The Eagles have landed...on top of the NAIA World (Part I)

This interview was done with Darrell Dapprich, the Tucson, Arizona native and color commentator for Faulkner University, a small college located in Montgomery, Alabama who recently captured the National Championship at the NAIA National Tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Head Coach of the Faulkner Eagles is Jim Sanderson, son of former Alabama Head Coach "Wimp" Sanderson.

SL: What part of your past has prepared you for your job in doing sports on the radio?

DD: Just doing it. I really don’t think any broadcasting classes I took in college, other than polishing, really helped. A lot of what I’ve learned, I learned on the job from (Faulkner play-by-play broadcaster) Doug Amos. But there were a lot of inherent skills that just came from being an obsessive sports fan. Playing high school basketball and watching as much basketball as I have down through the years, as well as sports in general. I think if you watch something so intently, live it, and breath it for 20 years of your life, you start to digest it and soak it up like a sponge. I took that, and let Doug help me polish that, to where it can come across on the microphone the way you want it to audibly. But a lot of it just comes from my love of sports.

SL: In what specific ways do you try to "paint the picture" for the radio audience?

DD: I don’t want to always overload them with information. It’s tough because in radio, unlike television, (the fan) is not getting a picture of what’s happening. You have to create a mental image for them of what’s going on. So you do want to paint more of a picture of the game in radio, but there as times when it’s good just to be silent. You certainly don’t want to overrun your broadcast partner who’s trying to do play-by-play.

It’s a delicate chemistry to know when I should interject. And I think the hardest part is late in the game, as I’m trying to paint the picture, I become just like everyone else – a fan. And that has to do with my feelings personally for Jim Sanderson and for this team.

So I get nervous late in the game. And unlike someone at home who can get up and just pace around, I’ve got a professional job to do. People are listening. I don’t want to come across as nervous. I don’t want to come across as overly critical or to have my voice crack on me. So that is the one toughest part of painting the picture for those listening.

SL: How do the play-by-play guy and color commentator manage to share the airtime without constantly interrupting each other?

DD: It’s really a learned science. I’ve known Doug so well and I know the inflections in his voice and his tone. It’s a lot of non-verbal communication. I can read him when he’s ready to stop. And when he’s doing that I’m already thinking of what I’m going to say next. So it’s a natural transition. So as soon as he gets done talking, I pick it up. There’s not much of a pause there. But I can kind of feel that and play off him and know when game action is going on and the ball is in play, I usually don’t say anything.

I’ll make my comments after a made basket, after a turnover, when there’s a stoppage in play.

SL: What’s the most challenging part of your job?

DD: I think the fine line between enthusiasm – people don’t listen to Faulkner radio network for a down the middle, objective approach; they do want a little "homerism" sprinkled in – but to the point of never, ever trying to be overly critical. These are 18-22 year old kids, and there may be a moment in the game that absolutely drives me crazy, and for a normal fan, if you’re watching any sporting event and your team’s playing you just want to holler out, "What are you thinking?!" You’ve got to be careful not to do that because you are still calling a game. So that’s the hardest part – to never inject too much of your emotions into a broadcast.

SL: Do you approach (Head Coach) Jim Sanderson differently after a win than you do after a loss in the post game interview?

DD: The good thing about Jim is that he’s pretty much even keel after a loss or after a win. Of course he’s disappointed after a loss, but I’ve seen him just as disappointed after we’ve won. It’s not about winning or losing with him. I’ve never believed this, but this is my third year of doing the games, and when you travel with someone, and you’re on the road with them and you eat with them, and you’re in hotels, you kind of get the feeling of whether they are telling you the truth or not. So I’ve seen him get upset after a double-digit win and Faulkner didn’t play well. It’s about playing to their potential. If they lose and play to their potential, he’s satisfied. If they win and don’t play to their potential, he’s not. He almost feels like winning and losing will take care of itself, let’s be concerned about what we do first – and execution and intensity is what we do. And I think I can read off that in knowing what kind of mood he will be in after a game.

SL: Is there a way in which a particularly observant play-by-play or color guy can actually help a team?

DD: I’ll tell you this. I would have never thought that, but I’ve seen my broadcast partner, Doug Amos, do a masterful job of working the officials by waiting until the officials were right in front of our broadcast booth, and without being overly critical, just stating a fact – which he’s allowed to do. And that referee is right in front of you and he hears what he says, without (Amos) directing straight to the official. You can’t come right out and say to the official, "Hey, you blew that call," but you can tell your listeners, "…he just plain missed it," or "…he wasn’t in position to make the call." I’ve seen that work to our favor, and just like a coach works an official, I’ve seen him do that. I also think image is very, very important at the NAIA level, and this is where we help. I think if a kid has a choice of where to play and he can come to Faulkner and play for a radio audience or go somewhere that doesn’t broadcast games, that’s where we can help – with exposure for Faulkner and promotion of the program. But during a game about the only way this may help would be if we were coming into the gym and setting up our broadcast equipment, some other team may look and think that Faulkner is just more "big time" than us. But really our help is in promotion and exposure to give the kids another media; another way to get their games heard.

SL: How do you handle an obviously blown call?

DD: I try to be honest about it. My personality wouldn’t let me paint a picture without including the bad calls. There are times when I didn’t say anything because it has really been obvious, but most of the time I’ll just turn to Doug and say, "I don’t know what the official was looking at…" in that case. People sitting at home want to know, it’s pertinent to them is that was a good call or not – especially if it’s in a key moment of the game. It’s not to be critical of that official, it’s really more informational. So I’ll say "…he missed it" to Doug right then, and not wait until the officials are right in front of us like he does. It’s not my place to do that.

SL: When you do come across members of other school’s that have broadcast teams, is there camaraderie there, or perhaps ambivalence if it’s a rival school?

DD: There is one situation where there is a lot of ambivalence and it’s a rivalry situation I won’t comment on who that is other than it’s a rival school. And there are circumstances that are underlying that, but we’re always cordial to each other.

Outside of that, there are three or four broadcast teams – in Tulsa and a couple in the Conference that Doug and I not only consider "peers" but we really look forward to seeing every year. We call each other after the games to see how they did and that kind of thing. So yes, there is camaraderie among certain broadcast teams.

SL: What was the funniest thing you’ve seen behind the mike?

DD: (long pause) Let’s see…well, we’ve had some bus problems where we pulled up to the gym 10 minutes before tip-off, but the funniest thing was a game we played in Selma in December where there was no heat – apparently somebody forgot to pay the electric bill – and we played the game in 38 degree weather. It was the first time I had done a game indoors and "smoke" was coming out of our mouths as we were calling it (laughter). And the benches were cleared as well. There were space heaters in the corners of the gym, but they just weren’t doing the job. So doing a game indoors in 38 degrees, while you see your breath, that would be the funniest.

SL: What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve seen?

DD: Most outrageous would be earlier this year, we had a 10 point lead with 1:12 to go at AUM and I thought it was over. AUM comes down and hits 3 straight three pointers by the same guy and each time he shot it he was another step or two further back and on the last one he must have been 2 or 3 feet behind the NBA three point line and he banked it in. And we ended up losing the game by one. That was the most outrageous thing I’ve seen.

SL: Most inspirational?

DD: Obviously a National Championship is very inspirational, but the year before we hit a shot with three tenths of a second to get us to the Elite Eight for the first time and to see the reaction of the kids and the way the fans mobbed the court was definitely the biggest inspiration, also when we were down earlier this year to Southern Wesleyan by 18 and then and just 8 minutes later we were up 14. It was the most incredible run. All heart and dedication, so there was a lot of inspiration to that as well.