Tracking the Cats
Wide ranging discussion of Western Carolina University athletics hosted by long time alumni and supporters, Bob Sabin & Steve White.
Tracking the Cats
Episode 3 - Gary Ayers
Welcome to Trackin the Cats, the podcast about all things athletics for Western Carolina University Catamounts. Um, this episode is featuring an interview with the voice of the Catamounts, Gary Ayres. Today is Friday, August 16th, and this was recorded a couple weeks ago. We've had some audio issues that I've been working out. It's ready to go. But, uh, sadly, in the meantime, Gary suffered a heart attack this past weekend and is in the hospital in Asheville. He's recovering. Well, uh, we wish him the best sending prayers his way and we're hopeful that we will hear him back on the air as voice of the catamounts this fall at some point for football and certainly basketball this winter. That being said, our next podcast should come out in the next week or so. It's an interview with Kerwin Bell that will be recorded on August 20th. I believe it is, and we're looking forward to getting some time in with coach Bell, the football coach at Western Carolina. In the meantime, um, All of our episodes are sponsored by Stanbury insurance on main street in Silva for all your insurance needs It's Stanbury insurance and now to the episode of tracking the cats with Gary Ayres and my co host Steve White
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Good afternoon and welcome to Tracking the Cats.
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:This is our third episode we are excited to get started. I'm Bob Saban, joined by Steve White, who most of y'all know, and we are joined today by Gary Ayres, none other than the voice of the catamounts. We are excited to talk to him because he's got opinions, he's got, uh, history, and some great stories. So, um, let's go ahead and kick it off with some of the 1st questions that you've got, Steve.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:Well, I'll tell you one thing. It's been an experience over all these years working with Gary since, I guess, what, 1985? going, uh, Going back quite a few years. That just seems, seems seems like yesterday. Only, what, uh, 35? 35 seasons, maybe. Football, and basketball.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Yeah. Yeah. And Steve, actually, you and I started before that. As you introduced me to Coach Watters. Years ago, I used to bring up my little cassette recorder and record a coach's show with the legendary Bob Watters. And that, that was, uh, that was great. And kind of, kind of got me started.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:And of course, Gary was just
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Yeah.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:natural for us, uh, to be our play by play man. Uh, first of all, we've gone through, a couple of guys that left after a couple of years and took other jobs. Uh, Gary was local. Uh, We didn't think he was going anywhere. Uh, stay close to us. a native of, uh, over in Swain County. And so that was uh, that was a big factor, I think, in one of our decisions. to hire him as our playboy guy for football and basketball. And uh, I think Uh, it was a great decision and everything's gone great since then. Now we've we've had some interesting moments down the down the road, uh, some of our road trips. I'm not sure if we were going to make it back or not. but we might talk about that a the NC state game or that Thursday night game, the last Thursday in this month. uh, Talking about football, Gary, what, uh, what is maybe the most exciting Western game that you have broadcast that you can recall? Yeah.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Oh boy. Uh, probably two Appalachian State games. Steve, I think you and I actually did those games. One of those was in 1998 when Brad Hoover, I think, ran for, uh, almost 200 yards. I think he carried the ball like 45 times, about 195 yards. And we, uh, had a convincing 23 to six win of our Appalachian state. And then. Only six years later in 2004, you know, we didn't have a great team that year. We were two and five in the Southern conference, but we still beat Appalachian State and a real upset 30 to 27 with Coach Kent Briggs. And, uh, those two I think are probably the two most exciting football games. And, and they both were wins over Appalachian State.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:remember at the end of that game, you're talking about with coach Briggs, when they took the goalpost down just a little too early and we got a 15 yard penalty, which put them in the field goal range. Fortunately, they missed the field goal. And Fred Cantler kept his job
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Yeah, that was a crazy ending. He was in charge of the goal post. Yeah, that was a crazy ending, and uh, it was uh, fun to see those goal posts come down, but maybe you're right, yeah? Just a little bit too early that, uh, it got crazy at the end, but a great win.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:Yeah. And, uh, speaking to that, you talk about great games you've broadcast. Uh, you know, again, in your opinion, who is the, maybe the favorite player? football player, WCU baseball, a football player that you have, uh, watched in your broadcast? that you've sort of, uh, always looked at him as, hey, this guy was special.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Wow. That's a, that's a big question, Steve. I know, uh, as you mentioned, I was, uh, uh, from Swain County and got to see some of the guys play their, uh, football from the time they were little kids. So I'm a little prejudiced with probably a couple of guys like Charles Stevenson, who I think was the first guy who started as a true freshman, played every game. People like Zach Weeks was, uh, uh, fun to watch, but then When you watched Brad Hoover, Brad Hoover was an outstanding talent. It, uh, uh, goes without saying, I think Kirk Roach might've been, uh, in his position, maybe the most outstanding player I've watched, uh, over so many years, but then great friends like, uh, uh, Todd Harkins. And, uh, I still, uh, touch base with Eddie McGill and, uh, You know, I didn't get to see Eddie, but he was really, really great, uh, uh, Eddie West was, uh, was a great character. Robbie Brown was a, uh, was a crazy character. So some of those guys, but if you had to narrow it down, you know, people like Willie Perkins, uh, but Kirk Roach, his talent was, uh, was outstanding along with Brad Hoover. As far as just great talent, those two guys were outstanding.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:And that thing about it, you said characters, uh, their talent. No doubt about their talent, the numbers, but, but they were all you're right. You're talking about characters and really, uh, did a wonderful job of, uh, promoting Western Carolina University and are still close to the program. Those guys you're talking about. So, yeah, Yeah, they, they are special. No doubt of every one of those guys you spoke off.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Yeah, yeah, they, they really, I think, brought out a lot of catamounts of, uh, history and, and they keep coming back. You see, you see Todd Harkins there, uh, a lot, uh, uh, Kirk Roach is back on a consistent basis and it's good to see guys like that keep coming back and, and, uh, staying connected with the program.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:Moving on to basketball, uh, who maybe is your favorite basketball player that you've ever broadcast? uh, or Something that they've done or just, uh, being a consistent, uh, character.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:You know, uh, you have to You know, you go back, of course, uh, uh, with, with the goat and, uh, uh, you know, you can't, uh, uh, get, get greater than the goat, uh, but, uh, uh, uh, uh, but, uh, but guys that I got to broadcast, of course, after, uh, the glory days of, of, uh, Henry Logan talking about the goat. Kevin Martin was an outstanding player. He was, and he has come back to Western Carolina. We, we always get to chat with him. We had that special day with Kevin Martin and, and, uh, uh, and I consider him a friend. He's been great to work with, but then you've had great players like Frankie King, uh, Vontarious Wilbright this past year was, uh, One of the best players ever. He had, he had so much talent. But then, uh, really good people like Gaston Seal. I didn't get to watch Gaston, but he keeps coming back. People like Joey Bryson, Anquil McCullum. Q was one of the all time, uh, I think, uh, leaders on that, on that great 96 team. Gene McConnell, people that keep coming back. Uh, but then I, I think about Jake Robinson, Casey Rogers, Terry Boyd, uh, Myron Lewis, for example. Brigham Wagons here was One of our great defensive players, uh, Nicholas Robinson only played a brief time, but he was such a good guy. Mason Faulkner, Anno Steger, uh, and I think And, you know, from my personal perspective, I get a little closer to the basketball players because they're out there on the floor warming up before the game and you have a chance to chat with them a little bit. Unlike football, you know, we're up in the press box and they're, you know, down on the field. But basketball players are right there and, uh, you can chat, give them a fist bump and talk a little bit before the game. And I think there's a closeness in basketball.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:Any, any game that just sort of jumps out at you going back all these 30 some 30 plus years any game that jumps out it just bring you you think about every once in a while when you're broadcasting.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:oh no no doubt it's the 96 uh ncaa game in albuquerque new mexico steve i know you were there uh craig wells was there uh doug made some of our old friends of course uh that has to be at the top of the list when we had a chance to become the first 16 seed to be the number one seed but then a couple of games in the southern conference tournament really you really stand out to me. Uh, of course, when we won down in, uh, Greensboro, uh, when we won that year and went on to the NCAAs, that was a special win over Davidson. Uh, you know, then we had two more games. And they always seem to involve Davidson, uh, in 2012, we lost a heartbreaker and double overtime to Davidson by two points, 93 to 91. I'll never forget that game. Uh, Keaton Cole, uh, Tawaski King, Haruna Mutombo, uh, Trey Sumler just played, just played. played as hard as I've ever seen anybody play. And then we came back two years later. And even though we lost that heartbreaker, we got a little revenge. We beat Davidson in overtime in that Southern Conference tournament and 99 97 by two points. And, and I think that was one of Larry Hunter's greatest wins. And I think that was one of our greatest games because I think that was Davidson's last round on the Southern Conference. And, uh, but wow. So, you know, it's hard to. Pick one or two games when you've done so many over over 34 35 years But those are games that that really stand out and I know what Steve you were there at all those and and Bob it's those were games that you just never forget never
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:Another thing here, you talk about those interviews talking to players and the games and so forth Anybody that, Do you say is maybe a favorite coach or a favorite player interview? Anybody that was always special to talk to and, and, uh, Again, uh, so very interesting.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Oh, yeah. You know, I had a couple of great interviews, uh, one with Kirk Roach just a year or two ago. He came up to the press box at halftime and of course, uh, uh, Kirk Roach is all world. He's just, not only was he a great kicker, but a great person who keeps giving back to Ketamat football. And then I had a couple of great interviews with, This is Gino Seegers, one of those in the locker room at Western Carolina. A quick little, quick little, story. We had played the Citadel the week before, and back then I'd go in the locker room the next week and interview players for pregame for the following week. And Gino told a funny story. I said, Gino, you know, that was a tough game, you know, and he says, yeah. Yeah, but you know what was really strange? He says, you know, I was trying to reach over it and grab the offensive lineman playing across from me and my hands kept slipping off my hands. I thought the guy. Had a cold or something and he had all this all this all this uh, Stuff from a cold on his jersey and he said I thought he was sick or something And we we found out steve as you know going back The citadel had put vaseline all over their jerseys And you know seekers thought it was from this player and that was a funny interview and Then he came back years later and did another interview. Gino was a great character, Kirk Roach right there at the top of the list. But one of my favorite all time coaches, believe it or not, was Jim Valvano of North Carolina State. He was just, I don't think he ever met a microphone he didn't like. I did three different interviews with him. One at the O. Reynolds Coliseum, our first basketball broadcast. Then he was on at one of the football games at halftime in the NC State press box. And then he interviewed again, When NC State came up and, and uh, opened up the Ramsey Center before that packed house. And Valvano was just so colorful and so much fun to talk to. And, uh, of course, you know, we've had great interviews with coaches over the years of, uh, going back to Steve Cottrell, very colorful interviews with Coach Cottrell, uh, Larry Hunter, uh, so, so many, so many great coaches. Bob Waters, it goes without saying, was, was always a true gentleman and I always look forward to talking to him because he had so much, uh, knowledge about football. Uh, but, uh, those are some of the great ones, Valvano and Gino and, and Kirk were, uh, uh, they were outstanding. Was there anybody who ever surprised you with what they said, uh, during an interview? You just kind of jumped back and said, I, Don't believe that. I just heard that. Wow. That's a good question, Bob. Uh, you know, uh, uh, I, I, think, uh, uh, Larry Hunter was sometimes, uh, uh, wore his, uh, feelings on his sleeves. The great legendary basketball coach, uh, uh, uh, Phil Hopkins sometimes would come out for a post game interview and literally he'd be, he'd be, he'd be crying and he would just say, Oh, our guys played so hard. And that emotion was just draining out of Phil Hopkins. Um, But looking back over, over, over funny stuff, I think the Gino Seeger's interview about, uh, when he thought it was, uh, basically phlegm and stuff from this guy with a cold all over his jersey. And instead the Citadel had, had literally on purpose, put Vaseline all over their jerseys and, and they got penalized by the Southern Conference, by the way, that was, uh, uh, quite a fiasco, but that's one of the funniest things when Gino, uh, Talked about the guy he thought had a cold and a runny nose.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:And Gary, uh, talking about coaches and interviews, uh, we had a coach at one time that a lot of times you didn't know if he was going to come out and he never came out was Benny Dees. He would send an assistant out.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Oh yeah, and would send coach Phil Hopkins out. Benny D's a lot of times would take off after a game and head back down to his home down in Georgia. And, uh, a lot of times he would send, uh, Phil Hopkins out and, uh, and Phil was always good. Uh, he was so emotional after a game, especially if we lost and, and, uh, uh, but some of the coaches were, uh, I know Steve Sherina, uh, we had some frustrating years and a couple of times, uh, uh, he came out after a game and, uh, he, he would get mad and he would sit down and he, he would say some colorful, uh, I can't use uh, on this broadcast and then all of a sudden he would kind of stop and say, we're not on, are we? And luckily we were not because he was trying to get that. He was trying to get that frustration out of a system after a loss. So it was, it was, uh, I always tried to make sure we didn't have a live microphone when, when frustrated coaches would do a post game show. I would imagine there were one or two. There were probably some colorful or uh. Some words that came out of Coach Wagner's mouth occasionally. Yeah, I think Coach Wagner had some frustrating days, uh, uh, no question about it, uh, uh, after, after the game, he, he was very frustrated. We did have a win over Eastern Kentucky though, uh, I'll never forget, uh, when we went up there and beat them and, and, Uh, Uh, Coach Wagner thanked, uh, uh, bless his heart. He, he thanked everybody into the sun. He thanked the Catamount Club, the Catamount fans. He thanked God. He thanked the radio crew and the players. Everybody in the world you can think of after that win at, uh, Eastern Kentucky. He needed one. He needed that win. That's what he was thinking everybody. He really did. We were, we were struggling and that was a good win over a good team. So, yeah.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:Gary, think about this. Uh, any idea? if you kept any kind of chart on how many miles you've driven over the past 40 years, covering the catamounts, uh, uh, you, you have any idea? Cause I know it's a
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:uh, you.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:lot of those trips with you.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:you. Yeah. Yeah. You know, Steve, I actually went back, uh, football only and, uh, here's, here's the exact number. I went back through every game. Uh, all the way back to 1985 when I first started, and the total is 115, 811 miles, and that's only 3, 000 miles. For football. So I think I can safely say if you add in all the basketball, uh, it would be, uh, uh, well over a quarter of a million miles that we have driven that that doesn't even count the bus trips that we've taken and the airplane trips on the, uh, long trips. Now, I even broke it down here. Here are the, uh, Uh, the teams that we have traveled to the most. Uh, first is the Citadel in football. That's 11, 400 miles just to Charleston in football. Uh, second was VMI. Of course, that's a long road trip as well. We've traveled to VMI, a total of 8, 320 miles over the years. Third, believe it or not, even though they're not in the conference anymore, Georgia Southern. Uh, because we traveled 6, 600 miles, uh, in 12 games to Georgia Southern, fourth was Chattanooga and fifth was Samford. Now in non conference play, interestingly enough, we're going to travel down there again in, uh, our opening game with NC State. We have played NC State already seven times for 4, 480 miles and number two for non conference road miles. Alabama and Steve, we've been on some of those long early road trips to Alabama five times. That's 3, 600 miles to uh, Alabama and back. So those, those are the mileage leaders, but again, 115, 000 miles in foot mile only.
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:I'll bet that you think the uh, mileage back from Alabama is
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:is
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:lot longer than the mileage down.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:the mileage down. Bob, you're, you're exactly right. And, uh, Steve and I think, uh, one of the last trips we made down there, maybe not the last one, but the, uh, uh, one before that, uh, I think, uh, Steve and I left, we parked our cars over, but over, uh, uh, in Dillsboro over there. And, uh, we left, I think at four o'clock in the morning, literally, because we had an 11 AM kickoff. It was one of those early games, Steve. You remember we left way before daylight, did the game, and drove all the way back for a very long day.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:uh, that was, that was a couple of days. It seemed like, yeah, Gary, Gary, uh, talk about, you know, some interesting, yeah, some interesting stories about a road trips or press box experiences. If you've had some interesting things that have happened to us, once we get on site.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Well, one of those goes back to to about jim valvano Uh and steve you were there along with coach steve contral we got there early. Of course. This was my first Catamount basketball broadcast we were playing in the old reynolds coliseum And I was really determined To get a, some kind of interview with Coach Valvano so I could tape it and play it on the pre game show. So I was just kind of looking around and looking around and nobody was really in the arena. And I was circling back around and there was a door that said, in big letters, absolutely, no media, no fans. And so I kind of hung around there and uh, uh, and I asked one of the workers, I said, you know, where, Where to coach Jim Valvano when the players come into Reynolds Coliseum, and he said well It's, uh, you go through that door and down the stairs and they come in the back of the arena right there, but he said, you can't go through there. So I said, yeah, okay. Okay. Well, he went on his way and I just hung out there for a couple of minutes. And when he left, I went through that door down those steps and I hid Kind of in the stairwell so nobody would know I was there and and it seriously in a few minutes Some of the players started coming in i'd stick my head out. No, that's not coach. I'd stick my hat out No in a few minutes here comes jim valvano So I jumped out from behind the stairwell and I scared coach valvano because he didn't know me from You know, Adam's house cat, so to speak. And so he kind of jumped and I say, coach, yeah, it's okay. I was just hoping I could get a few minutes with you and do a pregame interview for my radio from Western Carolina. And he laughed. He said, man, that's, he said, that's the neatest approach I've ever seen. Nobody's ever used that approach to get an interview with me. So that was one of the funny stories. And, and, uh, Uh, you know, we've had some, uh, uh, funny trips. I know Steve can tell this better than I can. On the way to Citadel, we kind of, we kind of, I was driving and, and forgot to watch out for highway patrolmen and, and uh, so we had an interesting, uh, meeting with a highway patrolman down in South Carolina.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:Gary, uh, You know, it's never been known. Yeah, he uh, does not like to um, you know, observe the speed limit. uh, just to be, And I don't know how many speeding tickets he's gotten over years and how many he we've gotten out of just by talking to But that particular day, you remember this one? We started on a Friday morning and, and, uh, Callaway me, you, Mike Kaywood. drove to Alabama to do the, uh, Alabama, uh, Western Carolina basketball game Friday night. On Auburn, all Alabama weekend. Had to walk through the rain to the arena because there was no parking because of all the tailgaters. Left after the game headed toward, we're going to try to get to Atlanta, uh, on our way to doing the Citadel football game on Saturday at noon, could not find a motel, three o'clock in the morning. We get to Augusta, find a date. I don't remember what it was, But anyway, that we walk in at three o'clock in the morning and the guy says, Uh, we just want a room for about three hours, we've got to leave here by six because The guy says, this is not that kind of hotel. We don't, We don't rent rooms by the hour. But anyway, we survived that, we're going, we get through, uh, Columbia. we're going, to Charleston. We're right around Somerville, and we pass this highway patrolman and I look at the speedometer and Gary's doing 85. And I said, Gary, did you not see that highway patrolman? He says, where he pulls us over. We talk our way out of this. We got a 12 a 12 PM kickoff. We got to get to the game. The guy laughs at us and he says, Take a look at my car guys. That's the color of South Carolina Highway patrol. don't I Don't, know if the next guy's not going to be nearly as nice. We do that game, go back to Columbia and spend the night in Columbia and do Western Carolina, South Carolina basketball game on Sunday afternoon. Finally get back home after midnight on Sunday. That's, that was not a typical road trip, but that's the type of things that Gary's been involved in.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:involved in. We've had some crazy long road trips. I remember another one. We were playing Campbell down in Fayetteville. And now Steve, of course, has military background. And on the way back, Steve said, I know a shortcut through Fort Bragg. And so we took the tour that night of the Fort Bragg military base. Again, it was pouring the rain that night too, Steve.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:they almost, They almost, uh, recruited us and took us to the Middle East.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Yeah, I think we finally got home the next morning. Uh, we didn't even go to bed. We just, uh, uh, literally took a shower and went on into work, uh, the next morning. So, you know, we've had some long, long road trips. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those are some of the great memories, though.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:Bob, you uh, you got something you want to ask Gary
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:So Gary, yeah, you had a little story about Stan that you wanted to share. Stan Pam Phyllis, your former co host.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:Oh, my goodness.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Uh, Stan, uh,
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:Ha,
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:is so much fun. Some of these I probably, uh, can't, uh, can't share on the broadcast, but, uh, he was the, uh, play by play man the first year that I started with the network and I basically, uh, uh, set everything up and was the color guy for Stan and, and, uh, uh, he had some Uh, uh, colorful ways of describing things. I remember our first game down at Davidson, uh, was literally, uh, so hot that one of the officials actually had to be taken off, uh, by the EMTs and the ambulance people because he passed out from heat exhaustion. And, uh, uh, I remember Stan had some, uh, colorful ways to describe, uh, How the officials, uh, uh, kept the balls dry that cracked everybody up in the press box. I won't go into details, but Stan had colorful ways of doing things and Stan was so good to work with that, uh, first year when I was just the young guy. And, uh, uh, he really was a lot of fun on the road trips as well. We, we shared. A lot of, a lot of great games. And, and Stan is a, is a true pro.
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:Well, It's funny because, because, um, in 1979 1981, I worked for a short stint in the production room WLOS tv. And I was a weekend teleprompter and Chiron Guy And one Saturday night we were working during NASCAR season uh, the anchor throws it out to Stan. and says, Hey, what's coming up in sports, Stan? Stan Misreads the teleprompter and says, burning their rubbers in Bristol tonight.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Oh my goodness.
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:We were still laughing when we came back from the commercial break.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Well, that, that kind of goes along with the story at Davidson when he described how the officials were wiping, uh, sweat off the ball. So, uh. And everybody in the Davidson press box just cracked up and I, I, was laughing so hard I had to go to a commercial break. I couldn't, I couldn't talk.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:Gary, we've been to some interesting places over the years. Any, Any, place, maybe The best and worst place you've had to broadcast from, uh, and I know we've had to be creative sometimes to get on the air because of some of these facilities. Some are great, some are not so great.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Oh, I'll tell you, uh, uh, one of the toughest, uh, in the football press boxes and we were just up there, uh, last year is Eastern Kentucky University because they have no elevator up to that press box that, uh, I think is, uh, four or five stories above the field. And so we have to walk up these windy stairwells. to get up to the press box, which is also very tiny, uh, to work in and you're, you're carrying all your equipment up through these stairwells and up these steps. And it's, uh, that, that's, that's one of the toughest press boxes, uh, uh, that I can remember over the years. uh, we've been in some great press boxes like, uh, Uh, I remember, uh, for example, Florida State, uh, and I think this was in 85 and uh, that particular night when we were playing Florida State, Burt Reynolds, who was still a big deal back then in the movie scene, came around and introduced himself to all the guys in the press box because Burt was up there. He was good friends with Gene Deckerhoff, the, uh, uh, Florida State radio guy, and to, uh, To meet Burt Reynolds, uh, when he was in his heyday was, was a special time at Florida State. Uh, of course, uh, playing at Alabama, uh, you know, uh, Tennessee's press box was so high, you had to have binoculars. I think it's seven stories. Texas A& M, I think, was seven stories, and they tell you when you go up there, Press box literally moves a little bit because when the 12th man at Texas A& M really gets going and that and that press box moves a little bit It's a little scary because you're seven stories above and there's a lot of concrete. So those one year down at Mercer they were having issues and they stuck us up kind of in a crow's nest that was Not a great place to broadcast from. So yeah, we've had some good and bad spots to broadcast from over the years. Uh, to say the least,
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:So I got a question on Virginia tech. That opening with enter Sandman is incredible. I was there. I'm the hair on my arms. stood up. That was so cool. Did you guys feel it in the press box?
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Yeah, that's a, that's a magical press box without a doubt, Bob. And, uh, and interestingly enough, we were there playing football at Virginia Tech shortly after they had had, uh, uh, the shootings on campus. And I don't think I have ever seen, uh, Uh, the security as tight as it was at Virginia Tech, there were guys all over the place carrying automatic weapons. As a matter of fact, their, uh, uh, their launching point, their headquarters for the security was the booth right next to our radio booth. And they were in there and, and everywhere you look, there were security. They went through every piece of equipment that we brought into the stadium that day. Uh, Phenomenal atmosphere, but man, the security was, uh, unbelievable.
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:You're right, Bob. That, that pregame show with the whitey tighties and, uh, that is just special. It's, uh, nothing like it, I don't think, in, uh, in college football. It really is quite an atmosphere.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Yeah. And now Bob, as you a know, and now an old oun is, uh, uh, running things up there, the head coach, uh, uh, for football. So, uh, we, we've got some connections there at, uh, vtech And I flew up there from Atlanta,'cause I live in Atlanta and Mark Spear's brother was flying the plane to, I think it was Roanoke. And he was planning on attending the game the next day. He was chief pilot for Delta at the time. Wow, that, that just adds to the, to the fun. Yeah, absolutely. absolutely. Now, we'll say this, when we played at Virginia Tech in football, interestingly enough, we literally parked, I think it was a cow pasture, about a half a mile from the press box, so it was literally out on this field. So we were all laughing about it that we parked
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:was a cow pasture because I had some, I had some cow patties on my feet. Now my shoes.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:But beautiful, beautiful campus.
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:Let's step
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:It
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:from the past and move to the present and I'd like to get your thoughts on Football and where we are right now for the upcoming season And we can wrap up this episode with these. Uh A few final thoughts and Steve, you may have a couple of questions
squadcaster-ajg1_1_07-30-2024_130237:Gary, What do you? What do you think about the open practice yesterday and I look at the schedule and I see these four in a non conference games before we start our conference schedule and my idea is if we go two and two in those non conference games, we got us a good shot at a, of a special season this year. And I know there's a lot of things that have got to happen and so forth, but they've picked us third in the league.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:know, I think Kerwin Bell has really brought back, uh, uh, The hopes of getting into the playoffs in the Southern Conference Especially with the offense that he has run for the past several years Of course, of course, his son Cade is now up at Pittsburgh and good luck to him I know what he'll do a great job up there, but I think with Cole Gonzalez I think if he stays healthy, we're gonna have a solid year as Steve said though our Our schedule is brutal. Uh, we're opening up with NC State. Then we have three other quality teams after that. We've got Campbell, Elon, Montana. Uh, those are really good teams. Uh, I think Elon is, uh, uh, probably a, uh, conference contender in their league. Montana is number two in the country in the FCS preseason poll. They played in the national championship FCS game last year. Obviously, that's going to be a really tough game. Uh, so, I think Steve's right. If we can split those four non conference games before we get into the conference season, we're going to be okay. And, I think, I think our offensive team is going to be good. I think we have skilled people at the wide receiver spots. I think our running game is going to be solid. I think, uh, the question is, Will our defense be improved? I think it will, uh, talking to CJ Williams in the preseason at Southern Conference Media Day. Uh, he likes what's going on with the defense and Coach O over there. Uh, so I think the key is just like it is for any football team. If our key people stay healthy. And, uh, and our defense improves enough to stop the running game. We're going to have a good year. I look, let me add this. I look back at three games we lost in the conference last year, guys. And the three games we lost in the conference, of course, a VMI, that was tough losing Cole Gonzalez. I think that was big, but, but still we, we, we didn't stop the run in that game. Uh, and the other two games, of course, uh, with Furman and, uh, with Mercer. Uh, we had trouble stopping the run game. Uh, that really was the key in those three conference losses. If we can shore up our running defense, we're going to be okay.
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:I agree, but I also hearken back to a coach's comments after the VMI game or the week after when, uh, he was talking with on the radio show, he mentioned that. If we had moved on and gotten a bid, we'd have probably gotten clobbered in the first round because of all of the attrition to our, uh, players and the injuries.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Yeah, you know, uh, with, with Cole getting hurt, it's been nice to make it though. Yeah. Good point. Yeah. No question. Uh, I'll be honest. I've never done a football playoff game. I really want to do a playoff game, uh, in football, yeah, that's, uh, that's one of those things we want to happen. I want to put a plug in for that. first home football game with Campbell, that, uh, the whiteout night. We're going to bring back, this is the 50th anniversary of Whitmire Stadium, 50 years we've been playing in there, 1974 team was the first team that played. That was a special team, Bob. That team went 9 1, lost the first game of the season, won 9 in a row, beat 3 nationally ranked teams to get into the playoffs, and uh, we're going to honor, have a special recognition for the 74 team, but they are inviting back. Uh, all of the players that have ever played in Whitmire Stadium and I I'm expecting five or six hundred at least here from past Western Carolina teams to come and join that celebration on the first Saturday in September against Campbell, second game of the season, our first home game. Well, as you know, I was in school at that time working for the campus radio station. And so I love that era. We beat Appalachian five years in a row while I was there. so I'm looking forward to this first first game.
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:Good point.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:It's going to be a great season guys. Well Gary, thanks for joining us. And you know how we could win the Southern Cup. Okay, 1949 we built Whitmire's, excuse me, Memorial Stadium on Hunter Field, our first stadium over behind the library. Still well building. We won the North State Conference Championship the first season we were in that stadium. 1974. We built Whitmire Stadium, open it. We go to the playoffs for the first time ever in C double A football. All we needed There's up there and say, this is a new stadium and we'll make the playoffs again. We might win the conference. Good plan. Good plan.
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:guys, it's a great, uh, couple of minutes with y'all. I appreciate the time, Gary.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Thanks for having me, Bob. Thanks again
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:And we will be back with y'all next month before the end of August.
squadcaster-669g_1_07-30-2024_130238:Hey, thanks a lot, guys. It's been great. Go Cats!
bob-sabin_1_07-30-2024_130242:again for joining track and the Cats! But
