After 41 years and 1,319 WSU basketball games, Mike Kennedy’s streak is ending
A streak that dates back to 1980 and spans 1,319 Wichita State men’s basketball games to be exact is coming to an end on Wednesday night.
For the first time in more than 41 seasons, Mike Kennedy will not be bringing Shocker fans play-by-play coverage when they tune in to KEYN, 103.7-FM for WSU’s 7 p.m. game against No. 11 Houston at the Fertitta Center on Wednesday that will also be streaming on ESPN+.
Kennedy, 71, is currently in the midst of a 10-day quarantine following COVID-19 protocols after he was deemed a close contact to a positive case. Kennedy said he has tested negative since returning from WSU’s road trip to Oxford, Mississippi and is in good health, other than the disappointment that his 41-year, 1,319-game streak is coming to an end without a choice in the manner.
“It is kind of a matter of pride for me, so it is really frustrating that it is ending because I feel perfectly healthy,” Kennedy said. “It’s sad for me. If I were sick or there was actually a debilitating reason I couldn’t do it, it would be easier to accept. But I’ve also been thinking the last couple of days that’s probably a little selfish. If this is the worst thing that happens to me out of this pandemic, then I’m probably doing all right.”
Filling Kennedy’s play-by-play role for WSU’s next two games will be well-known radio personality Shane Dennis, who co-hosts a daily Wichita sports morning talk show on KFH, 1240-AM and has been a television and radio analyst for WSU baseball and basketball games for the past decade.
“It’s not how I wanted it to happen, but Mike has been great about it with me,” Dennis said. “It’s a job that I’ve done before, but it’s daunting considering whose shoes that I’m filling.”
Because there wasn’t enough time to register three negative tests to join WSU’s travel bubble before the team left for Houston on Tuesday, Dennis and Dave Dahl will instead deliver the broadcast on Wednesday evening in a production room inside Koch Arena watching a live stream of the game provided to them by Houston, which will include natural sound.
It will be the first time Dahl has ever called a game with anyone other than Kennedy. Their partnership spans 40 seasons, which makes them the longest-tenured radio duo in the country.
“Mike and I have been doing it for 40 years, so it’s just so natural and you just know by inflection what’s going on in the action, when to say something, how much to say and what to say,” Dahl said. “I couldn’t imagine doing games full-time with anybody else. It just wouldn’t be right.
“But if anyone is going to step into his shoes, I can’t imagine anyone more qualified than Shane. He does a very good job and I have listened to him before and am so impressed by him. It will be different, that is for sure. I just have to make sure I don’t talk over him and make sure he has the center stage.”
In some ways, Kennedy’s streak will live on. While he cannot be there in person for the broadcast at Koch Arena, he will be a part of the pre- and post-game shows.
Dahl and Dennis each gave their perspective on Kennedy’s remarkable streak.
“You can’t put it in perspective,” Dennis said. “It’s mind-blowing that nothing has ever happened to keep him from delivering a Shocker basketball game. You cannot quantify that for as long as he’s done it. His voice has never given out. He was never too sick. His car never broke down. He never missed a flight. It’s a phenomenal streak and I can’t even define it.”
“It’s unfathomable that anybody has done it or ever will do it ever again with one team for all of those years without missing one opening tip,” Dahl said. “But what has always stood out to Mike was his congeniality. The people that call into the show and the people he sees when we’re out in public, he engages with them and he listens to them and he’ll share a story with them and talk with them like they are his closest friends. He makes people feel a part of it. Some people do that, but they put on. They aren’t being very genuine or sincere. Mike is just a very genuine and sincere guy.”
Kennedy said he has come to peace with his streak ending. It’s actually turned into a trip down memory lane, causing him to reflect back fondly on the cherished memories he’s made from broadcasting Shocker basketball games for the past four decades.
And also laugh at how many close calls he’s had to keep the streak in tact.
He says he has broadcast before through sicknesses and illnesses. Even when he thought he had laryngitis, Kennedy found a way to broadcast. There have been events in his life — like his son’s high school graduation and his father’s funeral — that would have taken precedent, but he admits he has been lucky that a major life event has never coincided with a WSU basketball game over all those years.
One of Kennedy’s favorite close-call travel stories came back on March 19, 2003 when Mark Turgeon had led the Shockers back to the postseason for the first time and they had a first-round NIT game at Iowa State. Kennedy was unsure of WSU’s postseason fate, so he had booked a flight to Phoenix to call a WSU baseball series. The plan was for Kennedy to call the first WSU baseball game in Phoenix on a Tuesday, then fly to Des Moines and drive to Ames the day of the WSU basketball game on Wednesday. That all changed the day of the game when Kennedy’s connecting flight to Denver was canceled due to snow. He instead flew to Chicago, but then couldn’t book a flight to Des Moines in time, so he drove five-plus hours in heavy rain to arrive at Hilton Coliseum just in time for the broadcast.
Another came during Eddie Fogler’s first season at WSU when the Shockers were slated to play Syracuse the day after Christmas in Honolulu, Hawaii. After spending Christmas with their families in Wichita, Kennedy and Dahl flew to St. Louis, where they would board their direct flight to Honolulu on the day of the game. But due to freezing temperatures, Dahl said the two sat in the plane on the runway for close to five hours waiting for take-off — worried they would no longer be able to make it to the game in time.
“We finally take off and him and I are are trying to calculate how fast the plane is going to have to go and how many miles it is,” Dahl said, laughing.
After finally touching down in Honolulu with no time to spare, the two jumped in a cab.
“Mike gives the cab driver $100 and says, ‘If you can get us to Bloch Arena by such and such time, you can keep the whole thing. Otherwise, give me the change,’” Dahl said. “So this guy is going down alleys, running lights, just crazy.”
“It was certainly a hair-rising ride in Honolulu,” Kennedy said, laughing.
Sure enough, the cab driver got Kennedy and Dahl to the arena in time and Dahl said that they plugged in their radio equipment with no more than 10 seconds to spare before their pre-game show.
The streak cements Kennedy as a legend in his profession, but it does not define him. Kennedy is one of just 14 active Division I play-by-play announcers who have been at their school for at least 40 seasons. He said as long as he continues to test negative, he will be back for WSU’s home game against Tulsa next Wednesday — ready to start a new streak.
“I think it would be a goal for most people to do something they love for a living and I have been blessed to have been able to do that,” Kennedy said. “Certainly the acceptance by fans that I’ve received has contributed to that. If people didn’t think I did a good job, it would have ended a long time ago. I’ve very appreciative of the support from the fan base and the feedback that I get. That’s very gratifying and very heart-warming. I’m going to keep going. I’ll miss these next two games, but hopefully I’ll be back and keep it going for a long time.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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