(Over the course of the next few weeks, the Lincoln Parish Journal is republishing some of its most memorable stories from the past year … some of our readers’ favorites).
By Malcolm Butler
Louisiana Tech lost a legend Tuesday and Bulldog fans lost a friend when legendary broadcaster Dave Nitz passed away following a lengthy illness.
Known for his love of his home state of West Virginia (his flip phone ringtone was John Denver’s song Take Me Home, Country Roads), Dave brought his family to Louisiana in the early 1970s as he took over as the Voice of the Bulldogs.
And the rest is history, a rich Tech Athletics history that Dave stamped his vocal mark on for five decades.
“It didn’t take long for me to realize how much Dave loved sports and broadcasting,” said Jack Thigpen, who met Dave in 1975 when the two became neighbors on Bittersweet Drive and who serve as the color analyst on many Bulldog basketball games. “His goal then, and for many years, was to become a major league baseball announcer. In my opinion Dave was as good as, and better than most, big league announcers.
“Louisiana Tech has been very fortunate to have had Dave as the voice of the Bulldogs all these years. Dave lived to broadcast games and was the ultimate professional. He was as good a broadcaster as there is.”
During his Hall of Fame career at Tech, Dave broadcasts more than 3,000 sporting events, mostly with football, men’s basketball and baseball. He also served as the voice of the Lady Techster basketball team in the late 1970s and much of the 1980s.
Dave was inducted into both the Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame during his illustrious career.
“Even though Dave was a West Virginian through and through, Tech meant a lot to him,” said longtime friend and radio booth partner Benny Thornell. “He had received his degree from Tech and had raised his family here. For 50 years his life revolved around Tech.
“A lot of people grew up listening to him broadcasting Tech games. It was always interesting to see people tell him how much they enjoyed listening to him on the radio. He had no idea who most of them were, but to them he was part of their family. To them he was Tech, and he will definitely be missed.”
Appropriately enough, Dave’s first ever broadcast was of a Bulldog baseball game in the NCAA regionals in Arlington. His real love was baseball, and he never tried to hide it. Tech fans were blessed with his knowledge of the game, and his storytelling abilities.
His talent behind the mic was admired by all, including his radio colleagues.
“Dave was a broadcaster…pure and simple,” said Chip Walters, longtime voice for Middle Tennessee Athletics. “He was the eyes and ears of Tech fans everywhere. In addition to being a pro’s pro, he was a prince of a guy. I’ll miss a great friend and Tech fans will miss the soundtrack of so many great moments for over 40 years.”
“Dave was a broadcaster I always admired,” said Randy Lee, longtime Voice of WKU. “His passion for our special profession and longevity was remarkable. We developed a special friendship over the years. Dave always greeted us with a smile, and he had that special way of making you feel better. I’ll miss Dave a great deal.”
“I met Dave Nitz early in my career and never will forget him taking me under his wing and showing and telling me how to do broadcasting things that I had no idea how to do,” said Southern Miss broadcaster John Cox. “Most of those things he taught me so long ago – I still utilize today. I will cherish the times I was around him. He always made me smile, he always made me laugh and he always made you feel better.”
Every Tech fan has their own stories and memories of Dave. Although he never wavered from the side of professionalism, his love for the Ole Red and Blue was exact. He allowed emotions into calls at the appropriate times and even produced a few tears during the years.
His call of “Stallworth to Cangelosi” that beat eventual SEC champion Alabama at Legion Field in 1999 is one of the most memorable for Tech fans — his voice cracking with the immensity of the moment for the Bulldogs.
That call was worthy of inclusion in Heart Stoppers and Hail Marys: 100 of the Greatest College Football Finishes.
It was just one of so many over the years.
“Dave Nitz will forever be remembered as an iconic figure in Tech Athletics history,” said former Tech AD and friend Jim Oakes. “Dave was on the call for so many memorable moments for Tech sports over the past 50 years. When the Tech family hears the words “Ya gotta love it” we will always smile and think fondly of Dave and his great legacy.”
Personally, I grew up listening to Dave. I would go to sleep with the sound of his tonsils bringing the game to my bedroom – a story that so many Tech fans can probably share.
My career at Tech allowed me to get to know him more than just as a voice. He became my friend.
In 2015, the Bulldogs traveled to Huntington, West Virginia, to play Marshall in the CUSA Football Championship game.
Talk about a kid in a candy store. Dave was giddy every time he got to go back to his home state.
The morning of the football game, several of us in the travel party got up at 5 a.m. to drive an hour or so to his hometown of Milton to have breakfast at one of those hole-in-the-wall establishments. We met a few of Dave’s old friends from high school, who showered us with stories of our friend.
Dave was all smiles.
Although he had lived in Ruston for four decades at that point, Milton and the mountains of West Virginia were still his true home.
Tech fans were just fortunate enough that those “Country Roads” took him south for the past 50 years.
Now, those roads are taking Dave back home.
