Right now, there are five or six in the big leagues."Īs for Ward, he quit applying for Major League jobs over a decade ago. Some of those guys have gone on to bigger and better things. Mentored or tormented, whichever you want to call it. "In my tenure, I have helped a lot of younger guys. He and I are the two senior citizens, and I'm a lot more senior than he is," said Ward of his Double-A South colleagues. "They are all young guys, with the exception of Curt Bloom down in Birmingham. Ward has called games for multiple generations of fans while working with multiple generations of broadcasters. Those fans from 21 years ago have now grown up and they have children and they're creating a similar situation, but it's not quite as homey as it was at Engel Stadium." It was not an era of harassing players, it was an era of loving players. "They knew the players' batting averages, they knew what color car they drove. "It was always the kind of crowd, big or small, they were fans," Ward said of calling games at Engel Stadium. Players on the team during this time included at least one future Hall of Famer (Trevor Hoffman) and current Yankees manager Aaron Boone. The Lookouts played at Engel Stadium through 1999, where Ward and his colleagues called games from a precarious rooftop press box. Ward in a familiar location: The AT&T Field broadcast booth. Would I stay at least for the summertime? As it turns out, 32 years later we're still summertiming it in Chattanooga." He caught me at the right time in asking me to come back and take over for the guy they had to fire. I had been here in 1985, so did have some familiarity. "He ran into some trouble, had to fire his announcer. "Bill Lee was the general manager then," said Ward, clarifying that the Bill Lee in question was not former Red Sox pitcher "Spaceman" Bill Lee. He returned to Chattanooga for good in 1989, following a four-year stretch doing play-by-play for the Citadel Bulldogs in Charleston, South Carolina. This led to stints with the Jacksonville Suns, and in 1985, the Lookouts. From Portland he went to another PCL team, the Tucson Toros. He got his first break in the Minor Leagues with the Pacific Coast League's Portland Beavers, calling home games at Multnomah Stadium and broadcasting recreation games when the team went on the road. To learn."īut baseball was always Ward's first love, and therefore the sport he concentrated on the most. I did my teething on a lot of mundane stuff. "I brag about this and people look at me like I have three heads, but for the six years that I was there, I did the Fourth of July rodeo in St. "I got a full-time job in McMinnville, Oregon," he said. He didn't start his radio career until he was well into his 20s, beginning with high school baseball, football and basketball before going further afield. Upon graduating from community college, Ward initially went to work in the retail business. "I grew up on a ranch, herding cattle, baling hay, cutting wheat, picking up rocks, fixing fences. He's a native of eastern Oregon, a long way from Chattanooga both culturally and as the crow flies. – Volleyball vs.Ward, 74, didn't even begin his current tenure with the Lookouts until he was in his 40s. Volleyball's initial broadcast will be two days later, Friday, August 26, at 7 p.m., against Appalachian State which concludes the first day of the Zaxby's presents the VolleyBucs VolleyPalooza tournament.įootball's season opener the following week, September 3, against Western Carolina will be carried by the network.įor a complete list of games which will be broadcast on ESPN+, see the list below as well as continually check the schedule pages on for the latest including additional coverage.Īug. The first broadcast of the new season will be next Wednesday, August 24, when soccer plays host to South Carolina State at 3 p.m. Several other in-league clashes are lined up for broadcast. John's and College of Charleston during volleyball, Jacksonville and Wofford during soccer and Western Carolina and Furman during football. Fans will get a chance to catch the Bucs in non-conference action at their home facilities against the likes of St. This year's home fall slate includes 11 volleyball matches, five soccer games and all four football contests. More games will be available for road contests, including additional ESPN+ coverage as well as other networks. – With another fall sports season right around the corner, Charleston Southern athletics has announced 20 home sporting events across three sports for broadcast on ESPN+ as part of its arrangement with the Big South.
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