realize that my wife and I have a give and take TV relationship.  I watch some of her shows and she’ll watch about 100 KC Royals games with me per year and tons of college football and men’s basketball.  Trust me, I break even and if you’re a guy you can’t tell me that you’ve spent a good amount of time watching HGTV. 

While checking the scores I saw that in the “Octagon of Doom,” Kansas State got a much needed victory over the Kansas Jayhawks who are not only their in state rival but were also voted the #1 team in the country yesterday.  Now if you’re a Kansas State affiliate you received this great piece of audio last night from Ben Connelly, who is one of our Broadcast Production Coordinators:

KSU-v-KU Promo

In fact, if you’re aligned with any of our Networks you’ve probably received a similar highlight montage at some point during the football and/or men’s basketball season.  I hope you utilize these audio pieces on the air or with your sales efforts.  Our producers take a lot of pride in getting these audio elements out in a timely fashion and do a great job putting these packages together for you to use.

First, Alex Forkin is the new Affiliate Relations Coordinator for Learfield Sports, taking over duties formerly performed by Jenny Hollabaugh.   Alex graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in Psychology and minors in Biological Sciences and Fine Arts.  Prior to joining Learfield she interned as a Case Manager with the Streets Hope Organization in Denver and has been active with Young Life.  The St. Louis native is an avid Blues fan and while in high school participated in competitive dance and lacrosse.

JerRon Smith is joining us as an Affiliate Relations Representative.   JerRon is from Russellville, KY and graduated from the University of Louisville in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. He spent two seasons with Nelligan Sports Marketing and University of Louisville Athletics as Promotional Coordinator for the marketing department as part of the “Kroger Crew.”   A former baseball player, JerRon loves the game and everything Louisville Cardinal Athletics.   He joined Learfield Sports in 2009 as a Sponsor Coordinator intern for BCA Properties in Indianapolis.

As some of you may already know, we are losing one of the people that help you the most and at the end of the day, she helps us the most, too.  Jenny Hollabaugh is moving.  Not from Learfield, but from Learfield Sports.  She’s moving up….literally, as we work in the basement level of Learfield’s building in Jefferson City and she is moving upstairs to work as an executive assistant to our CEO Greg Brown.

Jenny has work with the affiliate relations staff since she started at Learfield nearly seven years ago and personally, I’ve worked with her on the Learfield calendar, as she helps us keep up to date on schedules and game time changes and adjustments throughout the season.  I can’t say enough good things about Jenny as she has taken some pressure off all the departments. 

As our company has grown and our scheduling became all-encompassing, she took over getting all the schedules together for stations and for our traffic and daily operational staff.  It’s not an easy job as she pointed out last week, that since mid-August, she has sent out over 900 scheduling emails to stations. 

Jenny has also been our social calendar.  She organizes our little sports op parties celebrating birthdays, babies, promotions and sometimes just because it’s Tuesday.  She has become a true friend to many in our department. 

Jenny is competitive to a fault sometimes.  One year we went as a department to the Final Four in Indianapolis.  She challenged whoever she could in a competition of shooting free throws and at one point raced with one of us while we were walking to the RCA Dome to the game.  Jenny always has one goal in mind in any kind of athletic competition and that is to finish first.  Sadly for us, she usually does.

Our office area is going to be a little more quiet now and while she promises to come to the basement once in awhile, we know she’ll be very busy upstairs.  We’ve promised to invite her to all our upcoming parties, if she organizes them for us.  Jenny, please let us know when the next one is.  Congratulations and don’t forget where you started.

• Bob Behler-Bronco Sports Properties-Idaho
• Mike Reis-Saluki Sports Properties-Illinois
• Don Fischer-Indiana University Sports Properties-Indiana
• Gary Dolphin-Hawkeye Sports Properties-Iowa
• Jim Churchill-Bobcat Sports Properties-Maine
• Mike Max and Mike Grimm-Gopher Sports Properties-Minnesota
• Mick Holien-Grizzly Sports Properties-Montana
• Jim Jeannotte-Wildcat Sports Properties-New Hampshire

Chris Stewart – Crimson Tide Sports Network (Alabama Sportscaster of the Year)

Mike Reis – Saluki Sports Network (Illinois Sportscaster of the Year)

Don Fischer – Hoosier Sports Network (Indiana Sportscaster of the Year)

Gary Dolphin – Hawkeye Sports Network (Iowa Sportscaster of the Year)

Jim Churchill – Black Bear Sports Network (Maine Sportscaster of the Year)

Dan Hannigan – Black Bear Sports Network (Maine Sportscaster of the Year)

Mike Kelly – Missouri Tiger Sports Network (Missouri Sportscaster of the Year)

Mick Holien – Montana Grizzly Sports Network (Montana Sportscaster of the Year)

Jim Jeannotte – New Hampshire Wildcat Sports Network (New Hampshire Sportscaster of the Year)

Mike Murphy – New Hampshire Wildcat Sports Network (New Hampshire Sportscaster of the Year)

Mike Parker – Oregon State Beaver Sports Network (Oregon Sportscaster of the Year)

Matt LePay – Wisconsin Badger Sports Network (Wisconsin Sportscaster of the Year)

Woody Durham – North Carolina Tar Heel Sports Network (Hall of Fame Sportscaster)

Congratulations to all of the finalists, the winners of each respective award will be announced later this month with the awards presented at the NSSA’s 52nd Annual Awards Banquet on May 16th in Salisbury, NC.

The relationship that I created with this crew was obviously one-sided, but their influence that summer created a loyal and educated baseball fan.  Since then I’ve always preferred listening to a baseball broadcast instead of watching it on TV due to the graphic detail that you get listening to the games.   Unfortunately, Mark Holtz passed away in 1997 but Nadel continues to call games for the Texas Rangers and to this day I get nostalgic when I tune in a Rangers game on mlb.com. 

There was an article written by fanhouse.com recently that reminded me just how important radio play-by-play is and the relationships that fans create with the “voices” of their teams, I hope you enjoy the article. 

http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2010/12/18/boise-state-fan-bill-morgan-doesnt-let-blindness-hinder-his-enj/

Have a great holidays!

 One is Bob Barry, longtime voice of the Oklahoma Sooners, who announced that this year, his 50^th in the broadcast booth, would be his last.  Bob has had a long relationship with Learfield Sports, starting with the final years he was at Oklahoma State, which is sandwiched in the middle of two stints at Oklahoma. 

Bob Barry circa 2010 vs. Texas

 Bob is the consummate pro that we all hope to work with throughout our careers.  Just coming to work every fall asking, “what do you want me to do?” 

 Bob is one of the very first play by play announcers I met when I started at Learfield Sports.  Back then, Bob worked the Oklahoma State games and during basketball was the engineer, too.  Now, with new technology, he doesn’t do the engineering and he has a booth full of people helping him with spotters and statisticians and that doesn’t include commentator Merv Johnson and engineer Michael Dean.  He’s seen the business of sports broadcasting come a long way from his play by play days of Norman High School, which led to his first stint with Oklahoma. 

This year, schools in the Big 12 have been honoring Bob by putting a play on their radio networks when their team has played Oklahoma.  And the Sooner faithful honored Bob this year by at halftime of the Oklahoma-Texas Tech game and named the Press Box after him. 

Bob is retiring after the conclusion of Oklahoma’s basketball season this year.  Personally, it’s been a great pleasure to work with Mr. Barry all these years. 

 Which brings us to our second play by play announcer that recently was put in the Indiana broadcast pioneers hall of fame, Don Fischer.  Don is Indiana University play by play announcer.  He’s currently calling his 38^th season for the Hoosiers. 

 Don is “old school.”  That’s not a bad thing.   If you want to turn on the radio and know exactly what is happening and where the ball is, so you can picture that in your mind, Don is your guy.   Unlike some of the younger play by play guys coming up today looking for signature lines and trying to stand out, Don Fischer lets the Indiana Hoosiers be the star. 

Don Fischer with game winning FG vs. Purdue 2010

 Like Bob Barry, Don and I have worked together for a long time.  We took over the Hoosier Radio Network in the early 90s.  I’ve spent many a year having Don be my first phone call during the season, recording his daily show and getting the broadcast report the morning after the games.  I enjoy listening to him talk about broadcasting, because like Bob, Don started out small. 

 Listening to him describe his first play by play job in a small town in Illinois to what he has become today is what most play by play hopefuls need to hear.  You just don’t become the Voice of the Hoosiers without work. 

 This year, Indiana’s broadcasters honored Don as part of their Hall of Fame class of broadcast pioneers.  He was gracious at the ceremony and he’ll tell you it’s a big deal for him. 

These are two great play by play guys that I get to work with every day.  Bob Barry and Don Fischer stand tall in the college play by play world and Learfield Sports wants to salute both of them.

The Affiliate Relations Representative will execute a process for a designated region of 8-10 Learfield Sports’ partner schools. This includes all men’s and women’s sports.

Other responsibilities include:

- Expanding existing affiliate lineup and negotiating affiliate agreements across all networks and markets.
- Cultivating prospects throughout all networks via in-person meetings and phone communication
- Developing relationships with clients, industry owners and leaders.
- Maintaining and renewing existing affiliates in assigned markets
- Monitoring affiliate compliance to insure all contractual obligations are fulfilled.
- Insuring affidavits and proof of performance are completed and returned in a timely manner.
- Insuring affiliate fees are paid in a timely manner, and collecting any outstanding fees.
- Maintaining affiliate game plans, tracking affiliate ticket and promotional needs.
- Creating and maintaining affiliate database.

Job Characteristics and Requirements:

Critical characteristics include the ability to perform assigned duties with limited supervision; ability to evaluate corporate objectives and strategize solutions; communicate effectively, especially in written form; initiate and cultivate relationships; plan, organize and prioritize work; pay attention to detail and maintain a positive attitude; willingness to travel. Knowledge in Excel, Power Point and Outlook is required.   Two to three years experience in media, sales and/or collegiate athletics is preferred.

If you know of anyone that is interested in this position please have them email their resume to kkowalski@learfieldsports.com.  **No phone calls please**