by Megan Parker '20

Any athlete knows that practice makes perfect, and for sports commentators, experience is equally important.

Steve Basford is a play-by-play commentator on the video streams for Ohio Wesleyan's football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball and softball games.  He has been working with OWU athletics since 2013, but began his career in 1975.

"I used to write letters to radio stations, and say, 'Hey, I love doing this, do you have any openings for me?' " Basford said.  "You'd be amazed with the success I had just reaching out."

Since then, he has spent years fine-tuning his skills as a commentator.  His process includes researching teams and players, arriving early at games to interview coaches and memorizing the players' jersey numbers and the coaches' comments.

"Besides it being real fun, I like trying to share what I see, because the camera doesn't catch everything," Basford said.  "I try to bring some light moments into the game, because yes, it's high intensity, and it's very important and serious to the team and the players, but I know as a fan I like to enjoy what the announcer is saying."

Basford has worked on play-by-plays for a variety of outlets, but he enjoys games at OWU because of the Division III aspect.

"I grew up on Division I, the big schools, but Division III, with no athletic scholarships, I read about how these really are student-athletes," Basford said.  "I get a kick out of the athletes, where their focus is more on their studies, and not on their sports.  And for 99.9 percent of them, they won't probably be playing sports after they graduate."

In his time announcing for OWU, Basford has one memory that he still finds exciting.  That memory, which he still remembers very vividly, is the women's basketball team's regular-season finale in 2014.

"The women's basketball team upset DePauw.  And DePauw came in with a 71-game regular-season winning streak, and the Bishops won by one point, with Taylor Dickson getting the winning basket, she was a freshman at the time.  It looked like DePauw was going to have the winning points with like two seconds left, but the officials waived the basket," Basford said. "The men played next, and that game came down to the wire, too."

Basford still enjoys doing play-by-play just as much now as he did when he started.  He says that every day is different, and that he is always learning new things and fine-tuning his approach.  However, he does have some advice for students who are interested in sportscasting.

"I think it would be fun to tell younger people who are interested in this, to go for it.  There's nothing holding you back if you want to be a broadcaster.  Start with a blog, or start with your high school team, ask your high school coaches what you can do to volunteer," said Basford.  "No, it doesn't get old."