Wednesday, October 4, 1967
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
3
NEW KU SPORTS NETWORK DIRECTOR
Photo By John Summers
Gary Bender has replaced Tom Hedrick as the voice of the KU Jayhawks. He is an alumnus of KU. In addition to broadcasting games, Bender will teach in the KU radio-TV-film department.
Yelled above tractor
Bender started on farm
By Monte Mace Kansan Staff Reporter
The new voice of the KU Sports Network, Gary Bender, began broadcasting sports games while driving a tractor on his father's farm in western Kansas.
Bender became KU Sports Network director a week and a half ago with the resignation of Tom Hedrick, who left the position after eight years to accept a post as sports director for the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Bender's first broadcasting practice came as an eighth grader when he announced imaginary games while doing farmwork on his father's Ullysse, Kan., farm.
Yelled above tractor roar
"I had to yell over the roar of the tractor," he said, "and my dad always wondered why I was hoarse at the end of the day."
He said the practice was good broadcasting experience. His breath control increased with singing. His mother persuaded him to act in school plays and he gained more poise and confidence.
"I still get butterflies before every broadcast, though." Bender said. "But I feel they work in my favor and I hope I always have them."
A KU graduate
Bender was trained in broadcasting at Wichita State University, where he earned a B.A. in radio-television. At KU he earned a master's degree in the field.
After graduation, he worked at radio station KWBW at Hutchinson two years, and then went to WIBW radio-TV at Topeka a year ago.
It sometimes is difficult to remain objective while describing his alma mater's games, Bender said.
"You can't be partial or you'll alienate some listeners," he said. "But you still have to convey the enthusiasm of the game with your voice."
Pictures audience as family
Part of Bender's technique is visualizing his audience as a family and eliminating much of the sports terminology so women can understand the game action.
He tape records each broadcast to discover faults such as mispronunciation and use of cliches. He sometimes turns off the sound of TV games and practices broadcasting.
When Bender doesn't recognize a player one of his spotters points to the name on the board. A doubled fist indicates the player made a block.
From the press box at games, it's easy to see where the ball is, Bender said, but players' numbers are more difficult to see.
See Bender, page 4
He refers to cardboard "spotting boards," which have team members drawn in position with their jersey numbers and phonetic spellings of their names.
A noted critic of Japanese films and theatre, Donald Richie, of the Japanese Times in Tokyo, will speak here Monday, Oct. 16.
"The Japanese Cinema and Its Audience" is jointly sponsored by the East Asian area studies program and the department of radio-television-film, and ies scheduled for 8 p.m. in the Kansas Union Forum Room.
Film critic to speak here
Richie, a native of Ohio, is enroute to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City where he
will conduct a week-long seminar on Japanese films.
Since receiving his degree from Columbia in 1953, Richie has served in the U.S. Maritime Service, been a staff member and film critic for Stars and Stripes, and a lecturer on American literature at Japan's Waseda University.
During the 1960 American tour of Tokyo's Kabuki-za, the ancient theatre of Japan. Richie served as narrator-translator for the group.
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