[00:00:14] Speaker A: And they let him pass it up court and then it gets picked off a long three by Pangos.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: No good.
[00:00:18] Speaker A: One second. It's over. It is over. And Wichita State has beaten the number one team in the nation to go to the Sweet 16.
Go crazy Wichita.
[00:00:30] Speaker C: I know you are.
[00:00:32] Speaker D: Hello, welcome to a special edition of the Roundhouse Podcast with Paul Solentrop of Wichita State University Strategic Communication. Thank you for listening. That voice you heard, of course, was Mike Kennedy with the play by play call on the final seconds of Wichita State's 2013 NCAA tournament win over Gonzaga. That's one of thousands of memorable moments Kennedy brought to Shocker fans over his career. He became full time voice of the shockers in 1980. Today, he announced his retirement at the end of the 202526 school year as after he finishes his duties with basketball and baseball. Mike Kennedy grew up in Wichita as a fan of the Shockers. He graduated from Southeast High School and attended wichita State from 1966-71, where he got his start calling football and basketball games on kmuw.
His career also includes TV sports, which taught Arrows, minor league baseball, golf and much more. Kennedy has been on the microphone for WSU's College World Series trips, including the national title in 1989, all of basketball's highlights over the following past four plus decades, including the MTXE era of the 1980s, the 2006 Sweet 16, the 2013 Final Four and many more. He chronicled volleyball's rise to prominence under coach Chris Lamb. Mike graciously gave us a few minutes to discuss his decision to retire. Thank you for listening and here's Mike Kennedy.
[00:01:53] Speaker E: Congratulations on the decision.
[00:01:55] Speaker D: This will be a big one for Shocker fans to hear.
[00:01:58] Speaker E: Take us through the decision.
[00:01:59] Speaker D: Why retire at the end of the year?
[00:02:03] Speaker B: It's something that just a couple of years ago I didn't even really want to consider. Didn't think it's something I'd even think about. And then, I don't know. Through the course of last year, the thought started to enter my mind that it was something to think about and consider.
I guess the best way to describe it. I've had several friends who have retired who said, you'll just know sometime. It just comes to you. You just know it's time to do it. And that's kind of how it feels.
Know one thing in particular, if there's one thing at the top of the list that it was, one of the main considerations is, you know, doing what I do, all the games you do, travel and so forth. It Costs you some time with family. And I'm really looking forward to having more time to spend with my family. I've got two granddaughters that are Division 1 athletes that I'm looking forward to have a chance to go see more. So certainly that's part of it. But more than anything else, I guess it just seems like the right time.
[00:03:02] Speaker E: What kept you at it for so long? What did you enjoy about being the voice of the various Wichita State athletic teams?
[00:03:08] Speaker B: I've always loved what I do. I mean, I truly do. I look forward every morning to getting up and doing the preparation for upcoming games and so forth. I've just always loved sports and I've always loved doing this.
Since you asked that, you know, I've thought of this over time. If I could have done anything I wanted in the world, I would have been the center fielder for the Dodgers. My biggest hero when I was growing up was Duke Snyder. That would have been my first choice. But I came to the realization when I started doing this that what I do, I think is the next best thing to actually being a participant in the event. Because you're right there in the middle of it all. The sights and sounds are all around you. You feel the ebb and flow of emotions and drama and get to describe all that. So it's always been fun. That's really been what's kept me going.
[00:04:00] Speaker E: I think one of the great things about radio and being a radio voice is the connection with fans because quite often you are taking them to a place that they can't go on their own. I've sat next to you or by you on press row for many, many years now. And it's always interesting the number of fans who will come down and just want to, just want to say hello and they feel like maybe a member of the family is a little strong, but they feel something along those lines because you, you've been describing the shockers to them for so long. What have you enjoyed about that connection.
[00:04:31] Speaker D: With the listening audience?
[00:04:32] Speaker B: Well, it's very rewarding because that's ultimately tells you if you're doing a good job or not, if people want to listen.
And over the years, people have been very kind, very supportive. That's meant a lot.
And I have enjoyed getting to know people and that face to face contact. Come down and say, you don't know me, but I've listened to you for years. That means a lot.
I'll never forget the first time I was doing a baseball game at KU and a young man came up to the Press box afterward looked like certainly a college age student. And he said, hi, I'm going to school here, but I'm from Wichita and I've listened to you since I was a little kid. And that really hit home that I'd been doing it long enough that somebody that age would have been a little kid when started. And now it's several generations and that's, that's very meaningful to me.
[00:05:27] Speaker E: How has the job changed over the, over the years?
[00:05:31] Speaker B: I don't. Well, the, the one positive, I think, has been the proliferation of the Internet, both in terms of ability to acquire information and, and really not have to rely on other people to provide data and stats and whatever. And then going out on the Internet, the way we send it out now, it's a better quality signal. It reaches more people. Now, you know, we never were able to put together a big Wichita State statewide network and now Shocker fans, wherever they are, can listen. So that's, that's been a positive change. Other than that, as far as how you execute what you do, it's always been kind of the same over all the years.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: Bradshaw into Wingate. Wingate's going to dribble it a couple of times and throws it in the hands of Kuzner. Threw it away. Kuzner to Ryan Martin for the dunk. The Shockers are going to the Sweet sixteen.
It's all over. The Shocker's up seven, three seconds, two. Jeopard by Smith is no good. Wichita State to the sweet 16.
[00:06:31] Speaker E: Did you ever have a job offer anywhere else that enticed you a little bit?
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Had an offer to at least apply for a major league job and a couple of, you know, power four level schools made contact. But, you know, it just.
I was so entrenched here. I grew up here. I was a Shocker fan my whole life. And once I got into this and started to develop all the relationships and the history and so forth, it just wasn't something that I ever felt like leaving.
[00:07:01] Speaker E: You are part of a generation. You spent most of your career covering Missouri Valley Conference games.
[00:07:07] Speaker D: And there's a lot of longtime radio.
[00:07:08] Speaker E: Voices in that conference as well. Mike Reese at Southern Illinois, Dave Snell at Bradley, Art Haynes at Missouri State, and Dick Ludtke at Illinois State. What was special about being part of that group of longtime veteran announcers and doing radio during that, that career, that, that point.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: One of the things that makes this job fun is to develop those relationships. And you go into somewhere for a game or they come here for a game and you get together and kind of trade notes and what's your team doing? What's. What's happening with your team, that kind of thing. And, and then just getting together at conference tournaments and those types of things. And even coming into the American, where certainly it was all new, made a lot of great relationships and connections with the broadcasters in this league. So that's part of what has made the whole thing fun, is having a chance to connect with people with, like, interests and all that sort of thing and just be part of that fraternity.
[00:08:06] Speaker E: I guess I'm kind of doing this on the fly. Tell people a little about your early career because you graduated from Wichita State and then left Wichita for. For a brief period right before coming back. Update us on that.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: Well, first of all, I was a vocal music major at Wichita State, but had reached a point where, with all respect, and I have a lot for teachers, I just didn't think that's something that I wanted to do. And this broadcasting thing had been in the back of my mind forever.
And I had an instructor who was kind of a friend because I had gone to high school with his son. I'd known him for a while, and I was in his office one day and just said something about, you know, I don't really want to teach. And he said, what do you want to do? And I told him my idea and he said, the only way you're ever going to find out is to go try it. Which, of course, is most simple advice there is. But I went over to the campus radio station and back then there was an opportunity to do a lot on the air. They didn't have a real strong signal, so I did a lot of games, sportscast, all kinds of things for about a year and a half and then started sending out tapes. And I got a job in Chanute off a Wichita State football tape.
The owner of the station had been at a KAB meeting in Wichita and they'd all gone to the football game. And that was the plane crash here in the second season. And Don Gilley ran back a kickoff 104 yards for a touchdown. And that was on the tape. And he remembered the play, thought I described it well. So that got me my first job. I was there for about two years and then Pittsburgh for about two and a half.
And then the opportunity came to come back to Wichita. I was looking for a minor league baseball job, and I got a chance with the Wichita Arrows to work for them and do their games in 1976.
And then later that summer, cake, radio and TV came to me and said they had just acquired the rights to Wichita State. Would I be interested in going to work for them doing weekend tv, doing radio broadcasts when the games were televised. That's kind of how it started. And after four years of that, the stations were sold, things changed and I ended up being the full time voice in 1980.
[00:10:19] Speaker E: Do you have plans for all the rocking chairs you will receive on your farewell tour?
[00:10:23] Speaker B: Not really a rocking chair guy, but yeah, whatever will be very nice.
[00:10:28] Speaker E: What will you miss the most?
[00:10:31] Speaker B: It's still once you're sitting in that seat and the game gets started, it's fun, it's exciting and certainly I'll miss some of that and I'll miss the relationships, although I hope to certainly maintain a lot of those. It'll be different.
So that would be the main thing. The relationships over the years are what you find you really value and are really important. And so I hope to just take the opportunity to continue to see people and keep in touch and I think.
[00:10:58] Speaker E: We will get together at some point to maybe do a more in depth Mike Kennedy memories kind of a thing. Off the top of your head, favorite moments, what are you always going to remember?
[00:11:10] Speaker B: Well, pretty early on, the very first year we had the back to back games with Iowa and KU and the NCAA tournament, 1982, I got to describe a college World Series championship.
Certainly some of those early 80 teams with Carr and Levington and McDaniel and all those guys were, were special.
The 89 College World Series championship and then of course the Final four run in 2013.
But you know, with, with all of those obvious moments there, there were just games here and there that were really exciting, games that were just really fun to be part of that were almost as big and almost as important as some of the ones that were obviously more important in terms of what it meant nationally.
[00:11:55] Speaker E: You always seem to really enjoy the baseball trips, especially during the Missouri Valley Conference era. Get on a bus, there would be the legendary card games. I don't know if you played in those or not.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: I did.
[00:12:05] Speaker E: Gene and J.T. and Brent, the players. There was a lot of good camaraderie. What was it like being a part of shocker baseball during those, during those.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Times, you know, both doing that and then doing volleyball on the radio. When I first started, there were a lot of those bus trips in the Missouri Valley Conference and the best part of that was it was a bonding experience. I mean you really formed a lot of relationships. Casey Blake was my spades partner for a while and then Matt Patrick and, you know, I mean, all of those things lead to developing relationships that are there forever. And so that was, you know, and riding the bus wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world. But on the other hand, by the time you fly somewhere and make a couple of connections and wait around in airports, you're just as comfortable getting there on the bus. And so those are. Those are great memories. The bus trips are something that I'll always remember fondly.
[00:12:56] Speaker E: Commercial air travel would drive me out of the job. I totally get that. Picking up volleyball at somewhat late stage of your career, that would have been, what, 2005 when you started doing volleyball. That can't be an easy sport to broadcast.
What was it like picking up that sport? And I think you also enjoyed that immensely.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: First of all, Jim Schouse was the athletic director at the time. Ted Woodward had gone up to Lincoln the year before and broadcast their two matches in the NCAA tournament. Jim had asked if the radio station would do that, and Ted had done PA and kind of knew volleyball. And I was doing basketball. A week before the next season, I get a call asking if I would be interested in doing all of the volleyball matches.
After discussing it with my wife, adding another full season to my schedule, I said, okay. But I knew that I did not know volleyball like I knew the other sports that I was more familiar with. And I knew I would be able to appreciate a hustle play or really athletic play, but nothing about, you know, just strategy and fine points and that kind of stuff. And Chris Lamb's the best teacher to get you in shape for that kind of stuff you're ever going to have.
One of the things. Well, first of all, the first time I first found out I was going to do that, I walked into a practice to try to pick up as much as I could, and Darcy Voss walked over, shook my hand and said, hi, I'm Darcy. We're so glad you're going to be with us. And I thought, this is a first. In all my years of college athletics, this is a first.
And then Lambo said, as we were going to Houston for the first tournament of the year, now you're going to find that. He said, I've listened to you do hundreds of basketball games. He said, you're going to find you're not going to be able to describe every touch and every pass like you do in basketball. And I thought, arrogant me, we'll see. It took me about 30 seconds to realize that was true. So it was a big learning curve that first year. And Got some help from a couple of guys here and there that had done a lot of volleyball on the radio at other schools. As far as terminology, that shortened what you had to say. So. Yeah, but it was. It was fun being around a women's team that much was the first for me. And it was interesting for me that they were young women, but great athletes, competitive athletes. I mean, that kind of stuff was just like being with guys. The competitiveness and how hard they worked and their desire to be good, all of that just fell right into place. So, yeah, that's always been a big part of. Of the enjoyable part of what I've done here.
[00:15:36] Speaker E: And that volleyball team almost yearly is an enjoyable group to be around. I would have had a similar experience when I started covering volleyball with very little background, but they were very patient at explaining it and just did a. Did a nice job of helping you along.
Favorite gym to broadcast from. I really hope it's Robertson Field House in Peoria. But now I'm wondering, did you ever do a game from there?
[00:15:57] Speaker B: Oh, several.
[00:15:57] Speaker E: Okay, so several. They moved the Carver arena at some.
[00:16:00] Speaker D: Point in the 80s.
[00:16:01] Speaker E: I wasn't 82, 83.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: They moved.
[00:16:02] Speaker E: Okay, so you did some games at Robertson. Describe Robertson for the people who don't know.
[00:16:06] Speaker B: Well, it was originally built, I think, during or right after World War II, and they took a couple of World War II airplane hangars and put them together. And from the outside, you would have thought that the court ran what was the long way in the building, but instead it ran across. So it was short from one end to the other. There were just a few bleacher seats at the end of the court each way. The floor was an elevated floor. The team sat in chairs that were actually below the floor.
But it was loud. It was. It got so loud in there, and it was a great environment. It was a hard environment to work from. They put us usually next. Right next to the band. So you had the loud crowd, and you had the band right next to you, and it was deafening. But, yeah, just. It was a. It was a really fun place to do a game from. And, you know, over. Over the years, you kind of. I. I really enjoyed the opportunity. The first time we played at Madison Square garden back in 81, 82. That's just such an iconic place. And so there have been a few of those. But. But, yeah, Robertson would certainly be right up there with the best places I've been to.
[00:17:14] Speaker E: Yeah, quite a. Quite a place, definitely.
Is there a travel spot, vacations, or somewhere where you're going once you, once you retire.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: I haven't really planned anything yet.
I'm sure we'll sit down and kind of come up with a bucket list of places that we'd like to go because there, there are some places here in the United States that we certainly, that we would like to go. So yeah, that will be a fun part of the future.
[00:17:40] Speaker E: Advice to youngsters in the, in the radio or media business.
Oh, wow.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: Things have changed a lot. I mean, one thing I've noticed on, on tv, there's a certain style to it, a certain, a lot of use of slang and things like that. That's okay. I mean, it's whatever is popular at the time, what the audience wants. But I would say, you know, learn your sport, get as knowledgeable as you possibly can. I never played football at any organized level, so my first job in Chanute, I spent a lot of time with the coaching staff in film sessions and stuff, learning what they watched for and how they prepared and really learning the game at a different level than I knew it. I mean, I think anybody that really wants to be good has to have that kind of dedication to learning what it is they're doing in the background on the people that are involved if you really want to be good at it.
[00:18:31] Speaker E: Mike, thank you so much. I appreciate you giving me a few minutes on the day of this important announcement. We will get back together to dig more into some memories and some times with the Shockers. Thank you very much.
[00:18:44] Speaker B: Look forward to it. Thank you.
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].
[00:19:17] Speaker C: Down to a three two pitch with two men on. Two outs in the ninth.
The stretch by Tyler Green. Here it comes. Struck 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 joined 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.
