Today is a landmark occasion for one Indiana broadcaster. The voice all Pacers fans are all too familiar with, Mark Boyle, will call his 2,000th Pacers game tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Prior to Indianapolis, Boyle spent time elsewhere calling games wherever he could and was one of the original on-air voices at WFAN, the first all sports radio station in the country.
Boyle has also been named the Indiana’s Sportscaster of the Year twice.
Beginning in 1988 with the Indiana Pacers, Boyle is set to complete his 23rd season with the team. In that time, he has only missed three games – those because his mom was fighting terminal cancer.
Initially coming to Indianapolis, Boyle thought this might be his gig for a couple years before he moved onto something better. Turns out he had a fantastic relationship with the team and has stayed here ever since. Before he officially began, he did have some reservations about the job.
“I had never worked for a team before,” Boyle said. “I was uneasy about what appeared to me to be an obvious conflict of interest…When I shared that concern with Donnie Walsh, he told me that as long as I was fair and didn’t get personal, he didn’t care what I said. And in the 20 years I worked for Donnie, he never went back on his word.”
The state of Indiana has been fortunate to have such great play-by-play guys behind the microphone: Don Fischer at Indiana, Mark Boyle for the Pacers, and Bob Lamey with the Colts. As sports broadcaster myself that would love and be grateful for any one of their jobs, I continually listen to each of them to get better. There are so many different aspects of the broadcast I listen to and take notes for my future calls.
What impresses be most about Boyle is that he is a complete professional. His vocabulary and words of choice are unmatched in my opinion and that’s important. Many play-by-play guys describe a play the same way time after time. Boyle uses clear vocabulary and calls a game about as smooth as one can.
As good of broadcaster Boyle is, he has a wild and corky brain behind the madness. Sports talk radio is not his thing. When filling in for hosts on 1070 The Fan, he is quick to point out his flaws and he is short with the caller. His rule of thumb is don’t take a caller unless he will add something which is a valid point. However the show isn’t feasible without the faithful caller.
The last couple of summers, he has chosen to remain active and not just lay on the beach somewhere. One year he called games for a minor league baseball team, traveling by Greyhound buses to games. Much different than the first-class experience with the Pacers. Two years ago he worked at a coffee shop and last year, Boyle walked 500 miles in 35 days to raise money for the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund.
This season, the voice of the Pacers has began writing a blog, detailing accounts from the road, thoughts on his partner Slick Leonard, and he is getting a picture with each of the team’s mascots. Entitled Destination Unknown with Mark Boyle, read it – it’s very interesting.
Calling his 2,000th game is indeed a special moment for Boyle who has many more years ahead of him. However he has emphasized that he doesn’t want to be a lame duck. He wants to leave on his own terms.
“So for me, 2000 means a lot. It speaks of people that believed in me, and have helped and supported me, and it speaks of a fan base that has invited me into their homes, cars, and places of business with a graciousness that I can only describe as humbling. I guess what I’m really trying to say is that 2000 games is not really just my milestone. It’s ours.”
We all have our favorite Mark Boyle call like “Ding dong the witch is dead,” which he hates by the way. Or the call when Reggie nailed the three over Michael Jordan. BOOM BABY!