Last Sunday, the distinguishable presence of Vin Scully stepped away as the storied vocal chronicler of the Los Angeles Dodgers, after 67 years.
Meanwhile, in a Milwaukee radio booth, it is only a matter of time before Bob “Mr. Baseball” Uecker ends his tenure as the voice of the Brewers. These two men know that — especially in a radio booth — one cannot be dry, repetitive and flinching. Someone who knows this is the new voice for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men’s basketball team, Scott Warras.
Stressing the importance of vocabulary has allowed Warras to become pretty flexible in his 13-plus years as a broadcaster, having called football, baseball and basketball, at both the collegiate and high school levels. Play-by-play isn’t the only thing he does, however, as he can be caught working for Charlie Sykes’ weekday radio program on 620 WTMJ, and for Time Warner Cable Sports 32.
In 1996, Warras, who was a freshman writer for his high school paper, gained inspiration when he met Uecker’s then-boothmate, Jim Powell, who granted an interview request offered by Warras and a friend. Warras was compelled by this to broadcast by this — and he hasn’t looked back, even impassioning his own big moments.
Last winter, he was crowned with the NCAA’s “Call of the Week,” after verbally capturing UWM’s Sierra Ford-Washington’s go-ahead basket with 6.7 seconds left. He says that the honor was nice but didn’t validate his status as a broadcaster.
“On the Sierra call…, the credit goes to the player — otherwise it doesn’t happen,” he says. “Period.”
Every month or so, Warras will ask his radio station for a particular game’s recording, to clamp-down on his mistakes.
Being a craftsman of the language and investor in “the moment,” Warras recognizes the beauty in being able to maintain his composure, as one unnamed announcer’s advice is always in his back pocket: “Poise will give you presence.”
Looking forward to the men’s season, Warras isn’t fazed by the fact the team lost its five leading scorers, or by the fact that they have a rookie head coach, in LaVall Jordan. He says that this situation isn’t any different than when any given sports franchise undergoes personnel changes.
The men’s team will be looking to improve upon a 20-13 season, in which the team narrowly missed the NIT tournament.
This season will mark his 11th as the voice of Panthers basketball in general, as he’s called women’s games for the last decade.
Catch Warras calling the 7:00 p.m. game on Nov. 11 against the Milwaukee School of Engineering on 1130AM WISN.