​... who lives, who dies, who tells your story."

 

That's from my favorite Musical, Hamilton. Now, in an attempt to prove Lin-Manuel Miranda wrong...

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First, a question: How does one tell their story without coming off as self-serving?

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Answer: They probably don't. But here goes anyway.

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This, of course, isn't the whole story. Just the part about my career. It hasn't turned out exactly as I'd planned... but, like many things, if you listen to the universe and follow the opportunities presented to you, it'll turn out as it should.

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Of course, the universe hadn't planned for me to play first base for the Dodgers (or any other major league team)... which was my all-consuming focus for most of the first two decades of my life. But that's a story for another day, and it's not the listening-to-the-universe moment I'm talking about.

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No, this one involves a later dream. Once filling the gap between Steve Garvey and Freddie Freeman was no longer a likely option, I decided to shift gears: yes, I was going to make the big leagues. But not as a player. As an announcer.

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​Most people in my industry grew up turning down the sound on the TV and practicing play-by-play, dreaming of being behind a microphone, calling games at the highest level.

 

Not me. Growing up in Southern California, I hung on every word Vin Scully said. Not because I pictured myself in his role; rather, because I was a huge Dodger fan. (For what it's worth, I'm not anymore. Another story for another day.)

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Becoming a sportscaster never crossed my mind until it was suggested to me by my junior college baseball coach, the venerable John Seeley at Mira Costa College in Oceanside, Calif. (who, incidentally, ran his team like a drill sargeant... many more stories for another day).

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Seeley, no dummy, was quick to realize that Rich Burk's dream of moving on to D1 baseball and playing in the big leagues wasn't even remotely in the realm of possibility. (Many of my JC teammates did play D1, and some played as high as Triple-A, though none made the bigs.)

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"Burk," Seeley said to me in his gruff voice one day during my freshman season. "You should go to Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. You can play baseball there and during the other seasons be 'the Voice of the Boxers.'"

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Seeley, an Oregonian, knew the coach at Pacific (Chuck Bafaro) well. And he believed that the NAIA level was one at which I could succeed.

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It was as if a light bulb went on above my head. Even then, at age 19, I enjoyed public speaking. I was a student of both baseball history and baseball strategy. I consumed the game (and was consumed by it) in every way possible.

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And Seeley's suggestion is, for the most part, the way it worked out. I did go to Pacific in Oregon. ​(He was right about it being a level at which I could succeed; my junior year, I hit better than .400, my best season ever.) And I did become the Voice of the Boxers, calling their basketball games on radio for 11 seasons after college.

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Upon my arrival at Pacific, though I hadn't quite yet abandoned my pipe dream of playing big-league ball (yes, some dreams die hard), I had begun to shift my attention to making the major leagues as a play-by-play announcer.

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Over the next few years, I worked hard, took steps to improve my voice, vocabulary and speaking ability, and got a one-season job right out of college as the number-two play-by-play announcer and administrative assistant for the minor league baseball team in tiny Bend, Oregon.

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After that first season, I took a five-year sojourn away from full-time play-by-play --- I was engaged to my girlfriend from Pacific, Heather, and we didn't want to move around a bunch during the early years of our marriage (baseball play-by-play announcers trying to work their way up the ladder often live an itinerant existence). We settled in Hillsboro, Oregon, a suburb of Portland. I wanted to stay in sports, so I went to work for an event management company, Peter Jacobsen Productions. I knew that someday I would get back to my passion --- calling games as a career --- so while I worked at PJP I had several play-by-play side-gigs (such as Pacific basketball), and got a lot better. After five years at PJP, I was ready to chase the big leagues full-time.

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I returned to Bend, six years after my first season there, and this time as the number-one announcer. (Heather, now my wife of five years, continued to live and work in the Portland area, four hours away.) The following season, lo and behold, the team in Bend moved to Portland, the 22nd-largest market in the country... and I went with it. For all but one season from 1995-2000, I was the lead play-by-play announcer for the Short Season Class A Portland Rockies. And from 2001-2010, I spent 10 years as the TV and radio play-by-play voice of the Triple-A Portland Beavers. (How lucky was I? I got to work my way up the ladder, without having to move!)

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During those 15 years from 1995-2010, I took a proactive approach to getting a major league job. I networked hard. I had at least some contact with every major league team, and each team's TV and radio flagship. I kept meticulous notes on the calls I made and set up reminders on when to follow up. I built many strong relationships, some of which last to this day.

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And I came close. Several times. (You guessed it: more stories for another day.) I had some fill-in gigs. But I never got the call.

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And, wow... am I ever glad I didn't. And this is what I meant about listening to the universe and following the opportunities in front of you.

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In 2008, Merritt Paulson, the new owner of the Triple-A Portland Beavers, put together a package with Fox Sports Net Northwest (soon to be renamed ROOT Sports) to carry 20 Portland Beavers games on the same network that carried the Seattle Mariners. It was one of the best TV packages for any of the 160+ clubs in minor league baseball.
 

I had been trying for years, without success, to get on board with FSN NW. They didn't know me and wanted to use someone in their stable for the Beavers package. Merritt, however, insisted that as part of the deaI, his guy --- that is to say, me --- got to call the play-by-play.

 

FSN relented. It was my big break, and I'm forever grateful to Merritt for standing up for me.

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Turns out, the people at FSN liked what they heard. They liked my level of preparation. They liked that I was easy to work with. And suddenly, I was in their stable of announcers. FSN/ROOT Sports began to hire me as a freelancer to call college basketball, football and baseball in the Pac-10 (and later, football in the Big Sky Conference), as well as some high school football. Over the next five years, I was behind the microphone for many events for them.

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But I knew the gig was gonna be up soon. The Pac-10 was becoming the Pac-12, and at the same time was starting their own network. Play-by-play opportunities with ROOT were going to slow to a crawl. If I wanted to continue to do college events on TV in the Pacific Northwest, I had to get on board with Pac-12 Network.

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My new agent then made a career-altering suggestion: branch out from the big three and become an expert at calling other sports. Pac-12 Network was going to be televising 850 live events a year across almost all sports, and the more different types I could call, it would seem, the more opportunities I would get.

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In August 2012, the Pac-12 Network came into existence, and my career truly took off. I developed a system to learn new sports, and over the next 12 years called well over 500 events for them across 10 sports. This led to the opportunity to call the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships for ESPN from 2016-21, the Olympics in 2016, pro volleyball with League One Volleyball, and so much more. Since 2023, I've filled in on radio and television for the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers. And I continue to work for Pac-12 Enterprises --- the successor to Pac-12 Network --- calling 60 or so televised events each school year, mostly for Oregon State University.

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Triple-A baseball left Portland after the 2010 season, and in 2013, a new club came to town -- the Short Season Class A Hillsboro Hops... right in the town where Heather and I live, and the only professional baseball club in the Portland area. I became their lead TV and radio play-by-play announcer, with an agreed-upon flexible schedule to allow family time, and to allow the opportunity to call other events. Between the Portland Rockies, Portland Beavers and Hillsboro Hops, I've been "The Voice of Summer in Portland since 1995." (My friend Cory Hansen, a creative guru and longtime copywriter for Nike, came up with that in about 2008. Thanks Cory!)

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And here's the biggest thing: our daughter, Madeline, was born in 1999; our son, Dalton, in 2003. If I had landed a major league baseball play-by-play gig, I would've been mostly gone for seven months a year, and I wouldn't be nearly as close to my kids as I am. I got to coach Dalton's baseball teams for seven seasons, and be there when he won junior golf tournaments. I get to take summer vacations with Heather and the kids. I get to work great events... and have a life.

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I've been truly blessed. I'm grateful for the opportunities I've received. And I'm really glad I listened to what the universe had to say.

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