Joe Tait, Voice's broadcasting mentor, going into the Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend

Joe Tait is an icon when talking about NBA broadcasters. He will be honored with the Curt Gowdy broadcasting award from the Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Tait has been broadcasting Cleveland Cavalier’s basketball for an eternity. Now in his 38th season with the Cavaliers, with the exception of two seasons in the early 1980s, he has been the NBA team’s radio announcer since the team's inception.

He has announced that the 2010-11 NBA season will be his last.

Tait is a lifelong NBA broadcaster but the grizzled veteran has another broadcasting passion – broadcasting football and selected basketball games at nearby Mount Union. Yes – NCAA Division III level football.

Tait started his broadcasting career as an undergraduate, calling football games for the Monmouth College Fighting Scots.

Ironically, because he "had the ability to make a horrible team exciting," a colleague recommended him to NBA legend Bill Fitch to become the Cavs first announcer.

After 38 years, this will be my last season of broadcasting but I’m still going to be behind the microphone doing Mount Union football games both on the radio and on TV.
“I love Mount Union. I plan to do their football games, and I'll do some basketball games,” Tait tells Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I have taught there in the past, but I'm not sure about that just yet. I love the Purple Raider’s Saturday afternoon football games in that old stadium.

I totally understand Tait’s feelings about enjoying broadcasting football or basketball at the Division III level.

A few years ago I was broadcasting UW-Whitewater football or basketball games on Saturdays. Have to get up early the next morning to drive to Green Bay to do my other weekend duty – to be in the Lambeau Field press box and locker room after the game to put together the Titletown Report for the Goetz Radio Network.

I was often asked why I would want to still broadcast Warhawk football and basketball when you are in Green Bay three, sometimes four days a week on the Titletown Report beat?

Gary Douglas, my broadcasting partner on KOOL 106.5 Warhawk broadcasts. Tom Oates, longtime columnist for the Wisconsin State Journal, and yes, NBA Hall of Famer Joe Tait all have the same feeling that I do. There is something special about athletics, especially at the national elite level, at the D III level. It is a feeling that one does not get in the locker rooms and press boxes at the pro and Division 1 level.

Congratulations Joe on your entrance into the Basketball Hall of Fame and I hope to be talking to you again in December at the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in Salem, Virginia!