For 15 years, Iowa fans have known what to expect.
The players have come and gone, as have the coaches. Tim Dwight, Brad Banks, and Shonn Greene have all suited up in a football uniform. Dr. Tom Davis, Steve Alford, Todd Lickliter, and now Fran McCaffery have guided players inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
But one thing has remained consistent. When those who bleed Black and Gold turn on their radios on Saturdays in the fall or week nights in the winter, the same three voices exist: Gary Dolphin, Bobby Hansen, and Ed Podolak.
The Beginnings
In the fall of 1996, the University of Iowa wanted a unified Hawkeye network for their broadcasts. As Dolphin called it, there was a “splintered” set of networks that carried Hawkeye football and basketball games. Ron Gonder, Bob Brooks, and Jim Zabel all had their own workings on different stations throughout the state.
Enter Dolphin.
Although he didn’t call any games until the following football season, Dolphin was hired then to be the official voice of the Hawkeye Radio Network — a network that is carried by a combined 42 AM and FM stations around the state of Iowa today.
“We traveled around the state for the better part of a year just kind of lining up [the stations] we have today,” Dolphin said of his initial work.
Colloquially known simply as ‘Dolph,’ the Dubuque native said he knew he was getting into a job that was much more than simply calling basketball and football games on the radio.
“Growing up in this state, I really value this position,” he said. “I understand what it means to the faithful because, frankly, Iowa is an agricultural state. Its backbone always will be agriculture so for that reason alone you have a lot of people out on the roads, out in the fields, lot of small towns, and they love their radio.”
Dolphin has done a fine job delivering Iowa games to fans wherever they may be — he was named the Iowa Sportscaster of the Year in 2000 and 2010.
First-hand Experience
Dolphin likes to think he is in a unique position when it comes to calling Hawkeye football and basketball games, and perhaps he is.
Since his start with Iowa, Dolphin has had the same two color analysts for football and basketball. In fact, both Hansen and Podolak started calling Iowa games before Dolphin did.
“I don’t know any other Division-I play-by-play broadcaster that has a former Super Bowl champion and a former NBA champion,” Dolphin said.
Hansen started as the Iowa basketball analyst in December of 1992, doing games with Zabel.
Prior to his broadcasting career, Hansen played professionally with the Utah Jazz , Sacramento Kings, and Chicago Bulls. The former Hawkeye (1979-80 through 1982-83) played for the Bulls during their championship season in 1991-92. Hansen played along such NBA greats as Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, and John Stockton.
“It started out 20 years ago, [the players and I] were like little brothers with just a little bit of age difference,” Hansen said of his time calling Hawkeye games. “Now, these young men are like kids ages. It’s sort of the evolution of the last 20 years.”
Podolak has the most broadcasting experience of the three. It was during his nine seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs from 1969-77 — including a Super Bowl victory in 1970 — when he started his radio career by doing a sports talk show for one of the local stations in Kansas City.
He joined Zabel calling football games in 1982, and has been the color analyst for Iowa football ever since.
Both he and Hansen said their days as players help them tremendously in the radio booth.
“It is the foremost reservoir of information that you have,” Podolak said. “I don’t really think a person can work as an analyst successfully who hasn’t played the game.”
The Art of Broadcasting
Dolphin, Hansen, and Podolak were all quick to point out the importance of each other in a broadcast, and that the play-by-play and analyst each bring something different to the fans.
“Play-by-play is of course a world different from the analyst like Ed and Bobby,” Dolphin said. “My job is to follow the ball and to let [the fans] know what has happened. Then Ed and Bobby come in and tell you why it happened, or at least in their opinion what is going on.”
Iowa’s play-by-play announcer said the one thing he tries to focus on is to keep giving the down-and-distance in football and the time and score in basketball.
“You can’t give those enough,” he said.
So what about being on-air live? What happens when a name is mis-pronounced or the words just won’t come out right?
Podolak compared the live setting to his playing days. Thousands of fans would see if he made a mistake on the field, and thousands of fans hear him on radio if he slips up.
“The idea of doing what I do is to paint a picture in the minds of the listener so they have a vision of what just happened on the field and to do that in a very quick and concise manner so it doesn’t interfere with the coming of the next play,” Podolak said.
And there’s no reason to believe that for the next several years the next Iowa play won’t be described by Dolphin, Podolak, and Hansen.
100 Yards of BS 