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John Walters Says Pete Taylor Was the Only 'Voice of the Cyclones,' But He's Thrilled to Have the Opportunity of a Lifetime |
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RON MALY Vol 3, No. 42, A humble John Walters told me today that "nobody can really take Pete Taylor’s place." But Walters, the 40-year-old sports director at WOI-TV, plans to do the best he can as he takes over as Iowa State’s new play-by-play radio announcer for football and men’s basketball. Walters said he has "the opportunity of a lifetime," but he realizes he’s stepping into some huge shoes. "In my opinion, I don’t think there ever will be another voice of the Cyclones other than Pete Taylor," Walters said on a cell phone as he drove to Ames late this afternoon." "And I’m not going to try to imitate him. It would be a disservice to try to sound like him." Taylor, who spent 33 years as Iowa State’s play-by-play announcer, died late in the 2002-2003 basketball season at 57. Walters was driving to Ames on the first leg of a trip that would take him to Sioux City later in the day for a Cyclone Club outing."I’ll be flying to Sioux City with football coach Dan McCarney and women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly," he said. Walters said he was "really grateful to Iowa State athletic director Bruce Van De Velde and to the people at Clear Channel Communications for this opportunity (to be the play-by-play announcer). "I understand what a tremendous opportunity it is and how important it was to find the right person. I can’t thank them enough for giving me the chance." Walters said Taylor, who was the sports director for 22 years at Channel 8 in Des Moines, "had the greatest influence on my career of anyone I’ve ever been around. He was like a second father to me—and I mean that sincerely. "Pete hired me as a part-timer in 1982 when I was in my junior year at Drake. Basically, everything I’ve learned in this business I learned from him. "That’s what makes this so bittersweet. I know it’s the greatest opportunity I’ll ever have in my career, but I would trade it in 2 seconds to bring back Pete, even for a day. That’s the way I feel." Walters will retain his job at WOI, and said officials at the station "have been very patient and understanding" while he waited to get what he called a "dream job."Walters will also do the coaches’ shows, and said he’s looking forward to working with Eric Heft, who is the commentator on the football and basketball broadcasts. "I’ve known Eric for 20 years," Walters said. "He’s a good friend and I have a tremendous amount of respect for his work." Walters has had plenty of radio play-by-play work. He did Drake women’s games for four seasons, then did Bulldog men’s games for seven years. He’s paid his dues. Walters is a good guy and he’ll do a good job for Iowa State. Iowa-Arizona State on TV at Night Morning games. Afternoon games. A night game.You name it, Iowa’s football team will have it in the 2003 football season. Look for every one of the Hawkeyes’ games to be televised by some sort of network as they try to match or better the 11-victory season of 2002. Included in the TV schedule is a game against Arizona State at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City that will be played at either 5:30 or 6:45 p.m. and be televised by either ESPN or ESPN2. The networks have a 12-day window before the game to make the decision on the time and the network. Either way, that obviously will be a game that requires portable lights from Musco Lighting, an Iowa-based company, to be brought in. Other games already scheduled for TV include Miami of Ohio at Ohio at 11 a.m. Aug. 30 on ESPN2; Buffalo at Iowa at 11:10 a.m. Sept. 6 on ESPN-Plus (statewide coverage); Iowa at Iowa State at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 13 on Fox Sports Net-Chicago; Michigan at Iowa at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 4 on ABC, and Iowa at Ohio State at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 18 on ABC. [Ron Maly’s e-mail address is malyr@juno.com ]
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