4B
Monday, May 5.1997
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
University graduate lives his NFL dream at 25
KU broadcast journalism alumnus has hit the big time, announcing for Jacksonville Jaguars only four years after earning his degree
By John Wilson Special to the Kansan
A padded leather chair engulfs Brian Sexton as he describes the Jacksonville Jaguars drive for a touchdown with the clarity and muscle of a jackhammer.
Sexton, who looks like an All-Pro Quarterback with his blond hair and athletic build, speaks with a smooth masculine voice and an announcing style that fits the NFL.
Sexton projects a belief in himself and in the game of football. He combined his unique ability to sell these beliefs with polished play-by-play to become announcer for an NFL team at 25 years of age, just four years after earning a degree from the University of Kansas in broadcast journalism.
Sexton's passionate picture of football is carried on 40 radio stations in five states. He flings out description after description: the down and distance, score and time, if the middle linebacker is positioned to the right or left of the center, and if the free safety is cheating up toward the line of scrimmage.
**Brian really gives a clear verbal picture of the game that comes from his**
natural love of football," said Tom Hedrick, associate director of broadcast journalism and one of Sexton's former college professors. "People like listening to him because it's obvious he knows what he is talking about."
After graduating from the University in 1991, Sexton was hired at a radio station in Chanute selling advertising time and doing play-by-play for high school football and basketball. His dream was always to work in the NFL, but the pinnacle seemed far away when he was broadcasting eight-man games in termite-infested shacks just yards away from a field illuminated by tractors.
During this time, he refined the skills and techniques that would take him to the top: painstaking preparation time of 15-20 hours per game, the ability to paint a clear verbal picture of each play, and most importantly the ability to convey his passion for the game.
"Those days, I just kept telling myself,
This is the road you must take if you are going to do what you really love," Sexon said. "From the time I took my first journalism class in Lawrence, I just tried to learn from everyone so I could take advantage of whatever chances I got."
After 11 months in Chanute, a habit of scouring classified sections in numerous newspapers paid off when Sexton was hired to sell advertising at KQAM in Wichita. It wasn't long before he talked the station into giving him a daily talk show. But he came up short selling advertising, leading to his dismissal from the station.
"Advertising was always what paid the bills," Sexton said. "I lost my focus on what was important to keep my job, and I ended up without the job."
Sexton's belief in himself was tested. He was accumulating a debt and beginning to question if he could achieve his dream.
"I was pretty down. I called my parents, and they wanted me to come down," Sexton said. "They wanted me to move back to Johnson County and get a job in insurance or something."
Then his luck turned. Prism Partner, a media company owning multiple radio stations across the country, was building a new station in Wichita and hired him to help with the building's construction. The company then hired for an advertising job.
"I hired Brian because I saw that he really had a desire to achieve," said Bill Maness, sports marketing director for SFX Broadcasting in Wichita. "I saw a fire in his eyes."
Sexton talked his way into a sports talk show. On Christmas Eve in 1993, Prism Partners' management promoted him to an advertising position at WOKU in Jacksonville, Fla.
At WOKU, Sexton sold his bosses on the idea that he could do a weekly coaches' show for the Jaguars, an NFL expansion team that would begin play in 1995.
"I was so happy because I could get out of hell and go to heaven." Sexton said.
"The Jaguars just wanted to do something that would get their name out in the community," Sexton said. "I loved doing the show, but I always figured they would get a big-time professional for radio play-by-play once they began playing games."
Sexton thought it was merely a courtesy when the Jaguars asked him for a demo play-by-play tape in early 1995. They had applications from a long list of professional announcers from across the country, and he could find only one tape in his apartment from an eight-man high school game in Erie, Kan. It had been raining in Erie, and to broadcast Sexton recalled he had to tape an antenna to a water tower, announcing from under the tower without a break for three hours. His inexperience coupled with a three-year-old audition tape made him a long shot for the job.
But Jaguars Vice President of Broadcasting Peter Scheurmier called Sexton and explained that the team had reached a decision. Sexton was asked to come by his office on Monday. Sexton was so excited that he went to Scheurmier's house that night to get the good news.
"I always believed that you are never given a wish without being given the
power to make it come true," Sexton said. "When Peter told me that they had reached a decision, I knew I had the job, and I also knew I had achieved my dream."
Sexton's ability to sell himself and his dreams vaulted him to an NFL announcing job at age 25. Jaguars management had watched Sexton's hard work and respected it enough to reward him with his dream job.
During the off-season, Sexton does several speaking engagements each week, a daily Jaguars report on radio, contributions to several television shows, and columns for a Jaguar newsletter. His philosophy on announcing explains his success.
"A broadcaster's love for the game must come through the microphone," Sexton said. "He must give a clear verbal picture of the field, telling the good and bad, articulating the story in clear terms. He must sell himself and his story to the fans and make the fan feel he's one of them."
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