At age 100, former ‘Voice of the Shockers’ Gus Grebe still follows Wichita State
Gus Grebe answered his home phone on the first ring from his home in Upland, California and was tickled to hear that a reporter from Wichita was calling him.
It has been nearly a half-century since Grebe was the “Voice of the Shockers,” calling play-by-play on the radio for Wichita State football and basketball games from 1966-73.
But Grebe’s popularity has stood the test of time among WSU fans from that generation. Not only because of his distinct voice and colorful calls that earned him the nickname Mr. Excitement, but also because of his memorable antics. Like when he became so animated calling WSU football games that he would hang from outside of the press box at the top of Cessna Stadium. He did that so much that WSU actually installed a net below in case he ever fell out (he never did).
And any Shocker fan who ever heard Grebe can almost certainly recite his signature call of Wichita State putting games “in the old deep freeze.”
“I’m surprised that people do remember me after all of these years,” said Grebe, who is now 100 years old. “It certainly makes me feel exceptionally good.”
Life is good at 100 for Grebe, although he says he did have a heart attack a few weeks back. That might land many people his age in an extended stay in a hospital, but not Grebe, who says he is “back up and around” and was getting ready to go out for dinner.
He enjoys his daily routine in Upland, a suburb of Los Angeles where he likes to go for walks, shop, go out for dinner and read. Right now he is on a fiction kick and is looking forward to reading a book gifted to him on Christmas called “The Nickel Boys,” which he thinks will be “pretty dog-gone good.”
For those wondering, his everyday routine still includes staying current on the Wichita State men’s basketball team — or at least as much as possible with his mornings eating breakfast and reading the newspaper.
“Sometimes the box scores are hard to come by in the Los Angeles Times’ sports section, but fortunately they are on TV a lot,” Grebe said. “Even though the last outcome was not to my liking against Houston (a 65-54 loss for the Shockers on Saturday). I still like to follow them.”
Hearing that Grebe still followed the Shockers brought a smile to the current “Voice of the Shockers,” Mike Kennedy, who has been calling WSU games since 1976. Although there were two play-by-play announcers in between Grebe and Kennedy, the two have developed a friendship over the years.
“He only did it for seven or eight years, so that’s not a particularly long span of time, but I think he’s really well-remembered by the people that heard him because he was a colorful guy and he had a style all his own,” Kennedy said. “He was certainly enthusiastic and he really stood out with the fans.”
Since leaving Wichita, Grebe has still been involved with memorials and reunions of the WSU football team after the tragic 1970 plane crash that killed 31 people, including WSU players, boosters and staff members. Grebe was on WSU’s other plane.
Grebe said he still cherishes the memories he shared with the survivors at reunions at WSU.
“There were so many (good memories), so I don’t think I could single any one of them out,” Grebe said. “But I was fond of when I met some of the boys for the reunions. I say boys, but now they’re men and older of course, but they’re still boys to me. I have great memories of all of them.”
It was those kind of personal connections that Grebe made while at WSU that stand out to those who know him.
“One of the things anybody could tell you that knows Gus is what a nice man he is,” Kennedy said. “He’s just a really, really nice man. I know when he was doing the games he certainly got to know the players and took an interest in them personally and I think that was an important part of his personality. He just loved what he was doing and loved interacting with the people involved.”
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