Bob Davis Named 2015 Kansas Sportscaster of the Year
SALISBURY, N.C. – University of Kansas football and men’s basketball broadcasting legend Bob Davis has been named the 2015 Kansas Sportscaster of the Year, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (NSSA) announced Monday. This is the 14th time Davis has received the honor.
Davis is one of 104 state honorees, one sportscaster and one sportswriter per state, who will be honored at the 57th Annual NSSA Awards Weekend, June 18-20, 2016, in Salisbury, North Carolina. Wichita Eagle reporter Bob Lutz is the Kansas sportswriter 2015 honoree.
On Nov. 24, 2015, Davis announced that he will retire from calling KU contests following the 2015-16 basketball season. Davis has called Kansas Jayhawk football and men’s basketball for more than three decades.
A member of the Kansas Association of Broadcasters (KAB), Fort Hays State Athletics and Topeka West High School Graduate Halls of Fame, Davis was first named Kansas Sportscaster of the Year in 1975 while working at KAYS in Hays, Kansas. Ten of the 14 times he has been the Kansas sportscaster honoree have come while he has been part of the Jayhawk Network.
In 1991 KAB presented him with its Hod Humiston Award for Contributions to Sports Broadcasting. The Kansas State High School Activities Association recognized him with the Oscar Stauffer Sports Broadcasting Award in 1975 and 1978 for his high school broadcasts. Davis has chaired KAB’s Sports Seminar has judged the Kansas Scholastic Press Association Sports Writing Competition. He has lectured numerous times at university broadcasting and journalism classes.
Davis began with the Jayhawk Radio Network in fall 1984 and has broadcast eight of the Jayhawks’ 14 NCAA Final Four appearances, including KU’s 1988 and 2008 national championships, and half of KU’s 12 football bowl games, including the Jayhawks’ victory in the 2008 Orange Bowl. He has also served for many years as host of the weekly radio show “Hawk Talk,” featuring the Jayhawk football and basketball coaches.
In his stint with Kansas, Davis has called more than 1,160 men’s basketball games between regular-season and exhibition contests. Prior to KU, Davis would occasionally fill in for Max Falkenstien and Tom Hedrick on the Jayhawk Radio Network. In the 1970s, Davis called many KU contests when working for KFEQ and KAYS radio stations calling every game of the Big Eight Holiday Tournament. With his 372 Kansas football games broadcasted, Davis has called more than 1,540 KU contests as the Voice of the Jayhawks.
Bob Davis’ Kansas Sportscaster of the Year Awards
Year – affiliate
1975 – KAYS (Hays, Kansas)
1979 – KAYS (Hays, Kansas)
1980 – KAYS (Hays, Kansas)
1981 – KAYS (Hays, Kansas)
1986 – KMZ (Lawrence, Kansas)
1994 – Jayhawk Network (co, with Mitch Holthus)
1995 – Jayhawk Network
1997 – Jayhawk Network
2000 – Jayhawk Network
2003 – Jayhawk Network (KMBZ)
2006 – Jayhawk Network
2008 – Jayhawk Network
2009 – Jayhawk Network
2015 – Jayhawk Network
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