I always loved
broadcasting ball games on the radio. It’s all I ever wanted to do.
In 2002 one part
of the ride was ending and I found a new radio opportunity in Clay Center,
Kansas. I spent 7 ½ years there until marriage and relocation took my wife and
me in a different direction. I learned so much and made so many friends there.
The station is staffed by good people who live in the community and are all
committed to doing good work and I was blessed to be a part of it for as long
as I was.
One of the things
that drew me in all those years ago was a week-long basketball tournament where
13 teams all get together and play from one Saturday to the next. There are
seedings, consolation and championship brackets and what not. Us radio types
were particularly drawn to the hospitality room, where you could always find
some hot chili or a cookie or two. One school (sometimes two) hosts and they
run games in two gyms so having two people there is a big help. The adrenaline
kicks in and it becomes more about the fun of covering hoops and less about
covering five games in an afternoon followed by a snowy drive home.
Anyhow we live in
the Kansas City metro now and not the Deep South, so it has become easier to
head back to Clay Center every now and then. I drove back out there a couple of Fridays ago with
the intent of helping with this tournament. I pitched in on the Clay Center’s
basketball coverage Friday night and it reminded me of sitting in the same gym
in the same spot 16 years ago, not knowing where I was or what I was doing
there. At the end of 2001 I’d worked at three jobs in three different states in
the span of six months, so it was a bit of a whirlwind. But there I was last
Friday night feeling like the new guy all over again.
 |
| I vividly remember sitting in this very spot all those years ago, literally not knowing where I was or what I was doing there. |
During our
coverage Friday night the snow started to fall, resulting in the cancellation
of the first Saturday of league tournament play, so truly I drove out there for
nothing. However it did give me the chance to drive around a bit and see what
was new. I got together with some friends and watched the Chiefs beat
Indianapolis. The game was awesome, but for those four hours I felt like I
belonged there, in my old stomping grounds, with my people.
It felt good to be
home.
