Courtesy the Kansas City Star

(February 1, 2011) During his lunch breaks while working as a ball boy at Green Bay Packers training camps, Kevin Harlan would climb the stairs at ancient Lambeau Field, head to the press box and take a seat in the musty radio broadcast booth.

With an empty grass football field as his canvas, Harlan, then barely a teenager in the early 1970s, let his imagination run wild.

Using his fist as a microphone, and while screaming from the top of his lungs, he described make-believe games between the Packers and rival Minnesota Vikings.

“Scott Hunter rolls out to pass … MacArthur Lane crashes into the line, leaving defenders in his wake … Fran Tarkenton pinwheels his way out of trouble and threads a pass to Chuck Foreman …”

This Sunday evening, Harlan, a Kansas City-area resident, will ride an elevator to the immaculate press box in the $1 billion Cowboys Stadium and deliver the play-by-play of Super Bowl XLV for the radio broadcast heard coast to coast and around the world for Westwood One.

That it’s the Packers, for whom his father, Bob, served as a top executive for nearly 40 years, facing the Pittsburgh Steelers only adds to the moment for Harlan’s first radio call of a Super Bowl.

“When it looked like they were going to win the NFC championship game, with 37 seconds on the clock and they went into victory formation,” said Harlan, who handled the radio broadcast of the Packers’ victory over Chicago two weeks ago, “that’s when I’m thinking about my dad, and all the years he was there … his fingerprints are still very much on that organization.

“I do their preseason games on television, so I think it will really hit me on Sunday when I’m in that booth …”

But once the Super Bowl starts, Harlan, 50, will cut the family ties, for at least three hours. He’s had to forget previous associations during other broadcasts such as when CBS assigns him to his alma mater for Kansas basketball games (including last spring’s NCAA tournament loss to Northern Iowa) or to Chiefs games, for whom he patented his “Oh baby, what a play!” call during 1985-93.

“When I’m there doing the game, it’s ‘Can I come up with the right words when whoever it is makes a catch, so when that guy listening while driving down I-70, in his mind, he can picture what kind of catch it was, what kind of pass it was and where was it on the field,” Harlan said. “When (Chicago’s) Brian Urlacher made that interception, I got as excited about that as I got for the other things.

“Truly, I just want a good broadcast. I don’t know how many people care that I’ve got ties to the Packers. I will not be thinking about Green Bay or Pittsburgh. Whoever wins, wins.”

Harlan, who may be television’s most visible sportscaster through his work on NFL and NCAA basketball games on CBS and NBA games on TNT, drew the Super Bowl assignment as part of his role as radio play-by-play man for “Monday Night Football” games on Westwood One, a job he added to his busy schedule in 2010.

“When they approached me about the job last year, I wasn’t even thinking Super Bowl; I was thinking ‘Monday Night Football,’ ” said Harlan, who has worked five Final Fours and NFL playoff games for Westwood One and had filled in on some Monday night games for Marv Albert last year.

“I was thinking, ‘I’m finally doing a national, big-time sports radio broadcast.’ That’s what I always dreamt of doing as a kid and never even thought about television. Monday night football was Jack Buck … people told me this was probably the best radio play-by-play job in the business, and I think to a degree, it probably still is.

“A lot of guys don’t get that chance, because the guys who are the lead (voices) stay there forever.”

Actually, this will be Harlan’s second Super Bowl. In 2000, CBS supplemented its network telecast with an HD broadcast for the close to 500,000 high-definition sets then in use, and he called the play-by-play of Baltimore’s win over the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV.

“I enjoyed that one,” Harlan said, “but this is such a huge deal. It goes to 600-plus stations … and 170 stations all over the world will carry the broadcast, plus it will go to military personnel (on The American Forces Radio Network) in some of the most remote corners of the world.”

• • •

Considering all the time he spends in airplanes, it’s not surprising that Harlan wanted to be an airline pilot. But mathematics and engineering were not for him, so he followed his father’s suggestion of pursuing broadcasting.

Those imaginary games in the Lambeau Field press box led to calling games for his high school radio station in Green Bay and then games for small-town commercial stations in northeastern Wisconsin.

Harlan, on the recommendation of Gary Bender, a University of Kansas alum and later Packers radio announcer and network television broadcaster, visited KU and sat next to Tom Hedrick as he called a Kansas-Colorado basketball game.

Hedrick, a former Chiefs announcer and network broadcaster who called Super Bowls I, II and IV as well as Jayhawks games for 16 years before becoming a longtime journalism professor at Kansas, told Harlan he would find as much work for him as possible on the student station, as a sideline reporter for KU games, and other jobs around Lawrence, Topeka and Kansas City.

“Everything he promised came true,” Harlan said. “I did that for four years, it led to an internship with WIBW in Topeka, led to KCMO in Kansas City doing the Chiefs (pregame and postgame shows), and I don’t know if I got paid one cent for any of it.”

The sweat equity paid off.

“There are three guys I’ve heard in my lifetime here who I knew had ‘it,” said Hedrick, who now teaches sportscasting at Baker University. “Bill Kurtis, he is the voice you hear on A&E; Gary Bender; and Kevin.

“What always impressed me about Kevin was on the weekends instead of drinking beer or chasing girls, he was working. He was a guy I knew from the get-go would make it. He was dedicated, he had the voice, he had the work ethic and the fire in the eye you need to make it.”

• • •

In broadcasting, you’ve got to be lucky as well as good. Upon Harlan’s graduation from Kansas, the radio play-by-play job of the NBA’s Kansas City Kings opened, and at 22, he was hired for that job. When the Kings left for Sacramento in 1985, the Chiefs’ radio job opened, and instead of moving with the Kings, Harlan switched to pro football.

He also spent one year calling Kansas football and basketball and three seasons working University of Missouri football and basketball. Radio was his passion, and Harlan envisioned establishing himself with one university for life, like a Cawood Ledford at Kentucky or John Ward at Tennessee.

But as former Kansas City Comets executives Tim Leiweke and Tim Bryant were driving to Minneapolis where they were to start up the expansion NBA Minnesota Timberwolves, they listened to Harlan’s radio call of a Missouri-Texas basketball game in the 1989 NCAA Tournament.

They were looking for a radio and television voice for the Timberwolves, and as luck would have it, Missouri advanced to the Sweet 16 in Minneapolis, where Harlan met with Leiweke and was offered the job as the radio and television voice of the new NBA team. Harlan called Bob Costas, a former radio play-by-play man turned television superstar, for advice.

“He said, ‘You’ve got to do television; television is where this business is going,’ ” Harlan said. “I took the job because Costas suggested I do TV. I did 25 Timberwolves games on TV, NBC saw me, I filled in for Marv Albert on a national NBA game, that led to ESPN for a Big Ten football package, that led to the NFL.”

It was during those nine years of calling the forlorn Timberwolves, as he tried to keep his audiences interested in blowouts, when Harlan began building the arsenal of catch phrases and one-liners that have distinguished his career.

“With no regard for human life!” … “Right between the eyes …” … “He’s an assassin …” “That’s a dagger …”

Now, Harlan has the best of both worlds. He calls NFL games on radio where he meticulously describes the passer or runner, the tackler, spots the ball, gives the down and distance and describes the color of the sky and the uniforms. And he calls NBA, NFL and NCAA games on television, where he makes sure to point out things viewers cannot see — extra receivers or defensive backs or the key block on a play.

“I believe he is better on radio than on television, and I don’t mean he’s not good on television, but radio is an art, and not everyone can do radio,” said Howard Deneroff, executive producer for Westwood One. “Kevin came up through the ranks of radio, but there are few people who can go back and forth the way he does and not have an issue with it. If you listen closely, some of the words he uses, and adjectives and descriptions, like ‘corkscrew’ … it is completely different than anybody else you’ll hear.”

Harlan’s enthusiasm, passion and preparation for his work continue to amaze former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason, his partner on Westwood One. Before every broadcast Harlan and Esiason go over the pronunciation of every name of every player on both teams.

“To have the enthusiasm that Kevin has for every sport he does … “ Esiason said. “I like to think it might be a little bit more for ‘Monday Night Football,’ but when I listen to him do a basketball game, it’s the same guy.”

• • •

The question is how much longer can Harlan keep up this pace?

A few weeks ago, Harlan worked the Patriots-Jets AFC playoff game in New England on Sunday and an NBA game on Monday in Boston; spent 36 hours at home in Kansas City before leaving for an NBA game on Thursday in Chicago; stopped in Kansas City on Friday for breakfast with his wife, Ann, and two high school age children still living at home and flew to Los Angeles for a UCLA-Stanford basketball game on Saturday; caught a late flight out of Los Angeles to Chicago for the NFC championship game and arrived home on Sunday night.

Three days later, it was off to Portland for an NBA game on Thursday night for TNT and to Starkville, Miss., for a Florida-Mississippi State basketball game Saturday afternoon for CBS.

“The whole goal is to get home on Sunday night from the NFL game, be in my own house, wake up and have breakfast with the kids and Ann, and after they’ve gone to school and her day has started, re-pack, go back to the airport and catch a 10 a.m. flight for the Monday night game,” said Harlan, who makes sure he’s home on Fridays to watch his daughter cheerlead or his son participate in sports before taking off for weekend assignments.

Harlan frequently has taken Ann and their children — Abigail, 22, Haley, 20, Olivia, 17, and Robert, 14 — to big events such as NBA All-Star Weekend — and proudly displays pictures in his rec room of the kids posing with the likes of Paul Pierce and actor Jack Nicholson.

“The thing I’m most happy about him is how he’s balanced his life,” Hedrick said. “In our business, it’s hard. He’s done such a great job with his family. He’s such a family guy.”

The whole Harlan clan will be converging on Dallas this week, though Kevin will have to make a side trip to Los Angeles for Thursday night’s NBA game on TNT before returning for the Super Bowl.

“I feel like I’m in the prime,” Harlan said. “I talk to people and they say, do it for as long as you can.”

Harlan’s noted catch phrases

• “Oh, baby, what a play!”

• “With no regard for human life!”

• “Right between the eyes.”

• “He’s an assassin.”

• “That’s a dagger.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

MIssouri Net
http://www.missourinet.com/2011/01/31/kadlec-calls-it-quits-on-mizzou-broadcasts/

KADLEC RETIRING FROM MU FOOTBALL
(February 1, 2011) It began as a favor to a friend, and was supposed to last for just one game, then one season. But the radio career of John Kadlec spanned 16 seasons in all in the Tiger Radio Network booth, until today, as the man known affectionately as “Mr. Mizzou” has decided to hang up the headsets and microphone.

Kadlec, who has been associated with Mizzou Athletics for the majority of the last 60-plus years, will no longer call Tiger Football games alongside The Voice of the Tigers Mike Kelly, but he’ll still remain a vital member of Mizzou Athletics in his other role as Special Assistant to the Athletic Director.

His career as a broadcaster was never supposed to be. Just two days prior to the 1995 football season opener against North Texas, the color commentator spot for MU broadcasts came open unexpectedly. Kadlec was asked by then-MU Athletic Director Joe Castiglione to fill the spot for the first game as a favor.

“Joe asked me if I’d do it, and I didn’t really want to,” Kadlec remembered. “So I told him I’d think about it, figuring he’d maybe move on to somebody else. But sure enough, an hour later he came back to ask me what I thought. I could tell he wasn’t going to take no for an answer, so I said I’d do it for one game to help out a friend,” Kadlec said.

Kadlec, who said he’d never envisioned being part of the broadcasting industry, fully expected his stint to last the prescribed one game, and that he was planning on helping Castiglione find the permanent solution for the spot. Those plans didn’t last long, however.

“After that game, Joe came up and said, ‘Say, I’ve got the guy who will do it,’ and I said ‘Good, who?’ He says, ‘It’s you,’” Kadlec recalled. “On Monday I went into his office and said I’d do it for one year, and here we are 16 seasons into it,” he said.

Kadlec said that enjoyed his time in the booth.

“Oh, I had a lot of fun doing the games,” he said. “For a guy with no background in it, things sure worked out well. I always tried to be well-prepared and I certainly feel like I know football, so I think I added something to the broadcast. I know I really enjoyed working with Mike Kelly and Chris Gervino and all the people behind the scenes who helped out so much, that’s for sure,” he said.

Kelly said that he’ll miss having the coach around in the booth going forward.

“It has been an absolute joy and pleasure to spend the last 16 seasons working with John Kadlec,” Kelly said. “I can’t imagine any other student-athlete that’s ever attended the University of Missouri who has been more passionately committed to his University and his athletic department and the football program than Coach Kadlec. The passion and the love that he has for the institution is so evident any time that you’re around him. He’s taught me so much about football, but more importantly he’s been such a great friend, and I’m going to miss having him with,” he said.

Kelly recounted a couple of special moments that stood out in the booth – a Tiger win at Colorado in 1997 which guaranteed MU’s first bowl game since 1983, and Mizzou’s dominating win over Arkansas in the 2008 Cotton Bowl to cap one of the best seasons in school history.

“After the game on both of those occasions, I looked over and saw a tear in the eye of John Kadlec because he was so proud of his football program. That just epitomizes to me what Mizzou means to him,” Kelly said.

Kadlec said he was actually prepared to retire following Mizzou’s 2009 season, but after a conversation with MU Director of Athletics Mike Alden, where Alden asked him to reconsider staying on for another year, Kadlec acquiesced.

“I really appreciated Mike saying that, his support has been just outstanding,” Kadlec said. “I said ‘okay’ and am glad I did, but now that I gave it one more year, it just gave me even more assurance that I’m doing the right thing. I just think it’s time. Plus, I like the idea of there being a fresh start with the new Big 12 Conference, and we’ll have a new era in the booth,” he said.

“We’re certainly sad to see Coach Kadlec step away from the microphone, but we’re excited that he’s still going to be a big part of our team overall,” said Director of Athletics Mike Alden. “He’s so important to Mizzou Athletics, I can’t go anywhere in our state without someone asking about him. I think his genuine love for Mizzou really helped him connect with our fans over the years, and his great knowledge of football helped give him a unique perspective that will be missed on the broadcasts,” Alden said.

Kadlec said he has a lot of people to thank for his 16-year run.

“There’s too many people to list, but of course I want to thank Joe Castiglione for getting me into it, or maybe I should blame him maybe,” he joked. “Certainly Mike Alden has been so supportive and that’s meant a lot to me, as has the support I’ve gotten over the years with our coaching staffs of Gary Pinkel and Larry Smith. I also really enjoyed working for Jeff Shoultz of Mizzou Sports Properties and Laird Veatch (formerly of MSP), as well as Learfield Communications and Clyde Lear, I’ve always thought it was a great outfit to work for,” he said.

Kadlec has been a Mizzou icon for well over a half century. He first came to Mizzou from his native St. Louis, Mo. to play football for Hall of Fame Coach Don Faurot in 1947. After earning his degree from MU, he stayed on as a graduate assistant coach for Faurot, and he coached the freshman team until 1954 when he moved up to varsity, where he served through 1959. After a stint at Kansas State from 1960-66, Kadlec returned to Mizzou to serve on the staffs of Dan Devine and Al Onofrio, coaching from 1966-77 on the Tiger sideline.

After his coaching days ended, Kadlec returned to Kansas State as Director of Development, before returning to Mizzou in 1986 as Director of the Tiger Scholarship Fund, and he’s been a fixture in Columbia ever since in numerous roles most closely associated with fundraising. He was a 1996 inductee into the MU Athletics Hall of Fame, and in 2005, the grass practice fields behind the Mizzou Athletic Training Complex were named in his honor.

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