Larry Ward, former Linfield
Wildcats radio ‘voice,’ member of two halls of fames
Originally posted 5/11/2016. Updated 7/1/2016
Larry Ward, a former radio play-by-play “voice” of Linfield College
Wildcats football and men’s basketball is a two time Hall of Famer.
In 2005, he became a member of the Greater
Chattanooga
Sports
Hall
of Fame.
He was inducted into the Southern (professional baseball) League
in conjunction with the league’s 2016 all-star game in Pearl, Miss.
The induction of Ward – the first broadcaster in this “hall” -- took
place June 20, 2016, in the Jackson, Miss., Convention Complex during the “A Night with the Stars All-Star Gala” and at the game held in Pearl at Trustmark Park, home of the Class AA
Mississippi Braves of the Southern League.
Lori Webb, Southern League president, presided at the events and
Kyle Tait, “voice” of the M-Braves, made the presentation.
Long-time “voice” of the Class AA professional baseball Chattanooga,
Tenn., Lookouts, Ward, as Wildcats' broadcaster, teamed with color commentator Dave
Hansen, a member of the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame.
That was in 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977 on McMinnville radio
station KMCM, which is now KLYC.
From Maupin (Wasco Co.), Ore., Ward’s broadcasting career
started at KACI Radio, The Dalles.
In 1978, he was part-time play-by-play voice for the Portland
Beavers of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League.
His long broadcasting career has included stops in Arizona,
Florida and South Carolina. This (2016) is his 29th consecutive season calling
Lookouts baseball. He’s the longest tenured broadcaster in the Southern League.
First broadcasting experience for Ward, a 1965 graduate of Wasco
County Union High School in Maupin, Ore., was at KACI radio in The Dalles in
the summer of 1970.
His initial time on the air was doing sports for a morning show.
On weekends he was a disc jockey. During that summer he did live reports from
the Wasco County Fair from the fairgrounds in Tygh Valley. He also did some news reports.
His job included selling on the air advertising spots. Once he
left a business client in
the middle of an ad sales presentation to cover a house fire. He phoned in a
report on the fire to the radio station, went back to the client and made the
sale.
The
first radio play-by-play experience for Ward was broadcasting a Little League
game in The Dalles. “That was such a great experience I decided that would be
my radio career goal,” he said.
He
joined KODL radio in The Dalles. While there a letter from KMCM came to the
station that it had an opening for sports play-by-play broadcaster who would do
college and high school games and also sell advertising. He interviewed for the
job, was offered and accepted it and started in spring 1973.
When
he did play-by-play for The Dalles High School games his color commentator was
a grad of the high school. He wanted someone with Linfield connections to accompany
him covering the Wildcats.
Ward
said, “I believe it was Coach Ad Rutschman who put me in touch with Dave Hansen of
Linfield. We probably met over coffee or lunch. I asked and Dave didn’t take
long to agree to do it.
“Our first broadcast
was the first regular season football game* (Linfield at Portland State) of the
1973 season. (Linfield won, 19-3.) I think the broadcast started a little
bumpy, but it quickly became smooth and stayed that way all the years we worked
Linfield football and basketball together.”
Hansen said he was always comfortable and it
was always enjoyable as Ward’s broadcasting partner on KMCM. “He was very
professional, and gave me lots of room to run. Larry was a gentle teacher to a
neophyte, nicknamed me ‘the professor’ and was a great straight man for stuff I
did.”
During
his time at KMCM, in addition to covering Linfield and McMinnville High School
football, he sold enough advertising to also broadcast some Linfield, George
Fox and area high school basketball games.
“I
did basketball in the Charlie Sitton era at McMinnville High. We even did some
baseball. In my six years at KMCM we had a sports talk show, covered tennis,
track meets, motocross, horse shows and the St. Paul Rodeo. Several times I was
chosen to do football playoffs, basketball tournaments and baseball playoffs
for the OSAA. Also, I served as master of ceremonies at various events,” said
Ward.
He
left Oregon in the winter of 1979 after becoming play-by-play “voice” of the
Tucson Toros of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League.
*POSTSCRIPT
Linfield’s 1973
season started on Maxwell Field with a non-counting 21-0 Wildcat varsity
beating alumni game. The regular season began Sat., Sept. 22, with Linfield
winning 19-3 at Portland Civic Stadium over Portland State. A story about the
game says, “Linfield’s five-platoon punting system kept Portland State buried
in its own territory most of the evening as the Wildcats won an error-filled
contest … played during intermittent showers on slippery Tartan Turf.”
PHOTOS
--Larry
Ward (right) and Dave Hansen (left) broadcasting, for McMinnville’s KMCM-AM
radio, a Linfield men's home basketball game in Riley Gym. Photo appeared (or
was supposed to appear) in the 12/31/1975 McMinnville N-R/News-Register. Photo
by McMinnville News-Register's Tom Ballard courtesy of the N-R.
--Larry Ward in his Chattanooga
Lookouts radio broadcast booth. Photo appeared with story in 3/15/2016 The
Dalles, Ore., Chronicle. Link to story:
http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/2016/mar/15/swc-grad-gets-hall-fame-call
--Larry Ward at Southern League event during which he was
inducted into the league’s hall of fame (photo credit to Mississippi Braves
professional baseball team)
--Congratulations Larry Ward from the Chattanooga Lookouts
website. 
