Katelyn Macduff, a Greenlee School senior in journalism and mass communication, put some valuable lessons into practice recently after she spent an afternoon job shadowing ESPN basketball analyst King McClure during a live telecast of an Iowa State men’s game over the Christmas holiday. Macduff then got behind the microphone to help call a women’s basketball game for 88.5 KURE – Ames Alternative, the school’s student radio station and an affiliate organization of the Greenlee School.
“Sitting courtside during the Iowa State versus Oklahoma State game was a great experience,” Macduff said of the Jan. 10 game at Hilton Coliseum. “I learned that you must go with the flow of the game. No getting ahead of yourself.”
McClure, a former Baylor basketball player, invited Macduff to shadow the broadcast after connecting with Greenlee School assistant teaching professor Tony Moton, who teaches sportswriting and announcing as part of Greenlee’s new sports media and communication major. Macduff had previously taken Moton’s course in the fall.
“Katelyn was quick to answer the call on short notice to job shadow King,” Moton said. “I am big on students getting as much practical experience as possible in sports media while they’re in our program.”
After sitting alongside McClure and ESPN broadcaster John Schriffen (who serves as the TV play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox), Macduff went behind the microphone to serve as a color analyst for KURE radio during the Iowa State women’s basketball game against the University of Central Florida on Jan. 31. Macduff partnered with Greenlee sports media and communication majors Taten Eighmy and Zach Logsdon on the game call as a live practice exercise for student broadcasters.
“The experience with King McClure and John Schriffen made me realize that I definitely want to become a basketball commentator,” said Macduff, who happens to be an avid fan of the National Basketball Association’s Utah Jazz. “You’re doing a job that’s something you love and working with others who find joy in doing the same as you.”
During the fall, Macduff also gained a few tips from virtual guest speakers in Moton’s sportswriting and announcing class, including K.C. Johnson, an on-air TV reporter for the National Basketball Association’s Chicago Bulls, and Jeff Joniak, a Greenlee School alum and long-time radio play-by-play voice of the National Football League’s Chicago Bears.
And John Walters, Iowa State’s “Voice of the Cyclones,” has been a regular evaluator of student broadcast portfolios in Moton’s classes. He also provides instruction during the short course intensive sports broadcasting course taught by assistant teaching professor Beth Haag in the spring as well as Greenlee’s annual Sports Media Training Camp for high school students during the summer.
“I feel it’s important to connect students with heavy hitters in the industry,” Moton said. “That’s part of what I believe makes our sports media program special.”