In 1983, Joe Gripka needed a broadcasting partner to help him call Monett High School football games. He asked David Beckett if he’d like to come aboard as a color analyst. Forty-two years later, Beckett is still at it, calling Monett football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball and soccer for radio and internet broadcasts. Beckett has… Read more »
News
Category: Announcers
“Buss” Carr
E.E. “Bus” Carr, a lifetime resident of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, was one of the early members of the Letter Club, an announcer for radio station KWOC who was inducted into the Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Carr was a World War II veteran, attaining the rank of… Read more »
Terry Higgins
In the early 1980s, when he first began teaching at Carl Junction High School, Terry Higgins was asked to be the public address announcer for junior varsity and freshmen football games. He still remembers that first contest – a 6-0 JV Bulldog victory against East Newton – but little did he know that press boxes… Read more »
Rick Jester
He’ll never forget the moment. All of 20 years old and having grown up in Springfield where basketball had long been the premier sport, Rick Jester walked into his family’s kitchen one Saturday and there was his old high school coach, Larry Atwood, enjoying a cup of coffee along wtih Jester’s dad. “Sit down here,”… Read more »
Denny Matthews
Over the years, Royals fans have followed the hitting of George Brett, graceful fielding of Frank White and the masterful pitching of Bret Saberhagen. But one aspect of Royals baseball has remained a constant – the voice of Denny Matthews. His broadcasting career started in college, where he worked as an announcer during the basketball… Read more »
Bill McDermott
The Saint Louis University men’s soccer team has played more than 400 home games since the start of the 1972 season. Bill McDermott estimates he’s missed no more than 15 of them since he became the Billikens’ first — and to this day, only — full-time public address announcer that year. Which means McDermott —… Read more »
John Rooney
The start of John Rooney’s storied broadcasting career dates back to 1971, when he launched his career as a play-by-play sports announcer in Lexington, Mo. With some experience under his belt, he later secured a position with KFRU in Columbia. He then headed to Okmulgee, OK to do play-by-play for local high schools, while also… Read more »