COLUMBIA, SC—Mike Kelly has done this 301 times now. Dating back to the start of the 1994 football season, Kelly has never missed a Missouri football game as the play-by-play voice on the Tiger Radio Network. Through three head coaches, dozens of assistants and generations of players, Kelly’s been in front of a microphone at opening kickoff every single time. But he’s never called a game quite like this one.
“That’s as wet as I’ve been in a booth in 25 years,” Kelly said.
Howard Richards is used to dealing with high-pressure situations and adapting on the fly. Richards played offensive line for seven seasons in the NFL with Dallas and Seattle. He then spent 13 years as a special agent with the Central Intelligence Agency. In his eighth year seated next to Kelly as the color commentator on the Mizzou football radio broadcasts, the Tigers’ 37-35 loss at South Carolina brought a new experience.
“The delays themselves, because of the weather, were just incredible,” Richards said. “I’ve never even been around a game where it’s been suspended because of lightning. I’ve played in games with heavy rains before, but nothing like Saturday.”
The goal of any broadcast is to come off as seamless to its listeners or viewers, regardless of what chaos may be happening behind the scenes.
“You can screw up. But you don’t want the fan to know that you do,” Richards said. “It’s the same way when I worked for the CIA. You can screw up. As long as the director doesn’t know, you’re all right.”
As torrential rain fell at Williams-Brice Stadium, the Tiger Network crew bustled around its booth in the northwest corner of the sixth floor of the press box. Engineer Matt Winegardner arranged and rearranged microphones trying to keep the equipment dry. Sideline reporter Chris Gervino abandoned his post on the field and called the second half from the booth with Kelly and Richards, only the second time he can remember doing so because of weather in his 27 years on the broadcast.
“I think what made this one so unique was it started out so blasted hot and humid and I was literally dripping with sweat just watching the game on the sideline,” Gervino said. “I do think that one kind of tops the previous ones.”
By the end of the third quarter, Kelly was left with almost none of his painstakingly prepared notes, all having been soaked through the window in the broadcast booth that alternated between open and shut at various times in the game.
Then the delays hit. With 2:41 left in the game, officials suspended play for 30 minutes due to lightning within eight miles of the stadium. The teams would come back on the field to warm up and get within three minutes of a restart before another delay hit. All told, play was suspended for 76 minutes. Kelly made the call to throw the broadcast back to Brad Tregnago and Kurtis Gregory in the Columbia-based studio during the delays.
“We can gather ourselves and throw it back to them,” he said in the booth. “That will give us a chance to regroup.”
By that time, the broadcast had already been on the air for nearly six hours. The game wasn’t over.
Each game day begins with a two-hour pre-game show (the local pre-game show hosted by Matt Michaels and Jeff Parles on KTGR in Columbia runs for an hour prior to that). The first hour is handled by Tregnago in the studio with various guests, including an interview with Richards about the game. Gervino takes the reins in the booth on site at the start of the second hour. He hosts a weekly segment with Strategic Communications Director Chad Moller and on this day chats with Director of Athletics Jim Sterk. He will be on air for 36 minutes before a pre-taped interview between Kelly and head coach Barry Odom gives everyone a final break to leave the booth before kickoff.
The work began much earlier. Winegardner and producer Scotty Cox got to the stadium at 6:30 Eastern time on Saturday morning, some five-and-a-half hours before kickoff. They ran all the cables and set up all the equipment necessary to broadcast the game. Kelly, Gervino and Richards ride the bus over with the team, leaving the hotel two hours before kickoff. After a quick pre-game meal, they settle in for the day, a large bag of Halls cough drops in front of Kelly’s seat.
Of course, by that point, they’ve been working on game prep for six days, much like Odom and his staff. Kelly hosts a weekly radio show on KMOX in St. Louis each Sunday morning. That evening, he spends a couple of hours getting the depth chart of the upcoming opponent loaded into his pre-designed Adobe template. He sends that information to the entire crew either Sunday or Monday of each week.
Everyone with an on-air role will scour newspapers and websites for updated information on the opposing team throughout the week. Richards usually does a couple of radio interviews with stations that cover the opponent. He also goes over game film with the keen eye of a former player.
“I’m watching them from a regular fan perspective, but also watching video that we’re provided, too, so that I can study and rewind plays,” Richards said. “I look at things and situational football, how our guys match up against their guys and try to look for player matchups, to see things we can spot leading up to the game, crucial areas where I think an advantage can be given, how we will match up against certain situations and certain players that Missouri’s facing this week.”
Kelly, Richards and Gervino all have full-time jobs outside of their Mizzou broadcasting duties. Kelly notes, “Not to brag, but I’ve got three different jobs.” So all of their prep work is fit in around already busy schedules.
The broadcast crew will fly to road games like this one with the team.
“Friday we got into Columbia, there’s a great little restaurant across the street from where we stay that Howard and I really like so we walked over for dinner,” Kelly said. “Had dinner, came back, I literally was in bed by 9 o’clock Eastern time.”
Kelly was in the hotel workout room at 5 a.m. Saturday. He lets everyone in the booth know he beat Richards there on this morning.
“Had breakfast at 6:30, used that time to read through the Post-Dispatch, look at the Kansas City Star, look at the Columbia Tribune, look at The State newspaper from South Carolina,” Kelly said. “Try to just see if there’s anything out there that I haven’t seen. I pretty much have a pretty good idea on numbers by the time we get somewhere. Then literally just pack up and ready to go.”
By this point in time, the broadcasters all have Missouri’s names and numbers mostly committed to memory. But each week brings a new set of 110 players from the opposing team.
“In the game notes, there’s a pronunciation guide for almost every team,” Richards said. “When (Alabama quarterback) Tua (Tagovailoa) first came on the scene, it’s like how do you pronounce this guy? Because phonetically it doesn’t look the same. On my game charts, if it doesn’t look right, I write it out phonetically so that when I look at it I’m going to read it like I’ve written it for me to speak it.
“I’ll pronounce a guy’s name maybe 25-30 times before we go on air.”
Coaches are fond of saying you win games in practice. You work and work throughout the week so that the games are the easy part. A broadcast is no different. Kelly, Richards and Gervino will arrive at the stadium with six days of prep behind them…and no idea what they’re going to see that day.
“Every play is an empty canvas. You’re trying to paint for them the picture of what’s taking place on the field of play. It’s not only formation, it’s direction, it’s personnel,” Kelly said. “You’re trying to paint on to that palette so those listening at home or driving across America have an idea what’s happening.”
“I am their eyes and ears. Mostly their eyes,” Richards adds. “I’ve got to paint the best picture of why a play was successful or unsuccessful.”
Kelly describes his role as point guard or as head waiter. He is in charge from the second the crew comes on the air.
“Keith Sampson from Learfield is the executive producer of all their broadcasts,” he said. “But on game day inside the booth, then I essentially become the executive producer on site.”
“I still defer to him,” Richards said. “Mike is the manager on game day by nature of not just his position, but the longevity, all the years. He runs the show.”
“I think it should be that way on radio,” Gervino said. “People aren’t watching the game, so the play-by-play guy is so important describing the action. He’s they old eyes and ears, so to speak.”
Kelly has worked regularly with just three partners on Mizzou football games in 25 years. First was former Mizzou tight end Kellen Winslow. Then former Tiger coach John Kadlec was in the booth for 16 seasons. Prior to the 2011 campaign, Richards was brought on to the broadcast. With each partner, it takes time to develop a chemistry so that the broadcast runs smoothly.
“The way to try and I think describe it for the reader is the play-by-play guy, his job is the who, what, when and where,” Kelly said. “The analyst’s job is just why. Just tell me why. Why it failed, why it succeeded.”
Prior to virtually every snap, Kelly will recite the down and distance, the spot of the ball, the formation and any personnel changes. He will describe the play and then leave an opening for Richards to jump in with an explanation of what went right or wrong. They will do this 150 times or more in each game.
“We talked a lot especially early on when I first started doing this,” Richards said. “Mike and I are friends away from the broadcast booth so I think it helps. You develop a level of trust.
“We talk about certain scenarios during commercial breaks, but we also do it a little bit during the summer as we lead up to the games. He’s completely open to it or he might say, maybe try it this way. Mike has learned from the best and been around the best. I defer to him from a broadcast, from a professional standpoint. He’s done it. He’s the guy that’s the most experienced and I think he kind of has a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t.”
“I have a pretty good idea of his pacing. I think it’s taken him a little bit longer to get used to my pacing,” Kelly said. “I will pause after a play is complete to give the analyst a chance to jump in. If he doesn’t jump in, then I go ahead and take it. It’s incumbent upon him to get out in enough time to at least allow me to describe formation. That’s part of just the give and take that an analyst has to have in mind as you’re going through that.”
Richards said it took him about half a season to get used to the give and take with Kelly. As time has gone on, he’s gotten more comfortable both with his partner and his own contribution to the broadcast.
“I could use all the football vernacular in the world and I’ll just confuse people,” Richards said. “I just have to explain it in the most basic layman’s terms possible. From the feedback I’ve gotten even as late as today they appreciate the job I do on the radio. That’s all I need to hear.”
They also need to work Gervino into the broadcast. Unlike most sideline reporters, Gervino’s microphone is always open and he has the ability to chime in on the broadcast at any time.
“If and when I want to jump in, I kind of just flip this switch on my mic,” he said. “We’ve really kind of got it to where I think it works pretty well.
“The timing’s not nearly always perfect, but you kind of get a feel for it.”
Team announcers have a little leeway. They tend to be a bit more partisan in many cases. But while Kelly’s “Ten…Five…House” might be a decibel higher if it’s a Tiger touchdown than a Gamecock score, or while Tucker McCann’s field goal may elicit a Richards fist pump just minutes before Parker White’s is met with a slump of the shoulders, both of them try to keep that out of their broadcast.
“Jack Buck, who I had the pleasure of working with at KMOX while he was still alive, before I ever did a game, used to teach that you can be descriptive and tell the audience whether it was a catchable football or a not catchable football, or whatever the situation may be, and still be very tactful in the manner in which you’re doing it. That’s kind of the approach I have,” Kelly said. “I think it’s a matter of accurately describing what’s taking place and then the fans can add to it any emotion that they want to.”
Richards played at Mizzou from 1977-80. He is now a full-time employee of the University as an Assistant Athletic Director for Community Relations in the St. Louis area. But he takes great pride in keeping those roles separate.
“I say the majority of listeners don’t know that I’m a University employee and don’t even care,” he said. “On Saturdays it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to be a homer. I just want to be a guy that’s describing the action and delivering it in a way that they want to hear it. To be as explicit about something and explain it to the best of my ability. That’s what I try to do week in and week out.”
Road games present a whole different set of challenges from the familiar confines of Faurot Field…even when they don’t include rainstorms of biblical proportions. First, the booth has two fewer people. At home games, Kelly has a spotter and a statistician. Like at most schools, to save money, those people do not travel to road games.
Kelly and Richards watch the entire game at South Carolina through binoculars. They get assistance from Cox, who will point to players on the roster in front of Kelly who made a play. They both have iPads with the official statistics feed in front of them. At most games, Kelly will carry a small portable monitor with which he will plug into the “clean feed,” meaning a feed with no graphics, from the television people. That was not possible at South Carolina due to the location of the radio booth. So Cox’s role became even more vital.
“There’s some delay sometimes just in terms of length of run because you’re waiting for it to be posted,” Kelly said. “I’m not smart enough to be able to call the play-by-play and calculate how long the run is if it’s over 15 yards at the same time. It’s a lot of moving parts all taking place throughout the course of four hours.”
Throughout all of this, Winegarden has to make sure all the equipment is functional and Cox is feeding Kelly countless cue cards with commercial reads and promotional information that the crew is contractually obligated to get on the air at some point in its five hours. Gervino, Kelly and Richards are the ones that are heard, but the operation directly includes eight to ten people every week.
“It really is an orchestration of a variety of different things,” Kelly said. “It all comes back to communication more than anything else and trying to make sure that you’re transparent with everybody that’s around."
The crew keeps in contact in group text messages throughout the week. They sit together on team flights and on the bus rides. They frequently go to dinner together on the road.
“I suppose we could still all do our jobs if none of us got along, as professionals,” Gervino said. “But I do think we get along quite a bit and we do spend a lot of time together.”
“It’s like a family more than anything,” Richards said. “I think the most effective way to do that is have that type of relationship with your co-workers. I learned that from Brad Sham, who’s the
Cowboys play by play announcer in his 40th year. He says you’ve got to have that team chemistry, whether you’re on the field, but in the broadcast booth it works the same way. Any of those guys could do anything to sabotage you if you don’t treat them respectfully or if you’re condescending in any sort of way. It just doesn’t work.”
On this day, despite all the hurdles, it works. Backup equipment is brought out so that Gervino can return to the sideline to interview Odom after the game ends. As the team conducts its post-game media obligations and the Columbia crew hosts a post-game show, Winegardner and Cox pack up all the equipment they set up about ten hours earlier and load it to be transported back to Columbia. They’ve got a flight to catch. Kelly will be up in about 12 hours working on Alabama. Football season is a grind for more than just players and coaches. But none of them would change it. Game day is still a thrill.
“That’s the best part of the job,” Gervino said. “You really do never know what’s going to happen and there really are a lot of surprises. That’s a lot of fun.”
“I love it. In a lot of ways I feel like I’m ready to play,” Richards said. “I walk down to the field even for just five or ten minutes. All the preparation I’ve done during the week just seems to come together right there. It’s as if I’m putting on a helmet and shoulder pads and getting ready to go play. You get a few goosebumps in preparation for that opening kickoff. It’s still fun to me and I would not trade it for anything right now.”
“You get excited before you even start,” Kelly said. “Heck yeah. If not, then why do it? Just stop.”
There is no stopping now. Another road trip awaits.
