10 Minutes with Joel Utley
From the Messenger-Inquirer:
Give me 10 Minutes: Joel Utley
By Jim Pickens
Thursday, March 11, 2010
The dean of college basketball broadcasters in the commonwealth, Joel Utley, 70, is in his 49th season as play-by-play announcer for the Kentucky Wesleyan College men’s basketball team. In a career that started in 1961, Utley has called many of the Panthers’ greatest moments on the hardwood — including all eight of the program’s NCAA Division II national championships. All told, Utley has broadcast 1,416 Kentucky Wesleyan basketball games.
The native of Madisonville is a 1957 graduate of Madisonville High School. He attended both Murray State and the University of Kentucky, before embarking on a career in broadcasting. He graduated from KWC in 1974 with a degree in speech and drama. Aside from his broadcasting duties, Utley is retired. He and wife Shirley reside in Owensboro.
Q: Considering you’ve been behind the microphone for a half-century, the natural first question is what got you interested in radio?
A: When I was growing up, I never wanted to do anything else. Radio appealed to me from a very young age. I found it fascinating and magical that you could look at a box and see stories come to life in your mind while the radio played. I listened with great interest to UK basketball, St. Louis Cardinals baseball with Harry Caray. Pretty soon, I found myself playing baseball board games by myself and describing the action like a real broadcaster would — and I was hooked.
Q: What brought you to Owensboro and led you to broadcasting KWC games?
A: I had been working in Lexington at WVLK, and a guy I worked with up there took a job in Owensboro at WVJS and broadcast Wesleyan games. He didn’t stay long, the job came open, I applied, and I got the job as news director. I came to Owensboro in July 1961, and I broadcast my first Wesleyan game on Dec. 1, 1961.
Q: WOMI also covered Wesleyan at the time?
A: Yes, but we were the only ones to cover Wesleyan full time, at home and on the road. WOMI did home games and selected road games, but their first commitment was to UK basketball. That was the way it played out until about the mid-’70s, when we became the exclusive station for KWC basketball.
Q: What has made broadcasting Wesleyan games through the years so personally rewarding to you?
A: I absolutely love doing what I do. Wesleyan is a relatively small Division II school, and that has afforded me the opportunity to build great relationships with the players, coaches, administrators and fans through the years. You get to know these people so well, they become like family. I’ve traveled with them, really gotten to know them as people. It’s not about the money by any means. I do it for the love of it.
Q: What sticks out in your mind after nearly a half-century of association with KWC basketball?
A: Well, I consider myself the most blessed sportscaster in the nation — ever. No one could equal the experiences of eight NCAA championships. My goodness, what memories. One thing that really sticks out for me is that Wesleyan competed in six consecutive national championship games (1998-2003), winning two in that span. That’s just an extraordinary accomplishment for any college basketball program, and I feel very fortunate to have been a part of that.
Q: Has being associated with young people for so long kept your spirit young?
A: I would say that’s true. You know, trends change, and I don’t exactly identify with the music played before games at the Sportscenter these days, but that’s OK. Being around young people provides me a tremendous perspective on what’s going on in the world today. It’s given me energy and kept my spirit about life pretty youthful. My experience with KWC has changed my perspective about age. I’ve discovered that your age is a state of mind more than a number.
Q: Any thoughts about retiring from broadcasting?
A: None. I’ve never worked a game when I didn’t want to be there. I always want to be there. I feel very blessed in that way. Very honestly, I can’t imagine doing anything else.
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