By Bryan Gaskins
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.
