Well Deserved

The Jamestown native and 1981 Southwestern Central School graduate was honored with the Marty Glickman Award for Leadership in Sports Media at Syracuse University’s renowned Newhouse School.

According to an online press release, the Glickman Award is named after the late sports broadcasting pioneer whose legendary career helped to establish the university’s reputation of producing successful professionals in the industry.

Hoard (Class of ’85) certainly fits the bill.

The radio voice of the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals as well as University of Cincinnati basketball and football is a four-time Ohio Sportscaster of the Year winner from the National Sports Media Association; a six-time regional Emmy winner for his play-by-play, anchoring and reporting; and an inductee of the Chautauqua Sports and the University of Cincinnati James P. Kelly Athletics halls of fame.

In this January 2022 photo, Jamestown native Dan Hoard broadcasts the AFC Championship Game between Cincinnnati and Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
Submitted photo

“My dad was an upholsterer, my stepfather was a wholesale florist,” Hoard told The Post-Journal in 2020. “Those guys worked for a living. Reading about sporting teams and watching their previous games is hardly digging a ditch. I do put a lot of time into it, I consider it an important part of the job and I’ve learned how to budget my time to make sure I can prepare for the game I’m doing, but I do enjoy it. I kind of look at it as I’m preparing for two final exams every week. I’ve got the college game on Saturday and the NFL game on Sunday, so I’m trying to be as prepared as I can for each.”

Past Glickman Award recipients are a who’s-who of broadcast legends, including Sean McDonough, who introduced Hoard at the Glickman Award ceremony; Bob Costas, Mike Tirico, Ian Eagle and Marv Albert.

Dave Lapham, Hoard’s partner in the Bengals’ booth for the last 14 seasons, told Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson last week, “You look at what Dan has done on a local basis and it’s tremendous.”

He added: “They should expand their horizons in that regard. There should be a place for people who say, ‘I’m good where I am and I’m going to stay and not chase the national whatever.’ That doesn’t mean they’re not excellent and deserving. And that’s what Dan is.”

Hoard began his broadcasting career calling minor league baseball for the Class AAA Syracuse Chiefs in 1985. He served as sports director for WTVH-TV in Syracuse and WXIX-TV in Cincinnati; called major league baseball games for the Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets, and college basketball games for CBS Sports Network and Westwood One.

Hoard has also worked as an NFL sideline reporter for Fox Sports and hosted the Cincinnati Reds’ TV pregame and postgame shows for Fox Sports Ohio.