Texas-La Tech game broadcast

[Mark Padgett]

Back in the early 70s when I was just a mere child (yeah, right), for two years I broadcast HS and a local college's basketball (and also HS football) games on the radio. This was in the Chicago suburbs. I did play-by-play and I worked with a color commentator who, supposedly, had played HS basketball. Even though I knew we weren't "perfect" in our rules knowledge, he sometimes said things that stymied even me. One of his favorites, which he used quite often, was saying that the HS and college officials got an OOB call wrong because the player actually was "forced out" and they should call that.

And yeah - he complained about not having the reaches and over-the-backs called, but pretty much a lot of people did that back then. Ya' know - they still do.

The best part? In the two years I called basketball, I never had an overtime game! It was a sign from the future.

OT - the station was WKKD in Aurora (still there but with different call letters) and I was the news & sports director. During the time I worked there, I got to interview some show biz dudes including Jerry Lewis and Bill Bixby. It was a cool job, especially when I filled in as a DJ.