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JTC Students and Graduates on World Series High

What has World Series fever, can talk sports, shoot sports, writes like the wind and even shows you to your seat at Coors Field?

The answer is either a student or graduate of the Department of Journalism and Technical Communication who gets paid to announce, report on, televise or serve as an usher at Rockies games.

Indeed, it’s not often that a fashion expert could argue that green, gold and purple go together, but this fall it’s all a match.

Take sophomore Christi Kinsella for example. While on campus, Christi works in the JTC office and takes a full load of courses on her way to earning a degree in public relations. But when the lights come on at Coors Field, she’s working the stands as an usher.

“It’s the best job ever because it incorporates something I love and gives me great experience for the future in sports public relations. I’m extremely lucky to have the job,” Kinsella said.

Kinsella (left), seen with her sister Renee, got the job by filling out an application before the season started. Her excitement about the position and the World Series is shared by others with JTC ties. KMGH anchor/reporter Lane Lyon is a ‘94 graduate of the department who works the night shift for Channel 7. As part of his night-side reporting role, Lyon was put on notice to work extra hours and shifts, but that “no one is complaining! We’re excited to be a part of this historic event. I think I need to buy a few more purple neckties.”

In all, the newsroom at KMGH-TV employs 15 CSU graduates, most of them JTC alums. Lyon (below) is likely to work with others from the department, including photojournalist Eric Hoffman, class of ‘97. Hoffman has been working games since the beginning of the playoffs, usually shooting live shots on the field before and after the game as well as interviews in the locker room after games.

“After the Rockies clinched against the Diamondbacks, I was charged with getting on the field as quickly as possible and shooting the screaming, overjoyed masses of fans as they observed the trophy presentations,” Hoffman said.

“We fed those back (via microwave) to the station as quickly as possible and then headed into the clubhouse. I had to put rain gear on my camera because it got doused with beer and champagne…as did we!”

While Hoffman and many other JTC graduates working for the Denver media will be busy covering the games from a sports-news angle, Kevin Tappan will be at his normal spot in left field, operating a camera for Rockies Vision, which shows on the video scoreboard. Tappan is a former Campus Television staff member and Speech Communication major in his 4th season at Coors field. He currently makes his living as a freelance camera operator at games and events all over town.

“People are going crazy about the tickets, but I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that,” says Tappan, ‘05. “I get the same seat I’ve had all season, although with a big camera in front of me.”

Earlier in the season, Tappan was called on to make sure College of Liberal Arts alumni made it to the big screen at Coors Field. The College was represented by alums trying to win the Ramsker Cup, an Alumni challenge which pits CSU against University of Colorado and University of Nebraska Alumni. CSU won the battle, as evidenced in the photo of Dean Ann Gill holding the winning trophy, and the College of Liberal Arts won an internal CSU challenge. That game was one of several in which the Rockies made a 9th inning comeback, and set the stage for the remarkable run that led them to the Series.

Whether attending games as part of the Alumni challenge, working camera, serving as an usher or reporting on games, each and every CSU alum and all Rockies fans at Coors Field get an earful from perhaps the most famous Rockies-related JTC graduate. Announcer and ‘03 news-editorial graduate Reed Saunders is the voice of the Rockies at Coors Field. At 25 years old, Saunders beat out 250 others who auditioned for the job last spring. His audition was recorded and can be found on the CBS Denver website.

Saunders also is featured on the CSU website’s My CSU.

With Saunders announcing the games, and other JTC students and graduates in the middle of the Rockies success for much of the 2007 season, it has indeed been a year when purple has found a way to fit into the wardrobe of those normally true to the green and gold of CSU.