IHSAA picks Kasey for Media Award

Sports

Discussion

February 8, 2010

He is longtime Sports Director of TV-40.

By Bryan Gaskins The Kokomo Tribune Mon Feb 08, 2010, 10:31 PM EST

Kokomo’s Dennis Kasey, Sports Director for WHMB TV-40 in Indianapolis, brings a passion to his job that comes from his upbringing.

“There’s no doubt growing up in Kokomo and sitting on the front row of Memorial Gym when I was 8 or 9 years old really put the true love for high school sports in my heart,” he said.

The IHSAA is recognizing Kasey’s contributions to high school athletics with its 2010 Distinguished Media Service Award for District II. He will receive the award Thursday prior to the Roncalli-Indianapolis Cathedral boys basketball game.

“It’s a personal award, but just like a sporting event or a sporting team, it has a lot to do with the people who have been around me. I have been truly blessed with a lot of tremendously talented people who have helped make this possible over the last two decades,” Kasey said.

“I’ve worked with some of the best [announcers] in the business — Jerry Baker, Greg Bell, Chris Denari, Howard Kellman, Dave Nicholson, Barry Krauss, Carl Erskine, Mark Herrmann, Stephanie White, Jane Schott, Greg Rakestraw and Jerry Sichting. And the two people I’ve worked with at the station, Dave West and Shawn Humphrey, have been my right- and left-hand men when it comes to being able to present all these games to Indiana.”

In addition to serving as Sports Director for WHMB TV-40, a part of the LeSea Broadcasting Corporation, Kasey works as Executive Producer and Producer on all local sporting events including high school football and basketball games.

Kasey noted he and his late identical brother, David, grew up watching high school games on channel 4.

“When I got hired at [WHMB], I always had that in the back of my mind — how great it would be to be able to do something on a weekly basis again, to showcase the best teams and the best players in Indiana,” he said.

Kasey began producing WHMB’s basketball “Game of the Week” in December 1989 with a matchup between Brebeuf Jesuit and Lawrence North, which featured future NBA players Alan Henderson and Eric Montross. In the two decades since, Kasey and the station have produced more than 1,500 high school sporting events including 80 state championship games.

“I’ve had great support from our management — our owner, Pete Sumrall, and Keith Passon,” Kasey said. “It’s been a perfect fit. We’re a family Christian TV station and really, there’s not much more family friendly than high school sports in Indiana.”

Outside of work, Kasey is on the Board of Directors of the Howard County Sports Hall of Fame, Vice President of the Howard County Literacy Coalition and an Elder of First Presbyterian Church in Kokomo.

Previous Distinguished Media Service Award winners include Bob Ford and Dave Kitchell from the Kokomo Tribune, Mike Beas, a freelance writer who contributes to the Tribune, and Bell of WIOU/WZWZ.

• The IHSAA contributed to this article.

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Sports

Wiechmann comes up big in regional
Western senior wrestler Jake Wiechmann had lost twice this season to Kokomo standout Fletcher Miller, and was trailing 3-1 to Miller in the third period of the championship of the 182-pound match at the Peru Regional Saturday when the opportunity for vengeance struck.

February 5, 2012 1 Photo
Wildkat wrestlers move nine onto Ft. Wayne semistate
The Kokomo Wildkats’ bus will need just a little bit more gas than usual next weekend to haul its cargo up to Fort Wayne for Saturday’s individual wrestling semistate at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

February 4, 2012 1 Photo
Visitors down at tourism office
Since moving its office location from the Kokomo Event Center to downtown Kokomo, the number of walk-in visits for tourism information has dropped 77 percent in one year.

February 4, 2012
Kokomo guts out a win at Lebanon
It didn’t take clairvoyance to deduce that Saturday night’s showdown between Class 4A No. 6-ranked Kokomo and Class 3A No. 3-ranked Lebanon in the Tigers’ Rosenstihl Gymnasium had the makings of a close affair.

February 4, 2012
Western beats Taylor, secures shot at outright MIC title
Something Taylor coach Andy Lewman noted about Western’s boys basketball team early on this season was how well the Panthers share the ball.

February 4, 2012 1 Photo
Kats rock Vikings with 99-point explosion
The last time Kokomo’s boys basketball team enjoyed the type of offensive showcase it put on Friday night, it was at the expense of Kyle Macy’s Peru Tigers.

February 4, 2012
Tigers capture big win
Northwestern boys basketball coach Jim Gish didn’t think twice when asked about the biggest factor in his Tigers’ 55-43 win at Class 2A No. 5-ranked Tipton on Friday night.

February 4, 2012
Peyton Manning’s doctor gives QB clearance to play
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Peyton Manning has been cleared by his surgeon to start taking hits again.

February 3, 2012
Area hoops teams face stiff tests away from home
Over the past two seasons, Kokomo High School’s boys basketball team has piled up a 19-1 record inside the friendly confines of Memorial Gym.

February 2, 2012 1 Photo
Kokomo wrestlers facing a quick shift of gears
After beating Huntington North and Logansport in Wednesday’s Logansport Team Regional to book passage to the team state tournament, Kokomo’s wrestling squad is energized heading into Saturday’s Peru Individual Regional.

February 2, 2012
More Sports Headlines

Sports

Search Results

Discussion

IHSAA picks Kasey for Media Award

He is longtime Sports Director of TV-40.

Site Map

Contact Us