[00:00:13] Speaker A: Hello. Welcome to the Roundhouse Podcast with Paul Sullentrop of Wichita State University Strategic Communications. Thanks very much for listening. Our guest today is Bruce Hurdle. Bruce played baseball for the Shockers. He hosted a Shocker football coaches show. He did play by play for the Wichita Wings, the Wichita State basketball, baseball and much more. He is our guest today after he recently retired from a lengthy career in sports broadcasting. Bruce, who is from Tacoma, Washington, came to Wichita State in 1978 to play baseball. He spent decades covering the Shockers as a sports anchor at KWCH, Channel 12 that started in 1984. He was the host of Sports Daily on KFH radio from 2001 to 2022, started doing Wichita State play by in the late 1990s and handled both basketball and baseball duties on TV.
Bruce left KWCH in 2012, although he continued calling shocker games until 2016. 2016 he joined TV station KDVR in Denver and recently retired after 10 years. So we're here for reflections and memories. Did I get that resume correct, Bruce?
[00:01:26] Speaker B: Well, since you're the director of strategy, that was a very strategic opening. Yeah, you covered all of my bases, some of which I even have to kind of jog my memory to think about.
When you look back on it, it seems like an awful lot.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: So catch people up on what you've been doing since you stopped calling Wichita State games.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: Well, I originally spent about three and a half years freelancing.
Well, I mean, that was during the time that I was doing Wichita State when I made the move to Denver to get back into local telev at the behest of Joan Barrett, who had been my general manager at kwch, it ended up being an opportunity that was too good to pass up.
So instead of remaining out there as a freelancer, which had been an interesting challenge, exciting, but an interesting challenge, I decided to get back into local that was May of 2016.
And since since then I have been or was the lead reporter and anchor for all of our Denver Broncos coverage. So the last 10 years have been spent basically covering the National Football League.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: So take us back to Bruce Hurdle in 1984. You were, I don't know if you were living in Brennan hall at that point or you're living in with Brent Chemnitz or living, I guess you lived in Gene Stevenson's basement for a while. So, Bruce Hurdle, in 1984, how closely did your career end up playing out back to, you know, compared to what maybe you planned for yourself at that point?
[00:03:18] Speaker B: Well, I mean, I don't think anyone ever Goes to Wichita State with the idea of playing baseball and thinking about a career that isn't involved in baseball.
And even back then that was kind of the goal.
It didn't take long for me to understand that as a baseball player I would make a pretty good broadcaster.
So I got to that realization fairly quickly and recognized once I got the opportunity in 84 from a guy named Steve Ramsey who's no longer with us. He was then the news director at KWCH tv, which at the time was the fourth station in a three station market. It was that bad. It had been KTVH for those that really go back a long ways and they had just literally blown it up. And when I say blown it up, they actually had a big logo out in the middle of the field and out near the station and they blew up the old logo. And then KWCH was born, obviously.
Roger Cornish, Susan Peters, Meryl Teller.
And then at the time, Tom west was doing sports there. And Steve Ramsey, the news director, had been a KFH listener. And I was doing Wings and a little bit of kind of contrived sports talk there. And he asked me if, and this would have been the summer of 84, asked me if I'd be interested in trying television.
I was not going to be retained by the Wings after they. After the third year, they were moving in a different direction.
And so I was trying to figure out what to do. And this seemed like as good a thing as any to do. So I took over on an interim basis and worked with a guy. Tom left.
He ended up going to CNN where he worked in for, I think Headline News for a while. Tim Matthews was there. He's gone on to a very great career in Dallas, doing a lot of golf stuff in particular. But be that as it may, they gave the job to me on an interim basis. And I mean, I literally didn't know my ass from my elbow.
The first time that I was ever on the air, I was wearing glasses and I was anxious enough that I actually sweat through my eyeballs, creating a steam to in effect, in my glasses. It was a remarkably dignified beginning to my television career. But that kind of just. That stumbled along throughout the summer and I felt like things were going okay.
But then at Labor Day, it's Labor Day at the end of the summer, right? Yeah, Labor Day.
Before that weekend, Steve, who had been a great advocate for me and had listened to a lot of stuff that I'd done on kfh, called me in and said, hey, I don't think this is going to work. I don't think this is probably the direction that we want to go. And I said, hey, great, no problem.
Really appreciate the opportunity. And he said, just do me one more favor.
Take care of the weekend for me. Get me through the long weekend. We'll talk on Tuesday after the holiday and get things closed up. I said, great, thank you very much.
Worked through the holiday, came back on Tuesday, and he had an offer in front of me for I think $27,500, if I'm not mistaken, was the first deal that I at KFH or I mean at kwch, never really gave me any explanation as to why they decided to go that way. It felt the same to me all weekend long. He claims that there was a difference in my level of comfort or whatever the case may be.
And that's how I got going at KWCH and kept it going that way through the end of 2012, and then obviously did some special projects for them through the 2013 basketball season.
But yeah, and it ended up being a great career. It certainly fell into my lap.
So I was always the worst person in the world to have out for a group of students and that wanted to know the path to take the. To get into broadcasting. And I would tell them a shorter version of the story I just told you and they would look at me like, well, how the hell is that going to help me? And the answer is it's not. Because being in the right place at the right time with someone to believe in you doesn't happen a lot in life. I found out now after 67 years. So I was very fortunate to have that opportunity, very fortunate to have someone, in this case Steve Ramsey, who believed in me, stuck with me and ended up giving me a profession that I've always been able to manage on my own terms. And for that I'm very thankful.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: Let's hold off on Wichita State memories for a second because we will definitely get to that outside of Wichita State. What pops to your mind first when people say, gosh, what do you. What do you remember? What were your highlights
[00:09:16] Speaker B: outside of Wichita State? It would certainly be the emergence and the evolution of the football program at Kansas State under Bill Snyder.
I was. It's interesting.
Someone was asking me a question the other day. What do. What do people.
What do you think people remember you for? And my answer was, well, I'm not sure they remember at all.
Certainly won't after a certain amount of time is gone. Because the effect that really, I think most of us in this business have is sticking your finger into a barrel of water, pulling it out, and the ripple that it creates is basically the effect that you create either coming or leaving. In this business, I think it's such a business of what have you done for me lately? Where are we now?
And I accept that it's a great thing. But my answer to the question specifically was in terms of the feedback that I still get to this day, all these years later, my time with Kansas State football rivaled Wichita State pretty significantly. And there are still people, I will run into people, hey, I remember you from K State and this, that and the other thing. And people forget that. I worked on that broadcast crew for the better part of about 12 seasons. I covered virtually every game there from 2000, from 1980.
Oh, the 1984, 83, 82 season. 80, 83. I think it was 84 where they went to the Aloha Bowl, I think so from 83, 84 until the early 2000s and beyond that into like 2000, I think I worked on that staff till I was about 2013.
That means home and away, pre game, halftime, some post game. So I was very deeply connected to that program and to this day have a lot of friends up there, Wyatt Thompson and Casey Scott and.
And obviously Coach Snyder, who I still try to stay as much in touch with as I possibly can.
So I have a lot of. Of a Tim Fitzgerald, a lot of people that I still stay in pretty close touch with. So outside of.
Outside of Wichita State, which was the bread and butter my time covering that particular story, the remarkable nature of that story, the unlikely nature of that story is something or other that I will always think of. But I also. But I think of, you know, AFC Championship 94, Joe Montana@ Buffalo Chiefs trying to get to the Super Bowl. I think of all the work that we did on Sports Daily, which was really the.
The brainchild of my wife Sarah, who really spearheaded the project.
And Bob and I, obviously, Bob Lutz and myself, kind of, you know, pushed that thing through. Although Jim Kobe and Jared Bartlett were early partners of mine, we didn't really start hitting our stride until Bob joined the show and really helped it to give it strong legitimacy.
And he was such a great partner for so many years. So those are the things that I would think about. But also what Wichita State afforded me with all of the play by play was an ability to step outside of Wichita State and do that work.
And for the time that I left immediately after I left Wichita in 2013, 14, and was based out of Tulsa for a Few years freelancing, I was able to start and develop relationships at the University of Oklahoma with our buddy Kenny Mossman, who had been at Illinois State and then was at Oklahoma.
I did a lot of work in the SEC and the versatility, I mean, I did everything from volleyball to soccer to softball, which by the way, to this day, softball at Oklahoma, outside of Wichita State, basketball and baseball were my favorite things to do.
That program and the way that it was run, the way that it is still run, the professionalism that they, that they approach that product with, and I mean it is.
That's about as good of an association with a team and a university that I've had outside of Wichita State and of course the K state football.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: I think a lot of people have been turned on to softball and Oklahoma softball in recent years.
Let's say the Elliott School at Wichita State says, Bruce, we'd like you to come back and speak to our students. They totally should do that. What's your advice for a youngster who wants to get into this career at this point?
[00:14:58] Speaker B: Proceed with caution. The career and the business is changing.
I had a long discussion at various times with the corps of our crew back in Denver, and they are predominantly young.
And the conversations that we would have would center around where this business is going.
And we've had a, I think to some degree a harbinger of things to come as we look. As I look back at what has happened in the world of print, which has been some of the most disappointing things for me as a kind of print guy who was disguised in a television suit and tie, I always enjoyed the print side of things and the print people that I came into contact with and the way that they went about their work.
So it would be my biggest thing would be there better be. There's one thing that is undisputable that you have to have that is non negotiable and that is an enduring and an unflagging passion for what you think the business is. And then if you have the opportunity to go out and make it that way, which I ended up being very fortunate to do in my career, then good. But most, most people, I think, are going to find it very challenging to realize what they think journalism should be in this day and age.
There's just so much corporate interference.
Not interference, I shouldn't say that that's an unfair term, but there is. So everything is, everything is decided at the highest levels of corporate America.
The two leading stations in Denver, the Fox station where I happen to work, and then the legacy station kusa, which is the NDC affiliate, are getting ready to merge.
And this has been allowed by decisions that have been made politically. I think it's one of the worst things that could possibly happen for many different reasons.
But.
But the business has just changed. It's changed. And I don't want to sound, and I would be careful not to sound like a grumpy old guy, get off my lawn kind of guy. I'd be very careful with young journalists because they're there because they do have the passion. Right now, if they are in the Elliott School or other journalism schools around the country, there is great passion and curiosity. There is a flair for communication and the desire to take it to higher levels, which is commendable.
I think it's going to get harder and harder to do that. I think it's, I think everything, I think much more now is profit driven.
One of the most ridiculous things here that I've seen in the last month, two months, was literally the disbanding of the sports department at the Post in Washington right before the Olympics. These are all things that as, yeah, old timers in the journalistic lingo that are very concerning to me, the direction that we're going in. But it takes strong people out there, strong young people that can forge their way into this and keep the journalistic promise alive because I think that there is still a great need for it and will continue to be a great need for it for an eternity.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: So you came to Wichita State, 1978, student baseball player.
Saw so many things. Rise and rise of baseball, basketball. Great times, bad times, great times.
Shocker.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: Football.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: What are your, what are your most prominent memories about covering Wichita State athletics?
[00:19:42] Speaker B: Wow.
It would probably take me about four beers to get, you know, totally to the, to the whole crux of it.
But I'm only working on coffee this morning. So what do I remember of it?
First of all, my time playing baseball for Gene Stevenson and Brent Kimnitz and Terry Jolly, who at the time was the lead assistant, was a remarkable experience, one that I probably didn't totally appreciate at the time, that I certainly do more now, even though it was a shorter experience, even though in terms of importance, if there was ever any importance to me in the baseball program at Wichita State, it would have been far more in the way and the time that I covered it than I certainly was involved as a player. I mean, I recognized my limitations early on.
But to be around for the remarkably fast growth that Gene and Brent and Scooter Hibbs and then later JT, Jimmy Thomas all brought that program to was nothing short of remarkable.
I have been witness to two of the most incredible coaching jobs arguably in college sports history.
And I know that Indiana probably might have passed the story at Kansas State, although I will defer to my. My friend Pat Jones, the former coach at Oklahoma State, who I worked with for a few years in radio down in Tulsa.
And I agree, the finest coach to ever coach in college football was Bill Snyder.
For what he was able to do, what he was able to build from literally nothing or very close to nothing in terms of a base or a foundation. Well, the same can be said for Gene Stevenson and what he did, obviously he was part of.
He came from a very fine program at the University of Oklahoma with head coach Ena Seymour, who in his own right was a legend and had great success.
And then Gene basically said, okay, yeah, well, hold my beer and watch this. And he built a program literally with a bag of balls and an open field that Ted Bradyhoff promised him at one point would turn into a stadium. And then through very much hard work and passion from him through the years, there was eventually something there.
And what was there through the heyday of that program is just unrivaled.
It really is. I mean, that is unlike anything that I think we'll ever see again. College baseball has changed dramatically now.
There are many more programs now putting money, time and effort into being good at the highest level. And thus the challenge is more significantly on Wichita State to keep up with them than for so many years it was for other programs to keep up with Wichita State.
But I think that that was an absolute highlight. And if.
And I'll cut you off even before you ask it at some point, because people always get around to me. What was the one event, if you can possibly look at the one event that did it beyond anything else, just because of my association with the baseball program, the people that I knew and loved in that program.
Winning the College World series in, in 89 was one of those.
I, I get emotional still thinking about it, just having been a part of it. And I, of course, being a part of it at that point was, Was being on the. Was being there, you know, as, as. As a TV guy, as a journalist covering it, but you never lose that association with the program.
That was just an unbelievable time.
And then the emergence of Wichita State basketball.
When I got there in 78, it was just at the beginning of the Gene Stevenson era.
And obviously I was.
Yeah, I just. Smithson. Gene Smithson. Excuse me.
And so.
And Obviously, I knew a lot of those guys.
Cliff Twan X, Aubrey Sherrod, Mike Denny, you know, Steve Kawaszinski. There are a bunch of guys that, that, that you always knew as athletes and this, that and the other thing.
But to see that first swing get to an elite eight and lose down at the Superdome and lsu and then to see the program go through some tougher times, then to see Eddie Fogler come back and restore some of the balance to the program. Then Mark Turgeon, obviously, and by this time, obviously, I was a member of, of the media even before with Randy, who was a very, another very good friend of mine, Jay Jackson, you know, Greg Dryling. All of those guys were such good dudes, great friends and a lot of really, really good times.
I, you know, I. Obviously I was pulling for Randy. That didn't work for, for a myriad of reasons. But, but they got to a point where, where Mark Turgeon really was able to, you know, with, with Tad Boyle and Roney and, and the guys that were on that staff, they had.
There was a. They did, they did a tremendous job reestablishing that program.
And you go all the way to.06 and that Sweet 16 run and how magical it really was when you stop to consider the really the dearth that preceded it of meaningful basketball. And all of a sudden here they were winning a Missouri Valley Conference title. They had the conference player of the year and Paul Miller.
They had a run in the NCAA Tournament. They beat a tremendous Tennessee team and might have been fortunate, might have been fortunate not to have played Winthrop in the second round. A team that I thought when I was down there should have won the game with Tennessee and I thought were actually a better team. Oh, and it just happened to be coached by a guy named Greg Marshall. And my memory of this, it later with, with various, with athletic. Well, his name came up because of that time, I think, because everyone got to see him coach and see the passion that he had and, and obviously when he took over for Turg, he took it to a totally different level.
I think very realistically can be called the golden era of shocker basketball. And that's saying something. When you have a program that's been to multiple Final Fours, that's been to the NCAA Tournament at very high levels, and it has the history that it has.
But I think I probably would challenge anyone to tell me that the time that Marshall was building, rebuilding, building the program and the heights that they were playing at weren't the highest points of Wichita State's basketball.
Time in basketball. So all of those things, obviously getting to the sweet 16 or to the, to the Final Four in Los Angeles against Ohio State was an absolute, was incredible. And then obviously seeing them in a Final Four in Atlanta, those are all things that stay with you, you know. But so does Paul, I'll be honest with you, so does my first ever Final Four which was in 88 with Danny Manning and Pritchard and those guys.
And speaking of Mark Turgeon, Mark and I laugh about it, he was the guy that KU sent to me to do stuff on the outside podium at Kemper arena in 88 after an historical NCAA final against an Oklahoma team that had beaten Kansas and really had been quite a bit better than Kansas during the regular season and into the post season, but then got them in the Final Four. And Kansas just played an incredibly inspired game.
But Turge was actually the guy out on the, on the riser outside of Kemper arena. And we laugh a lot about that when we have a chance to catch up with it as talk about harbinger of things to come. But that was an unbelievable experience. And, and so those are all things that I really, really value greatly.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: So you took us back to that day in March 2006 in Greensboro when Winthrop beat Tennessee. Wichita State was there and I think that's where Jim Schous, the athletic director at the time at Wichita State got the idea of Greg Marshall. So we have Jim Schoust just making two fantastic hires in Mark Turgeon and Greg Marshall and really revamped and revitalized this athletic. What were your impressions of Jim and how was he able to get things going in such a good direction here?
[00:30:23] Speaker B: Jim Schauss to me was he brought people together in a non threatening, non competitive way. I mean he obviously had a tremendous people forget about.
I don't know if they forget about him. It should always be known about his history and his dad and the fact that he has spent his entire career, his life in a sporting way. And I think he had a tremendous understanding of how to bring different personalities together.
Paul, you and I were around all during that time with Greg and Jim. There are not two guys that are on further ends of the spectrum really when you get right down to it, than Jim Schouse and Greg Marshall. And yet it was a perfect, it was a perfect joining of the two.
Jim saw exactly what he needed to in Greg's competitiveness and yet Greg came with his own challenges.
But he was forthright, he was sure of what he was doing.
He had a great plan and never Wavered from it.
All of those things brought him incredible success.
And you give great credit to Jim Schouse in his ability to see that much in the same way that he saw it with Mark Turgeon.
The difference is that Greg, I think, saw Wichita State and yeah. And, you know, and yeah, he flirted with Alabama and there were other opportunities and Greg could have done a lot of different things, but he stayed where he was happy.
And he always said to me, hey, you just can't buy happiness.
And I think that that was a lot of the reason that Greg really enjoyed where he was and what he did.
But Jim's ability to recognize, even in a personality that some would think is volatile was volatile.
I liked Greg a great deal.
Consider him still to be a friend and marvel at the work that he did.
We understand how it ended and why it ended and can appreciate that. But boy, I'll tell you what, the work that he did and I see it now. Paul, I don't know about you, but when I watch college basketball and I watch in game adjustments, when I watch late game situations, when I watch inbounds plays, things that are. That are made, that are, you know, fingered out in the sand, if you will, on an inbounds play, Mark Turgeon was very good at that as well. But I think of Greg and I think of.
And I watch these guys come down and just pound the rock in a late game situation and no one's trying to get to the rim. There's no, I mean, there's just one guy basically trying to break down a defense and get a shot or a call, and nine times out of ten, it doesn't work. And I'm sitting there wondering, do they plan for these things? Greg Marshall planned for every eventuality that could have happened on a basketball court. He was better than the guy that he coached against.
Nine and a half times out of ten, he just was.
He was that good, in my opinion, as an X's and O's guy. And my appreciation for not only him, but for Mark as well has continued to grow over the years. And I saw with great interest that Mark's taking over the job at umkc. If that's not an example of a guy loving the game and wanting to give back, I don't know what is.
Taking on something like umkc. Good for the ruse.
[00:34:58] Speaker A: Yeah, we saw him. He was back this weekend for the reunion of the 2006 team. Was here. That was good. Good to see Mark. And his son Will was with him.
[00:35:21] Speaker B: Hi, this is Rick Muuma. President of Wichita State University.
Check out the latest episode of the Forward Together podcast. Each episode I sit down with different guests from Shocker Nation to celebrate the vision and mission of Wichita State University.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
[00:35:52] Speaker A: Pick out a game or two from each of those tenures. Mark Turgen and Greg Marshall. Was there a game that you look back on and say, that's when I knew things were going to go in the right direction.
A memory, a game or two from each of those tenures?
[00:36:06] Speaker B: I really. The game up at Drake, where Wichita State set up its chance in what, 2006 to win the Valley with, what was it, Illinois State on the last day.
[00:36:21] Speaker A: Yeah, you remember that? Well, Paul Miller tipped in a shot at Drake to clinch a tie and then they beat Illinois State a few days later.
[00:36:30] Speaker B: That was, that was a, that was kind of a watershed moment for me in that, that they were able to on the road make a play like that.
You knew they were going to take care of business against Illinois State and they did pretty convincingly.
But that was a.
And when you, especially when you stop to consider the time before it, you know, from Mike Cohen to Randy and I mean, there had been some moments. There had been some moments there, obviously, where teams played well at various times. I'm not saying that, but that was the first time that you could see Wichita State kind of getting back to a place where you felt like they were going to have to be dealt with and to be heard from.
And really from that point forward, I mean, obviously the next year wasn't great, but from that point forward, once Greg got here and got through that first 11 win season, Wichita State kind of restaked its claim in the Valley as one of the power merchants.
The one for Greg, I think would be the comeback at Missouri State.
That was just to be down, what, 19 with 12 minutes left.
I think I've got that right.
[00:38:05] Speaker A: It was something very close, if not on. Yes.
[00:38:08] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And to be. And for as much as Greg used to gripe and would and be demonstrative against officials, I think he got a really good call on the Fred Van Vliet bucket.
That could have just as easily been an offensive, an offensive call. I thought it was a kind of a courageous call. And I don't even know who was officiating at the time, but I remember thinking, damn, that's just not the type of calls that Wichita State has gotten. But then again, they were in the midst of an historic season.
Kind of, you know, a little past. What? A little past the midway point, I guess, is my memory of that. Maybe I'm wrong.
[00:38:57] Speaker A: 11th is the game year.
[00:38:58] Speaker B: Yeah. So there you go.
[00:38:59] Speaker A: January 11th, 2014, Wichita State won that 72, 69 in overtime in Springfield.
[00:39:05] Speaker B: Yeah. So that, to me was a just. It was a not only a remarkable game.
And I'm talking about remarkable in terms I've very rarely seen anything since then like it either in the NBA, which I've dabbled in at my time in Denver, and then just in college basketball in general. You just don't see.
You don't see those types of comebacks. But more than anything, it was, I think, an important win in building what they were building at that point and what ended up being the season that it was.
I think that that moment was a. It wasn't a pivot point because they were already set in the direction that they were going. But to be able to come back and be a good team in a tough place to play on the road with the weight and the target that was on your back, I thought really spoke loudly about the audacity of that basketball team.
[00:40:13] Speaker A: Since we've got some time, I'll go back and set a little bit of the context for our younger listeners. I think that 06 team is important to understand in the context that Mark had done a great job building the program, and they had gotten close to the NCAA tournament the previous year, but had gone to the nit. So there was some disappointment. That was their first valley title since 83. So there was a lot of kind of pent up desire and frustration in the program.
And then 2014, they were unbeaten. People were starting to talk about an unbeaten season. When they went to that game in Springfield, I think Greg Marshall told them at halftime that everybody on ESPN was rooting for the Shockers to lose, rooting for that unbeaten team to fail. They made this incredible comeback and kept them rolling on the. On the way to 35 and, oh, some favorite people to interview at Wichita State over the years.
[00:41:06] Speaker B: Wow.
Obviously, a lot of.
When you say favorite people, sometimes it can either. It can be that one time that you got to talk to someone or the times that you get to talk to people over and over again and really get to know them.
There are a lot of conversations that you have with people that are on the record and quite a few conversations that you have with people that are off the record.
So in terms of interviewing on the record, I thought Greg was certainly a very colorful guy on the record always was. Was. Was pretty steadfast, was pretty. Was pretty Honest, I thought Gene Stevenson was very much that way too. I, you know, Gene would.
Gene didn't suffer fools, you know, and he. And he knew the game of baseball exceedingly well. Our buddy Brent Kimnitz was always one of my favorites, but that doesn't count. We were roommates for a few years, for goodness sakes. We had all of the.
We had all of the dirt on each other, so I will leave it at that.
But beyond that, I mean, the first time that you get in front of a guy like Joe Montana, it's meaningful. I mean, it's meaningful.
You feel the. Brought the breadth of his experience.
You have respect for what he's accomplished in the game.
Barry Sanders was all. Was a guy from high school at Wichita north that I got to know, and he was great.
But his father was even better.
His dad was.
I used to laugh that he got more airtime than twa. Now that's really painting myself into a corner. TWA has long since not been an airline, but at the time it actually made sense. So Willie Sanders was an unbelievable interview. But in terms of other sports, I always enjoyed my time with Coach Snyder, who was a very honest.
If you asked good questions, you got good answers.
I enjoyed Darren Dalton, the pride of Arc City, who's no longer with us, of course, won a world championship in Florida, had those years with the Phillies. He was a very fun guy to interview. Very funny.
You know, he didn't have much of a filter.
So those types of guys.
Larry Brown was very. It was always to me, a very interesting guy to chat with. As is still Bill Self. I haven't talked with him for years, but I always enjoyed my deal with Bill Self. Was always anybody who. When you go up to a place like KU and you're there to cover a practice or something, and you're in the. And you're getting some lunch and Self comes into the cafeteria and then pulls up a seat and starts holding court.
That's pretty cool stuff, you know, I mean, and that's rare anymore, but that's the kind of guy that. That he was obviously.
Frank Martin was a guy that I loved talking to up at K State.
You talk about a guy that just never pulled any punches.
It was him. And that was a guy that I really, really liked.
I'm missing guys that if I really stopped and thought of it, but that at least gives you an idea. I've been very blessed.
Barry Switzer, I mean, you know, now that I think of it, I mean, I got to know him a little better in my Time in Oklahoma, mainly through my time with Pat Jones, who I just really, really liked a lot.
And Coach Switzer was always very kind and very gracious with his, his time. And that's another guy that was always on the, you know, would ask me about, you know, how Coach Snyder worked and what it was like and, you know, being around him, this, that and the other thing. And I said, well, hell, coach, you probably know a lot better than the rest of us. You were born into that world. So a lot of really good people and very fortunate that my career over 40, what, two years or so afforded me the opportunity to talk to those people.
[00:46:10] Speaker A: So the common thread would be forthright and candid. How about some shocker athletes? Who did you enjoy getting on, getting on Sports Sunday or talking with after, after a game from the, from the basketball or baseball programs?
[00:46:24] Speaker B: Joe Carter, who was a teammate of mine along with Barry Sanders, are probably the two best dudes of that ilk that I can think of.
I mean, guys that had big time moments but never big timed you guys that were at the tops of their profession but always remembered where they came from and were always willing to share. But the list of, I mean, the list of people from Lansing and Mears and that group, Mirabelli.
There is not one team that I covered at Wichita State that didn't have very interesting people.
Eric Wedge was always a guy that I enjoyed talking to, but no more or less than Greg Brummett, who was a very different kind of guy, but a very inward, more inward type of guy. But man, burned the same way competitively.
I was down.
I'm out on the Oregon coast now and that's where I'm retiring to, is out on the ocean.
And I ran into someone the other night who playing bingo in a bar. Yeah, I'll come clean.
And she was the former superintendent of school, associate superintendent of schools in the Houston area.
And she brought up the name Randy Burns.
And I remember thinking, and I was thinking at the time, you know, I hadn't thought of Randy for a long time, but Randy Burns, Jamar Howard, those guys, how much I enjoyed chatting with those guys.
There isn't a team that wouldn't have plenty of people on it that I didn't really, really enjoy. I mean, we haven't even talked about football at Wichita State.
I had a great relationship with Ron Chismar, the last head coach, and then went down, visited him in his time at Rice after he left the program, after the program was closed down.
But those were always very fun, interesting people.
To have conversations with, many of whom ended up being friends. Chris Lamb and others, too. I mean, the list would go on and on and on. And that doesn't even count some of the people that I worked with, you know, Jim Kobe and Jared Bartlett and Mark Ewing and guys like that who all put up with me for so many years.
[00:49:35] Speaker A: Randy Burns and Jamar Howard played for Mark Turgeon. They were also back this weekend. They weren't on that 06 team, but they would have played with the. Played with a lot of those guys.
So 1979, when you played Shocker baseball, that would have been the program's second season after it was shuttered in 1970.
It's quite a different animal than it is now. Gene was young, just getting started. Shocker Field, I think, was just a few bleachers and a chain link fence. Players dressing in cars.
Seems like you played baseball every day. Lots of double headers. Playing Augustana, playing Arkansas.
What was the atmosphere like? What was Gene like in those days when he was just getting things up and running?
[00:50:15] Speaker B: He was very much a guy that was in full build mode. He had a tremendous collection of young players.
Phil Stevenson, Jimmy Thomas, guys that you knew were going to be staples in that program.
And then he had, you know, some. Some older guys.
Joe Carter was obviously in that group. The next year, Charlie o' Brien would. And Eric Sonberg would be in that group. So there was that. That young core that Gene was building on.
And then he had, you know, he had, you know, some guys that, that were, you know, just experienced guys that ended up in the program.
Guys that were meaningful, you know, Mike Davis, Bobby Bob, Jimmy Smith, the shortstop.
There were lots of guys that kind of fit that mold, too. You could see it coming.
And that was my greatest memory of that 79 season.
I think we were 65 and 15 that season.
And people will look back, I mean, when you're playing 80 games, you do play a lot of.
A lot of, you know, a lot of punching bags. And we did. But we played good people, too.
People forget, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the end of the season we swept Arkansas in a doubleheader and Arkansas lost in the national championship game to Cal State Fullerton. Maybe I've got that wrong.
But my point is we were playing competitively against good people here and there, just not enough of them.
We weren't in the NCAA tournament that year. They were in the next year in 1980.
But the overall takeaway was, damn, this program is going to be good.
And this program is going to be meaningful.
And there were little bits. It was little fits and starts. We played a series with USC that was rained out to just one game earlier in the year.
And it was a packed house at Lawrence Dumont Stadium. So you could see the passion that people had and the curiosity that they had. And it was a novelty. Rod Dado was bringing in a good team and they waxed us, I think, the first night, 13 to 2 or something like that. And we didn't get to play that. We would have been much better the second night, I feel like.
But we just didn't play very well. But nonetheless we had within the program there was the right confidence, the right attitude, the right skill set and the right leadership. And you could see that it was going to pay dividends. And of course it did.
[00:53:36] Speaker A: Your memory continues to be excellent. That 1979 team was indeed 65 and 15.
Did not go to the NCAAs.
Did sweep Arkansas in a double header down at Lawrence Dumont.
7, 6 and 5, 4. And then the Southern Cal game, I think is really interesting. I think Gene would call that kind of a landmark, a turning point. That was kind of his message that they were serious about a big time schedule and they got USC to come in here and play down at Lawrence Dumont. There's that famous picture of him and Rod Dado at home plate that is all over the baseball complex. So those were definitely landmarks in shocker baseball. All right, you've been very gracious with your time. Let's wrap it up. I've got some Bruce Hurdle trivia.
[00:54:25] Speaker B: Oh, God.
[00:54:26] Speaker A: What was your room number in Brennan hall when you filled out your questionnaire for the Sports information department?
[00:54:34] Speaker B: No idea.
[00:54:35] Speaker A: 481.
[00:54:36] Speaker B: 481, yes.
I would have sat here all day long and not gotten that combination.
[00:54:43] Speaker A: All right, your three Bruce Springsteen songs that you would recommend to a neophyte
[00:54:48] Speaker B: Springsteen fan, which you are not, by the way. And I'm probably going to see him, I think, think this next two months at the Modus center in Portland. So my last two were last summer in San Sebastian, Spain.
So. And I'm up. I'm up to about 50 some odd shows.
Everyone should be able to see Jungle Land.
I think Jungle Land to me is as good of a Springsteen song live because of the various paces and the length of the end of the energy that he plays it with.
One of my favorites all time is Trapped. I love Trapped.
And he'll play that. He actually played that in Spain.
Always glad to hear that. Doesn't play it as much anymore. But Rosalita is always a. A good get, you know. But there is no bad Springsteen song. There are some paces maybe that some may not like as others.
I'm kind of a hard line rock and roll guy.
So is Springsteen. Most of the time he'll take a little heat off his fastball here and there, but you can't go wrong. You can't go wrong with anything. And the blessing of Springsteen for me is that Sarah became a Springsteen fan in our relationship.
And we have four kids that are all Springsteen fans that have all seen Springsteen. Most of them have traveled to see Springsteen. And so they all have their own.
Their own favorites, you know. And you talk about the gift that keeps on giving.
If you're going to have a symphony or a soundtrack for your life, you can do a lot worse than have it be Bruce Springsteen.
[00:57:03] Speaker A: Jungle Land, Trapped in Rosalita. I cannot argue with that.
[00:57:07] Speaker B: Those.
[00:57:07] Speaker A: There's three. Three strong songs. That was going to be my next question. So you think you're over 50 times seeing him in concert?
[00:57:14] Speaker B: I do believe that is correct. I would have to go and, and count them, but I've got to be right there. 50, 49, 50, 51, 52, something like that.
[00:57:25] Speaker A: That is a solid, solid number. What's next for you during retirement?
[00:57:30] Speaker B: I'm going to, you know, I'm going to.
We. We've bought a home.
My wife works in Las Vegas. It. It's quite a story. She's the senior director of marketing at Allegiant Stadium, which is why she lives in Vegas, because the job was simply too good to pass up.
But in the inter. But. But before she got that, we had bought a house on the Oregon coast. And so as I walk out the door, I literally have ocean.
And it's.
And it's kind of the dream of a lifetime. But the dream comes with some. With some boxes that need to be checked. A garden in the back will be the first one redoing. The kitchen will be another one. Getting a bathroom in shape. It's a great little house, but it needs a little love. And so I'm going to be working on that.
I'll find time to play pickleball, which is kind of my competitive passion right now.
And so I'll do that when I can instruct a little bit if I'm needed to do so. But more than anything, just kind of enjoy it. And I'll spend a fair amount of time going back and forth between Oregon and Las Vegas. We've got a place. We'll have a place there as well and we'll travel. I'm going to, let's see, we're going to Japan next week. We'll be in Tokyo and Kyoto and Hiroshima for about seven or eight days and hope to have good weather. So, you know, I mean, I think the typical things that one does in retirement. But I was ready to pivot, Paul. I was 40 some years doing that and it was the right time for me to get out. If I go back to my discussion with my guys in the sports office in Denver, I always told them, I said, I'm glad it's you guys that are figuring this out as you forge ahead, because for me it's the perfect time to get out. And anytime that you can get out on your own terms, you consider yourself pretty fortunate.
[00:59:53] Speaker A: Bruce Hurdle is a Wichita State alum. Former Shocker baseball player, spent a big part of his career documenting a lot of a lot of highlights in Shocker athletics. Bruce, congratulations on your retirement and thanks very much for your time.
[01:00:07] Speaker B: Same to you, Paul, and to all of those out there listening. We appreciate it.
Great insight as always. Thanks for listening to the Roundhouse podcast courtesy of Wichita State University Strategic Communications. We encourage you to rate, review and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can always find more roundhouse
[email protected] down to a three two pitch with two men on. Two outs in the ninth.
The stretch by Tyler Green. Here it comes. Took him out. A no hitter for Tyler Green.
A strike three call on the outside corner and Tyler Green has pitched the fourth no hitter in Wichita State history, the second in as many years as he joins fellow classmate Charlie Jindrome as the author of A Wichita State no Hitter and in the process struck out a career high 13, including all three outs in the ninth inning.
Tyler Green completes a no hitter and Wichita State defeats New Mexico 12 to nothing.
