FB: Northwest Conference

[MonroviaCat]

ha ha ha ha 

[Bearcat Press]

Since my editors halved my interview with longtime Willamette radio man Mike Allegre, I thought I'd post the whole thing on here.

THE "VOICE OF THE BEARCATS" SPEAKS UP

Tim Walsh
The Collegian

Mike Allegre, the "Voice of the Bearcats," has been calling Willamette football and basketball games since 1993.  A former Oregon Air National Guard officer, Allegre spent many years juggling his weekend commitments to the Guard and his passion for Willamette football, and has only missed two games in sixteen years.  Having listened to his colorful, descriptive broadcasts for the last two years, I finally had the privilege to sit down with him on Monday for his first ever interview with the Collegian.

Tim Walsh: So tell me how you first got into broadcasting?

Mike Allegre: I spent four years in the active Air Force in the late 70s, and I got out a month early to go to college.  Friends would tell me, "You've got a great voice and a great personality.  You should be a disc jockey."  Well, I tried it for a while at Central Washington University, but I really wanted to do play by play.  A good friend of mine who was doing it there came down sick, so he sent me to this game in the fall of 1980 between Cle Elum and Zillah high schools.  I had 50-75 feet of phone cord run off a pole into a metal grandstand on the top with things on it so people wouldn't hit it.  I had a power cord at least that long doing the same thing with my little mixer board. I had my headset, and I had my clipboard with two sets of stats that I kept on my own.  I still do that.  I did the ballgame, it was okay – nothing great – but I've been doing it ever since.  I moved to Salem in 1986 and started working at KYKN in Keizer, where I reinstituted play-by-play of local high school sports.  So I've been doing this since the fall of 1980 with about three falls off.

TW: How then did you become the "Voice of the Bearcats"?

MA: That was a little difficult.  They had a losing team, and in 1993 I approached the former athletic director.  He didn't really care if we did it.  I had to battle for everything: power, space in the booth.  We did a few games here and there, but the radio station couldn't sell it.  I said, "If they start winning, you will."  In steps [former head coach] Dan Hawkins in 1993.  He sat down and met with me at the Ram.  He said, "I want to be on radio, and I hear you're the guy that does it.  I want you to do every game."  But the station wouldn't do every game.  The next year, he turned around a program that hadn't won forever, and the next thing you know we're on the radio.  That's where it began.

TW: Could you talk a little about Dan Hawkins and those years in the 1990s?

MA: Dan got rid of an old style of football and brought in a new style – winning.  Everywhere Dan goes, he's a winner.  He wanted a weekly show where I interviewed people.  So we started doing that the last two years he was here: having the guys in, talking to them in the studio.  It was really fun.  It was big-time for us.  And as we got closer and closer to 1997 when we went to the national title game . . . they did not lose.  They didn't know how to lose.  And Dan made me feel like I was the best dang broadcaster that ever was in that league.

TW: How about the most memorable game you've ever been able to call?

MA: Oh please!  As far as football, probably our first playoff win in 1997.  It was cold, it was muddy, and it was foggy, and we won in overtime 26-20 over Western Oregon.  Another was in 1994, beating a team we hadn't beaten since 1979, PLU.  We won on a field goal in the last several minutes of the ballgame 10-7.  Of course, there was playing in the national title game in Tennessee, being that voice that everyone listens to back home, being part of a great team with a great coach and a bunch of wonderful guys.  And that Linfield game last year . . . it's enough to make me cry!

TW: Do you credit any broadcasters in particular for influencing your style?

MA: If I had to pick a couple, it would have to be the Hall of Fame broadcaster at Washington State, Bob Robertson.  It's his tenacious style, his descriptive style that I really borrow from.  I would also say Darrell Aune, who was at Oregon State for over 27 years and is now at Linfield.  When I was living in Bend (1983-86), I'd be working outside and have the radio on listening to the Beavers all the time.  And I said "I think I can do what he does.  I want to do what he does someplace."  Part of the impetus of me doing Willamette are those two guys.  The phrase "Holy Smokes!" is something I actually heard from Rick Rizz with the Mariners.  Every time I say it, I say to myself, "You don't steal from great broadcasters!"  But it just comes out!  It just is.

TW: One of the biggest things I've noticed on the broadcasts is the relationships you build with the players.  How does that happen?

MA: I'm a very personable guy.  I make myself available once or twice a week at practice, standing on the sidelines.  Some of these guys I've known a long time, I've known [fullback] Cody Anthony since he was a little tiny boy!  I just enjoy going to the practices and getting to know them.  I introduce myself as our announcer, I ask them questions, and I promise each one "I'll never make the attribute to you."  So on the air I'll say, "hanging out at practice, I heard this."  Never derogatory.  And then that builds a relationship with them, and I think they trust me.  Then we just become friendly.  I just like talking to people.  I talk to people in grocery stores and in the mall.  It's a running joke on our broadcasts how on road trips, I can find someone who's either connected to my hometown of Hood River, the National Guard or the military, or someone in the media.

TW: What does being the "Voice of the Bearcats" mean to you?

MA: In a non-egotistical way, I really enjoy being the "Voice of the Bearcats."  I enjoy being the person calling the games that other people listen to when they can't go to them.  I know I have history here, and I feel I do a decent job.  I have crappy nights, then I have exceptional nights, so it all averages out!  I get to hang out with great student-athletes, and I just love them.

TW: Mike Allegre, "Voice of the Bearcats."  Thanks.

MA: Oh, It was my pleasure.

[speedybigboy]

BearcatPress that was a nice read, thanks.

[d-train]

Well...the Bearcats certainly made up for lost time on PLU starting with that '94 game. If it weren't for a few hook-and-laterals in '95 and the '99 playoff game, the mid- to late 90's would have really been one-sided.

[AllmyfriendsRpirates]

Whitworth has a chance! The pirates always play Willamette tough look at  prior games they are always down to the wire. Whitworth has some obstacles to overcome but who knows what will happen.

[bluenote]

Born in the Woods! Raised by a Bear! Double set of dog teeth! Triple coat of hair! Two brass balls and a cast iron rod! We're bad mutha#$*@ers! And WE ARE BUCS BY GOD!

...that sounds more like an inbreed.   

[D O.C.]

Oh, BearcatPress...could you possibly pull up the all-time Willamette - Whitworth win/loss record?

Go CATS! Defense!!!

[Bearcat Press]

This is from the Willamette media guide:

Willamette leads the all-time series 27-17, but it's 5-5 over the last 10 years.

1998: Willamette 35, Whitworth 28
1999: Willamette 31, Whitworth 16
2000: Willamette 0 @ Whitworth 9
2001: Willamette 14, Whitworth 17
2002: Willamette 31 @ Whitworth 44
2003: Willamette 24, Whitworth 7
2004: Willamette 28, Whitworth 17
2005: Willamette 40 @ Whitworth 34 (OT)
2006: Willamette 14 @ Whitworth 28
2007: Willamette 17, Whitworth 20 (OT)

Over the last ten years, Whitworth leads in Spokane 3-1, Willamette leads in Salem 4-2.  Another interesting stat: in the seasons when the Bearcats beat Whitworth, their record is 33-18.  In the seasons when the Bearcats lose to Whitworth, they're 19-29.

[RedandPurple]

I've had six days to think over the win against SOU. I was disappointed the 'Cats only scored 14 points and fumbled way to much. It wasn't pretty and our 'Cats have a lot to work on, but a win is a win. Now let's continue to chop the Oaks!

Last six meetings:
10/26/02       McMinnville, Ore.       Linfield 56, Menlo 6 
10/25/03       Atherton, Calif.       Linfield 30, Menlo 24
10/30/04       McMinnville, Ore.       Linfield 69, Menlo 13
10/29/05       Atherton, Calif.       Linfield 38, Menlo 7
10/28/06       McMinnville, Ore.       Linfield 21, Menlo 3 
0/27/07       Atherton, Calif.       Linfield 37, Menlo 6 

Help! I'm still trying to figure out how to upload my own picture to my profile. Anyone care to help me? Send me an email. Please use language I can understand, because I'm not smarter than a fifth grader. 

[D O.C.]

Good work BearcatPress. Timely too! Let the newbie chew on that!

[D O.C.]

Okay then boys and girls.........



                                                  DEFENSE!

[MonroviaCat]

Okay then boys and girls.........



                                                  DEFENSE!

Yup...

[Olinemom]

GO CATS!  HOLD ON TO THE BALL AND SCORE!  PLAY DEFENSE LIKE YOU MEAN IT!  IT'S TIME TO PLAY REAL CATDOME FOOTBALL!!!


Love and all the e-brownies you can eat,



OLINEMOM

[RedandPurple]

GO CATS!  HOLD ON TO THE BALL AND SCORE!  PLAY DEFENSE LIKE YOU MEAN IT!  IT'S TIME TO PLAY REAL CATDOME FOOTBALL!!!


Love and all the e-brownies you can eat,



OLINEMOM

olinemom:
            AMEN SISTER!

[Tuxguy]

Olinemom,

Now you've got me hungry. 

Cats will control the ball and SCORE on the Oaks all day long.
The Oaks will fall!

I'd say it's in the Bank but mine just closed. LOL
I went to the bank to cash a check and  I had to use my own pen!

GO CATS
ONE GAME AT A TIME