Lepay named Wisconsin Sportscaster of the Year
April 27, 2010 | General News
April 27, 2010
MADISON, Wis. -- Matt Lepay, the play-by-play voice of the Wisconsin football and men’s basketball teams, has been named Wisconsin Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. This is the sixth time Lepay has been honored by the NSSA.
“I really believe this state is blessed to have a number of outstanding sportscasters, from play-by-play announcers, color analysts, to TV anchors and reporters,” Lepay said. “Whether I am deserving of this award is open to question, but to me there is no question that I am very lucky to work with people I genuinely enjoy. From my broadcast partner, Mike Lucas, to coaches Bo Ryan, Bret Bielema and of course, Barry Alvarez, I merely have been the lucky one to have a great seat for another successful year of University of Wisconsin athletics.”
Lepay has also won the award in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2006. The only people in Wisconsin history to have won the award more times than Lepay are and Jim Irwin, the former play-by-play voice of the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Bucks and Badger football, who won 10 times in the 1970’s and 80’s, and Earl Gillespie, the former radio voice of the Milwaukee Braves and Badger football and former sports director at WITI-TV in Milwaukee, who won eight times in the 1960’s and ‘70’s.
Lepay has been the play-by-play voice of Badger football since 1994 and UW men’s basketball since 1988. A 1984 graduate of Ohio State, Lepay was sports director at WTSO in Madison before joining WIBA in 1994. He previously served as sports director at WNCI in Columbus, and prior to that worked at stations in Athens and Piqua, Ohio.
“The University and Wisconsin and our fans are lucky to have a play-by-play announcer like Matt,” men’s basketball head coach Bo Ryan said. “He’s a true professional and always does a great job of describing the action and bringing excitement to our fans’ radios. He’s a great spokesman for our basketball team and the entire athletic department.”
“I want to congratulate Matt on this tremendous award,” head football coach Bret Bielema said. “He is wonderful to work with and is great at what he does. Having worked closely with Matt for a number of years now, I can also say that he is as good a person as he is a broadcaster and very deserving of this honor.”
Lepay, along with the other 2009 NSSA State Broadcaster of the Year winners, will be recognized at the 51st annual NSSA Awards Banquet in Salisbury, N.C., on May 3. The Awards Banquet will also honor NSSA Hall of Fame Inductees Peter Gammons and John Madden in addition to National Sportscaster of the Year Jim Nantz of CBS Sports and National Sportswriter of the Year Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe.
