The late Bucky Walters is on mind of Gridiron cast as fundraiser returns

Like its predecessors, the 57th annual Gridiron performances next week at Roxy’s Downtown will be full of journalists poking fun at local and national issues in a musical comedy showcase.

But something will be missing this year.

This will be the first edition without Bucky Walters, longtime media personality and storyteller, who died in September at age 86.

“We are dearly, dearly missing our friend Bucky,” said KMUW news director Suzanne Perez, a longtime Gridiron performer. “His absence is so noticeable. It was from the very first time we read through the scripts in early February.”

“And in every rehearsal,” added Bonnie Bing, longtime Wichita Eagle columnist. “Some of his best stuff was during rehearsal.”

“He was his funniest when we were brainstorming with him,” Perez continued.

Walters, Perez said, checked himself into the hospital as soon as he left the stage from last year’s Gridiron.

“He loves that show and people loved seeing him on stage,” she said. “We know the audience is really going to miss him. We’ve lost a lot of cast members over the years and it’s bittersweet, but we do think of them, and we know the audience is thinking of them.”

Bing said Walters was still planning on returning to the stage for Gridiron.

“We do miss the Buckaroo, and he was so sweet,” said Bing, who serves as emcee this year. “When he was in the hospital, he told me, ‘You know, I think all I can do this time in Gridiron is ‘What’s Wrong?’ because it takes so much out of me. And I said, ‘Bucky, we’ll settle for that.’”

“What’s Wrong?” where Walters sat at a desk fielding phone calls from various political figures, became his signature piece in Gridiron, and will continue at least another year.

“We wanted to have ‘What’s Wrong?’ on stage as a tribute to him,” Perez said.

The two said Walters had some of the best rapport with Ted Woodward of KNSS, on and off stage.

“Ted said something in a rehearsal and I said, ‘Oh my God, you even sound like Bucky,’” Perez said.

Besides Bing, Perez and Woodward, this year’s cast includes Jessica DeVader (Gridiron producer) from Visit Wichita and a KSN alumnus, Max Dutton from KWCH, Maddy Terril from KAKE, Hugo Phan and Beth Golay from KMUW, and Bob Thomas, retired from KPTS.

This year’s Gridiron theme is “Redacted: We’re releasing all the files,” a nod to the Epstein files and media coverage.

“Let’s just say there’s a lack of transparency in general from certain government officials,” Perez said. “Journalists like to hold the government accountable for what they do in our real jobs, and this is just another way to do that on the stage and having a little more fun with it.”

National and local news stories get equal play on the Gridiron stage.

“What’s great about this year’s show is there’s nice balance of local and state and national stuff,” Perez said. “We’re hitting on all cylinders there – Wichita- and Kansas-focused shenanigans, and obviously a lot of stuff to poke fun at at a national level.”

As in previous years, cast members write their own scripts inspired by news the year round.

“There is never a lack of material, never. As long as we have both been in the news business, every year I think ‘This will be the year we run out of things to make fun of.’ But it never happens,” Perez said.

“We could do a show three hours long,” Bing said.

Wichita’s problems with water will get a send-up, the two said, and this year will see the return of “The Bitchitans.”

A fundraiser for the Kansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Gridiron proceeds go for scholarships for Kansas youth studying journalism.

Bing said throughout the year she will get stopped by those who received a scholarship thanks to Gridiron.

“It does our hearts good to know the craziness is going to a good cause,” she said.

Perez said she is increasingly hearing that people are shutting down their social media, watching their mass media intake and “avoiding the news at all costs.”

“We can’t do that because of our jobs,” she said, “but what we can do is make people laugh and go along with us.”

GRIDIRON 2026

When: 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, March 12-14

Where: Roxy’s Downtown, 412 ½ E. Douglas Ave.

Tickets: $50, from roxysdowntown.com or 316-265-4400

This story was originally published March 7, 2026 at 6:31 AM.