Courtesy Farmington Daily Times

(January 19, 2009) For fans of the Aztec Tigers and Farmington Scorpions in the mid-1960s through most of the 1970s, the voice of Chuck Ashcraft on the San Juan County airwaves was a calming presence, bringing the thrill of high school football, basketball and baseball into the homes and cars of die-hard fans throughout northwest New Mexico.

Then, he left the Four Corners, moving to Weatherford, Okla., where he became the radio voice of the Bulldogs of Southwestern Oklahoma State University, a position he held for 31 years until he went into "semi-retirement" in June 2008.

After giving so much to athletics at the high school and collegiate levels over the past 44 years, Ashcraft will be honored Jan. 31 by SWOSU, as the school is set to induct him into its Athletic Hall of Fame.

Ashcraft, perhaps better known to listeners by his on-air name, "Chuck Edwards," also was the voice of the Connie Mack World Series from 1969 to 1976. If it was sports you were looking for back then, it likely was Ashcraft who was going to bring it to you.

Ashcraft began his career in 1965 at KHAP in Aztec, providing the play-by-play for Tigers football and basketball. It was in Aztec that he met his wife, the former Charlene Walker, a 1961 AHS graduate.

The couple then moved to Farmington, where their son, John, was born in 1967. Chuck took a job at KENN, where he served as news director for nine years and was the play-by-play voice of the hometown Scorpions for football, basketball and baseball games.

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Chuck and Charlene's daughter, Charla, was born in Farmington in 1970, and the family moved to Oklahoma in 1977.

After that, "Chuck Edwards" became the constant companion of SWOSU sports fans listening on KWEY, where he still works part-time.

According to a press release from SWOSU, Ashcraft was considered the most-prepared member of the media at each game he covered. Colleagues used to remark that they had to make sure to be on their game, because "Chuck was always on his." Over the years at SWOSU, Ashcraft provided fans with detailed descriptions of over 3,600 sporting events, including football, baseball, basketball, softball and rodeo.

Ashcraft, a native Oklahoman, received the Lone Star Conference Broadcaster of the Year award in 2003, and was inducted into the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in March 2008.

Buzzer Beaters

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Also of note is Kevin Costner's 54th birthday. The link to sports? Field of Dreams, of course. If you build it, they will come.