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BEAVER TOWNSHIP -- When Bob Hannon signed on as play-by-play announcer for Youngstown State football, little did he know that his run would nearly reach four decades.
The date was Sept. 2, 1989, and the Penguins opened their season at Maine - the Black Bears won, 28-14 - and went 9-4 that season while making their second Division I-AA playoff appearance.
The team went 1-1 in the postseason with a win over former Ohio Valley Conference foe Eastern Kentucky (28-24) in the first round before dropping a 42-23 decision at Furman the following week.
While sitting in the catbird seat, Hannon has had the best seat in the house and been the one constant for the past 458 Penguin games, a seat in which he has broadcast eight national championship games - YSU has won four national championships and finished runner-up four times - and brought to his listening audience the accomplishments of a myriad of all-time greats, both from YSU and opposition alike.
He maintains that he is having the time of his life and still loves the preparation he must do for a game.
"I get asked how many more years I will continue. I really don't know and don't look that far ahead," Hannon told the Curbstone Coaches during Monday's weekly luncheon at Avion Banquet Center. "I want to have my best broadcast this Saturday when we host Illinois State and have always taken that approach. I want my next broadcast to be my very best yet."
Hannon, who serves as president of the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, was in his infancy as sports director at 33 WYTV-TV when he took over the microphone duties, noting his love for radio. He broke into the business at 1280 WKST-AM in New Castle, Pa., as a 19 year-old freshman at Slippery Rock University in the mid-1980's, and that was what attracted him to the YSU position.
"I am blessed that back in 1989, then athletic director Joe Malmisur gave me this wonderful opportunity," Hannon said. "It has been an incredible ride, one that had me behind the mic when Mark Brungard led YSU to a pair of national championships, and now, watching his son, Beau, trying to win a national title for YSU. This is as good as it gets.
"This is my 38th year as the radio voice of the program and certainly one of my most enjoyable. It is always more fun when we are winning, yet I have a deep appreciation for this team, especially the seniors who committed to the program after that devastating playoff loss last season to Yale. In an era of the transfer portal, NIL and some players looking for their next-best option to move on, this group stayed the course and it is now paying off. I will always remember fifth-year senior linebacker Mike Wells telling me that this group could not be remembered for the Yale loss. They needed to rewrite the script and change their legacy."
Last Saturday night, Brungard, the reigning Walter Payton Award winner, led YSU to a 62-35 victory at Murray State to move to 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
He passed for 423 yards and four touchdowns, setting new school standards with 22 consecutive completions and yards passed for in a game.
Hannon reiterated his reasons for why Brungard should be the runaway winner of the award for a second straight year.
"Only twice in the history of Division-AA, now FCS, has a player won back-to-back awards, that coming in 2016-17 when quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe of Sam Houston State was honored, and previously in 2008-09 when signal-caller Armanti Edwards of Appalachian State won consecutive honors," Hannon said. "Among active FCS players, he is ranked in the top-three in career rushing yards, career rushing touchdowns and career passing yards. He has no equal, then add on his leadership, work ethic and incredible desire to win, and this is a no brainer."
Hannon credits YSU head coach Doug Phillips and his staff for putting together all the components necessary to win.
"Coach Phillips and his staff deserve a lot of credit for surrounding Beau with high level talent," Hannon said. "Our coaching staff did a remarkable job in the portal this past offseason. We lost a great receiver in Max Tomczak and had little experience returning at the receiver position, but they brought in Lynn Wyche-El from Grand Valley State, Bryan Hunt from Findley and Lorenzo Jenkins from Bethune-Cookman. All three players have made a huge impact. Wyche-El will be first-team all-conference and is a bona-fide All-American candidate. The Brungard-to-Wyche-El combination is the best in FCS.
"Defensively, coach Phillips knew we had to improve our secondary, so he brought in six transfers and six freshmen. We now start three transfers and a true freshman in the secondary, and their play has been much improved from a season ago. One of the key transfers is our leading tackler, Cam Smith, who returned home from Iowa State. He played high school football at Austintown Fitch, and his father, Randy, was a safety on our national championship teams in the early-90's.
"Our special teams are as good as they have been in years. First-year coach, Thomas Fletcher, who won two national titles as a long snapper at Alabama, has done an excellent job as well. Andrew Latstovka is a perfect 5 for 5 in field goals and first-year punter Evan Anderson is among the best in our conference.
Of the 458 contests that have been broadcast since his first game in 1989, Hannon has missed just six, five due to illness in 2022 and the other when his daughter, Melinda, was playing in the OHSAA state golf championship for Poland High School.
Next week, Hannah Saiz, Youngstown State University men's and women's swimming coach, will serve as guest speaker.