Courtesy the Defiance Crescent News

(August 30, 2010) For the first time in four decades Larry Christy will not be up in a press box for the opening night of high school football this evening.

The likable 63-year-old has been forced to retire as sports director at WMTR in Archbold because of health issues and will no longer be doing radio broadcasts of area sporting events. Christy has been diagnosed with a rare kidney disease called Amyloidosis, which hits 2,000 people per year in the United States.

"It's been fun watching some of the great area teams," Christy related about his 40-year career calling high school athletics in the area.

The same can be said by listeners of Christy, who got his start on the air back in 1971.

"I was in college at Ohio State and Max Smith Sr. (then owner of what was WHFD at the time) called and asked if I'd work with him when Pettisville played in the state baseball tournament," Christy reflected. "I did the color and he did the play-by-play. In the finals we flip-flopped."

Christy graduated soon after with a business degree. A job at the radio station awaited.

"Mine was basically on-the-job training," Christy said of learning the ins and outs of working radio. "I always loved sports - I played football, basketball and baseball - and was fortunate to get a call and I went to work."

Two years later Christy invited Neil Spengler, known by most as Blue, to join him on broadcasts. The two have been working together ever since.

"Working with Blue has been so much fun," Christy said. "He's very knowledgeable and, like me, has a great love of high school sports. I'll miss being with him as much as anything."

Spengler, who was a teacher in Bryan for 31 years before retiring in 1993, will continue to broadcast with Randy Roberts, who has worked games when needed in recent years, taking over for Christy.

"He was always so well organized," Spengler said of Christy. "He had it down to a science. He was so easy to work with. He's absolutely been the frontrunner of high school sports. People like to listen to him."

Spengler estimates the two did 450 football and 1,200 basketball games together.

"We could be in The Guiness Book of Records for boring people to death," Spengler joked.

In reality, it could be for two people working together in the radio business the longest.

"When you'd go to work and enjoy it as much as we did it was just a pleasure," Spengler explained. "I always told him, 'don't tell my boss but I'd do this for nothing.' From the first game to the last nothing ever went wrong. It's going to be different without him."

There are certainly plenty of memories for Christy over the span of 40 years of broadcasting.

"It's been fun watching some of the great area teams," Christy said. "From the (Jay, Kirk and Dan) Lehman teams at Defiance to the Tim Reiser teams at Napoleon to the Wauseon and Archbold state championship and state runners-up teams ... I loved it all. And it wasn't just football and basketball. I enjoyed covering the other sports like baseball and softball and volleyball."

While sports had lots of changes during Christy's radio career, one thing remained the same.

"One constant to me was the great cooperation from the coaches in the area," Christy said. "They've all been great. Something I'm really going to miss is the interaction with the coaches in the area. So many have become good friends over the years.

"I've also had great cooperation from the other media outlets in the area like The Crescent and the Bryan Times. I even used some of the writers from The Crescent on my program when previewing the basketball and wrestling tournaments. And though we're in competition, I've always got along with Dave Kleck (WNDH) and Andy Brigle (WBNO)."

With people like Christy involved, the area has been a leader covering high school sports in Ohio.

"Northwest Ohio is as good as any area in the state when you're talking about radio and newspaper coverage of high school sports," Christy said proudly. "The interest in our area is as great, if not the best, as any in the state. We have small communities that just love their sports."

It's what made Christy's job so enjoyable.

It's also what makes leaving it so tough.

"I'm going to miss doing the broadcasts, there's no doubt about that, but I hope to be able to attend area games," said Christy, who will continue to do the Prognosticators radio show with Max Smith and John Fryman (now in its 18th year) as well as the Icky's Buckeye Breakfast Show with Bummer Dominique on Saturday mornings before Ohio State football games.

"I'm not going to necessarily miss the preparation work, but Friday night itself will certainly be missed."

Christy's voice on the air, knowledge of local sports and general love for high school athletics will be missed even more.

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