University Of Kansas Sports Radio Voice Bob Davis Announces Pending Retirement

Davis

Longtime UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS sports radio play-by-play voice BOB DAVIS has announced his retirement, effective after the 2015-16 basketball season. SATURDAY's KU-KANSAS STATE game will be his last football broadcast for the JAYHAWKS. DAVIS, a former sports anchor at KMBZ-A/KANSAS CITY, joined the JAYHWAK RADIO NETWORK in 1984 and has called eight NCAA Final Four runs and two NCAA men's basketball championships, and six football bowl games, including the 2008 ORANGE BOWL; he has also hosted a weekly "HAWK TALK" show on the JAYHAWKS' radio network.

"I've been really lucky to be the 'Voice of the JAYHAWKS' for 32 years," DAVIS said. "It was a dream job for me when it happened. I had a wonderful first job out in western KANSAS at HAYS (at KAYS-A-TV and FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY); 16 years there with college and high school sports and a lot of baseball. Then to come to LAWRENCE and be able to follow the JAYHAWKS -- bowl games, eight Final Fours and some terrific moments, seeing a team win an ORANGE BOWL and two national (basketball) championships and three other national championship games. But the people are what made it amazing. All the people I've been able to get close to -- great players, the coaching staffs, administrators. I'm going to miss it a lot, but it's been really fun. I've also been able to tack on a little baseball on the other side and do that, too, was a dream come true. It's been a real lucky situation for me."

"BOB DAVIS is an institution in the state of KANSAS," said KU Athletics Dir. SHEAHON ZENGER, "and we thank him for everything he's meant to KU. JAYHAWK fans here and around the country have grown up listening to BOB and consider him a member of their family. We at KU will always consider BOB part of our family."

"I've had a chance to know BOB since 1985 but to actually work with him for the last 12-and-a-half years," said men's basketball coach BILL SELF. "There is nobody, in my opinion, who is any better associated with the UNIV. OF KANSAS at doing their job than what BOB DAVIS is doing his. He'll be missed. Not only is he good at his job, he's a terrific person. He's fun and has become a very dear friend. I'm happy for him from a retirement standpoint so maybe he can enjoy those grandkids a little bit more, which I know is important for him and LINDA, but certainly he will be missed."

"What an honor it has been for me to work with such a legend in this business in BOB DAVIS," said football coach DAVID BEATY. "BOB, along with MAX FALKENSTIEN, is truly a living historian of KANSAS Athletics and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to work alongside him this year. BOB has one of the most recognizable voices in all of sports, a voice that has captured some of the greatest moments in KANSAS Athletics history. His voice is synonymous with KU and makes you feel great about being a JAYHAWK. I wish BOB, and his wonderful wife, Linda, all the best as he steps away from the microphone."

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