Courtesy Sioux City Journal

(February 23, 2010) Caller Georgia Sheeley couldn't hide her gloom Monday. Normally one of the most upbeat people I know, Sheeley had bad news. KUOO's legendary broadcaster Joey Elbert, she said, died early Monday morning from liver and colon cancer.

I don't throw the term "legendary" around casually. If you mentioned the name "Joey" in Dickinson County, people knew who you were talking about. He was a fixture on the Iowa Great Lakes business and sports scene, rising at 4:30 a.m. daily to assemble sports reports at KUOO/Q102 Radio. His days often ended after 10 p.m. as he drove home to Spirit Lake from a high school game he broadcast.

I sat with Joey a few autumns ago as he called an eight-man football game featuring Harris-Lake Park and Aurelia. Kim Ingwersen, a Lake Park cake baker whose son played for the Wolves, showed her appreciation for Joey's work by giving him a cake before the game. She handed it through the opening in the crow's nest. Joey thanked her on-air.

My erudite colleagues in the news business frown on such personal favors taking place before an "objective" broadcast. They miss the point. Joey, 49, wasn't "objective" in that sense. He loved the kids playing, he loved their coaches, he loved being a part of the action through his ability to describe what took place on the field and court.

His trademark "SPLASH" call of a made three-pointer, to me, had dual meaning. His presence at high school events and his genuine care for area players, coaches and fans made a "SPLASH" in thousands of lives the past 30 years. In Iowa's Great Lakes, Joey was the big fish in a small ocean.

The late Harry Caray often said the only thing separating him and a Chicago Cubs fan was a microphone. Harry had one, the fans didn't. That's what drew people to Harry; he loved what he was doing and you could tell. He was a lot like the fans.

Likewise for Joey. He was hooked after KICD Radio in Spencer, Iowa, flew him to his first state basketball tournament in the early 1980s. He called three games that day. All three went into overtime.

Last April, folks at KUOO/Q102 Radio staged a fund-raiser for Joey as he came home from Sioux Falls after chemotherapy. He'd been diagnosed just 17 days prior. The fund-raiser netted nearly $60,000 in 12 hours.

A caravan featuring 14 fire trucks and a line of vehicles stretching one mile met Elbert and wife Jamie at Vick's Corner on Highway 9 the evening he came home from Sioux Falls. Their children Alyssa and Casey rode in the first fire truck that evening. The caravan surpassed the typical rides state tournament champs enjoy on their return home.

Elbert received a media award the following day at the boys' state basketball tournament in Des Moines.

Sadly, he didn't broadcast another basketball game. Joey's final call of an athletic contest came Oct. 23, 2009, when he did a Spirit Lake football game. He and Jamie devoted the next few months to their battle against his cancer, seeking treatment at sites across the U.S. and into Mexico, where Joey died Monday at BioCare Hospital in Tijuana.

Jamie sent a note Monday that circulated quickly throughout Northwest Iowa. She thanked everyone for helping Joey fight.

"He loved each and every one of you," she wrote.

Overstatement? No way. Joey Elbert's love of his listeners and the public was legendary.

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