Today’s blog post was written by former CEO of IUAA, Ken Beckley, BS ’62. A short selection appears below, and the full story of the IU sports network, along with many more historical pieces about WTIU’s 50th anniversary in 2019, can be found here.

Indiana University owned and operated its own radio sports broadcasting network for sixteen years, 1957-73, a non-profit venture that provided on-air experience for student announcers and entertainment for listeners and fans throughout the state.

The university had previously been at the forefront of a significant moment in television sports broadcasting history. The world’s first regular season collegiate basketball game to be televised – IU vs. Valparaiso University – was December 6, 1951, in the Seventh Street fieldhouse on the Bloomington campus. WTTV (Bloomington) originated the telecast, with three alumni playing prominent roles – Paul Lennon, BS ’50, play-by-play; Bob Cook, BA ’35, color commentary; Bob Petranoff, BS ’48, broadcast director.

Ken’s article recounts amazing detail into how Richard D. Yoakam, Elmer G. Sulzer, and Phil Jones, BS’60, color commentator for Dick Enberg, MS’59, HSD’62, saw the beginnings of the IU Sports Network thanks in part to Claude Rich, BS’29, and the IUAA’s funding and support. The article goes on to mention another storied alumnus, Max Skirvin, AB’51, the longest-serving announcer on the network until IU sold the broadcasting rights.

As an IU senior, Max Skirvin did play-by-play of the 1950-51 IU football and basketball seasons for WTTS (Bloomington) radio. Following graduation, he was in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in England. In 1953, Skirvin returned to Bloomington and became an announcer and director at WTTV. Six years later, he moved to the IU Alumni Association as Alumni Club Director. One of his responsibilities—get radio stations in northern Indiana to carry the games on the IU Sports Network. To assist, Skirvin asked alumni clubs to bring pressure on them. “One of the challenges was that stations said they never knew who the announcers would be.” (18)

To solve that, Alumni Secretary Claude Rich asked Skirvin to become the lead announcer, in addition to his regular staff duties, thus ending the ten-year era of student play-by-play announcers. Skirvin’s first color commentator was Bill Cameron, still a student. “After that first year (1967-68), I had a different student sidekick for every game.” Skirvin served as the play-by-play announcer until 1973 when IU sold the broadcasting rights to Farm Bureau Insurance. Don Fischer took over play-by-play duties, with Skirvin serving alongside him through the NCAA basketball tournament in 1997. In total, Skirvin broadcast on the radio network for thirty years.

During his years of network service, Skirvin was on the IUAA staff for nineteen years, then moved to the IU Foundation, where he worked for seventeen years, retiring in 1994. However, he continued in service as a volunteer with the IUAA and “retired” again in 2006.

This retelling is just a glimpse into the full story. Read the rest of the history.