Mike Tirico ’88, acclaimed NBC Sports broadcaster and dedicated alumnus, will deliver ������’s address Sunday, May 10, in the JMA Wireless Dome. The ceremony begins at 9:30 a.m.

Tirico, who serves as vice chair of ������’s Board of Trustees, has built a career at the center of American sports broadcasting, calling play-by-play for “Sunday Night Football” and “NBA on NBC” and serving as the primetime host for NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Olympics.

In February 2026, he became the first U.S. broadcaster ever to call the Super Bowl and host a Winter Olympics in the same year—a milestone that capped more than three decades in the profession he first pursued in the studios of WAER-FM, ������’s public radio station.

“Mike Tirico is the definition of an Orange success story,” says Chancellor Kent Syverud. “He began his career right here on campus, and has gone on to become one of the most respected voices in sports broadcasting. His deep and lasting commitment to ������ reflects the same values of excellence we hope to inspire in every graduate. We are honored and proud to welcome him home for this milestone celebration.”

“There is no place that has meant more to me than ������,” says Tirico. “Personally and professionally so much of what has defined my life traces back to SU. It is an incredible honor to be asked to address the Class of 2026 and welcome them to our proud family of Orange alums. I can’t wait to share this special day with the next group that joins our Forever Orange family.”

Broadcast Start

Tirico earned a dual bachelor’s degree in 1988 in political science from the and the and in broadcast journalism from the . He launched his broadcasting career at WAER-FM before joining WTVH-TV in Syracuse as sports director and serving as the play-by-play voice for ������ basketball, football, lacrosse and volleyball.

Tirico joined ESPN as a “SportsCenter” anchor in 1991, eventually becoming the voice of “Monday Night Football” from 2006-15, one of only four play-by-play announcers to call primetime NFL games for at least 10 seasons. Over 25 years at ESPN and ABC Sports, he called the NBA, college football, college basketball, golf’s Masters and The Open, the FIFA World Cup and tennis championships, the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. In July 2016, he joined NBC Sports.

At NBC, Tirico is the play-by-play voice of “Sunday Night Football,” primetime television’s most-watched show for an unprecedented 15 consecutive years, and has served as the network’s primetime host for the PyeongChang, Tokyo, Beijing, Paris and Milan Cortina Olympics. In February 2026, he called Super Bowl LX and then immediately shifted to host the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, an unmatched broadcasting double that drew widespread acclaim. He was named the 2010 Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and has won five Sports Emmy Awards. In the summer of 2025, he was inducted into the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame by a vote of his peers.

Dedication to the University

Tirico has remained closely connected to the University throughout his career. Elected to the Board of Trustees in 2016, he was elected vice chair in 2025 and serves on the board’s Executive, Advancement and External Affairs and Student Experience Committees. He has served on the board’s search committees, including for the dean of the Newhouse School, the athletics director and, most recently, the chancellor. His University service also includes membership on the Newhouse Advisory Board and the Advisory Board.

He has been recognized with the George Arents Award, the University’s highest alumni honor, in 2005; the Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 1996; and the Newhouse School’s Marty Glickman Award for Leadership in Sports Media in 2017. He and his wife, Deborah Gibaratz Tirico ’89 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), established the Mike Tirico Scholarship Endowment and supported initiatives across the Maxwell, Newhouse and Whitman schools, WAER and ������ Athletics.

While Juneteenth—a day to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved African Americans across the United States—became a New York State holiday in 2020 and a federal holiday in 2021, the Central New York community has proudly recognized and since 1988.

This year will be no different, as event organizers like Cora Thomas are once again excited to bring together residents of all backgrounds and ages to honor and embrace Black culture through educational workshops, live music performances and family-friendly events.

The city of Syracuse’s 34th annual takes place June 14-15 in Clinton Square downtown, beginning with the raising of the Juneteenth flag in front of Syracuse City Hall on Friday, June 14. One of the highlights is Saturday’s victory parade, which starts outside of the Dunbar Center at 11 a.m. and concludes in Clinton Square at noon.

“I am passionate about celebrating and preserving our history, and Juneteenth is a powerful symbol of freedom and unity,” says Cora Thomas, office manager who serves on the Syracuse Juneteenth board of directors as chair of the ancestral celebration.

“Being part of this committee allows me to contribute to raising awareness and fostering a sense of community and pride. It’s an honor and there’s a wonderful sense of unity as we honor the past and continue to look towards a brighter future.”

This year’s celebration is the third in Syracuse since Juneteenth (June 19) became an acknowledged New York state holiday in 2020.

All musical performances will occur in Clinton Square. The festivities conclude on the actual holiday, June 19, by honoring outstanding community members during the ancestral celebration in the city hall commons atrium. There will also be a Miss Juneteenth Pageant on June 13 at the Community Folk Art Center.

Thomas sat down with SU News to discuss the importance of Juneteenth, how the celebrations have grown over the years and why the victory parade is an “incredibly moving experience.”

������ has a long, storied history of producing talented sports broadcasters.

Names like Marv Albert ’63, Bob Costas ’74 and Mike Tirico ’88, decorated members of the sports broadcasting industry, honed their crafts and developed their radio voices as student broadcasters with .

As members of the WAER Hall of Fame, Albert, Costas and Tirico certainly paved the way for future generations of sports radio play-by-play voices. But before WAER, which stands for Always Excellent Radio, became a world-renowned 50,000-watt blowtorch and powerful on-campus radio station, it was an ambitious project that required the hard work and dedication of five student broadcasters and a faculty advisor to get off the ground.

Starting in 1930, the Radio Workshop allowed students to produce on-air programs for local radio stations. Thanks to new radio technology, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the University to conduct experimental broadcasts in the Fall 1946 semester.

Under the watchful direction of faculty advisor Lawrence Myers Jr., five students—program director Gerald Adler ’48, G’54, news and sports director Charles Reichblum ’48, music director Ehrla Niman Lapinsky ’48, continuity director James Cohan ’48 and production director John Kurtz ’48—helped usher in a golden era of radio on campus.

On April 1, 1947, WAER (then known as WJIV) officially launched as the first low-power FM radio station in the country, beaming out a 2.5-kilowatt signal that barely reached all radios on campus from its broadcast location underneath the steps of Carnegie Library.

“It was such a thrill launching WAER as a student, and now, seeing what it has become, well that was one of the greatest memories of my college career,” Reichblum says. “Back then, all of us grew up wanting to be in radio, and here we were, ������ juniors running a real radio station. Those were special memories.”

The Original Voice of the Orange

Reichblum, the original “Voice of the Orange,” served as the radio play-by-play voice for Syracuse’s football and basketball games, partnering with his color commentator, Marv Shapiro ’48, who went on to become president of Westinghouse Broadcasting Co.

Reichblum and Shapiro called home football games from Archbold Gymnasium and home basketball games from the colosseum at the New York State Fairgrounds after a fire ravaged Archbold Gymnasium during Reichblum’s senior year. The broadcast team also aired road games.

Even if the station’s signal couldn’t be heard beyond campus, Reichblum says those pioneering students knew they were both making history and maximizing the opportunity to enjoy real-world broadcasting experience while still in school.

“I was the play-by-play announcer and we all felt fortunate to be playing the roles of real radio people while we were at Syracuse. Our station’s signal wasn’t very strong, but it did cover the campus. We were broadcasting across campus, and we had an FCC license. It’s a proud tradition WAER has on campus, and we were honored to be part of the founding group,” says Reichblum, now 95 years old.

On Nov. 9, 1984, the six founding members were honored with the Founders’ Award, presented annually to a WAER student who best exemplifies the professional ideals set by the station’s original staff.

Lifelong Passion for Radio … and Trivia

Reichblum grew up an avid fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He fondly recalls spending countless hours in his room listening to Pirates baseball broadcasts on KDKA, which helped Reichblum form a special connection with his favorite team and his favorite medium.

Bob Prince handled the radio play-by-play duties for the Pirates, and Reichblum quickly became enamored with how Prince wove stories and trivia into his broadcasts. Upon learning that Prince lived down the street, Reichblum proceeded to knock on his door and introduce himself.

When he was 14 years old, Prince gave Reichblum his first job in radio, an internship where Reichblum monitored the station’s teletype to sort through that day’s news. One morning, Reichblum came upon a story that would spark his lifelong love affair with trivia and obscure facts. The teletype mentioned how three of the nation’s first five presidents—John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe—died on the same day: July 4.

That presidential factoid was the first of what Reichblum d믭 his fascinating facts, a collection of stories that Reichblum started cultivating in high school and continued throughout his time at ������.

After graduating with a radio degree from the College of Speech and Dramatic Arts (which later became the ), Reichblum served as sports director at WJAS (Pittsburgh) before forming Century Features, Inc., a national company that provided syndicated sponsored weekly sports and news columns that ran in newspapers that were distributed across the country and Canada. , a fitting tribute for someone who amassed one of the world’s largest collections of stories during a 50-plus year career in journalism.

He broadcast the daily “Dr. Knowledge Feature” nationwide on the CBS radio network, and Reichblum also hosted his “Dr. Knowledge Show” on KDKA. Reichblum is the author of “The All-Time Book of Fascinating Facts,” including the newest version of the book, a summation of Reichblum’s interesting facts—which has been called the best trivia book of all time—the all-time book of fascinating facts. Previously, he wrote 11 “Knowledge in a Nutshell” and “Dr. Knowledge Presents” books.

Syracuse Holds a Special Place

It’s been nearly 75 years since Reichblum graduated from Syracuse, but the University still holds special significance—Reichblum and his wife, Audrey, raised a son, Robert ’78, who earned a broadcast journalism degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

“I get nostalgic for many reasons, but I will always love ������. It was the perfect place for me. WAER launched my radio career, and we had such great instructors,” Reichblum says. “They were all helpful in getting us going in this field, and we were all infatuated with radio, which was the big thing back then. We held ourselves to a high standard at Syracuse and our broadcasts were on par with what you’d hear back then on WSYR. I’m so proud of what we accomplished.”

grew up idolizing New York Yankees’ Hall of Fame outfielder Mickey Mantle during the Golden Age of Major League Baseball, when New York City, with Mantle’s Yankees, Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers and Willie Mays’ New York Giants, was at the epicenter of the sport.

Costas loved listening to baseball on the radio, and he became enamored with the melodic voices and creative storytellers of the day. Hall of Famers like Mel Allen, Red Barber and Vin Scully.

When he arrived at ������ in the fall of 1970 as an aspiring broadcast journalist, Costas just wanted to one day land a radio play-by-play job in baseball. Little did Costas know he would one day wind up in Cooperstown as a alongside Mantle and his childhood heroes.

“If I was throwing the rubber ball off a wall and imagining a game in my head as all kids did, I heard Mel Allen or Red Barber or Vin Scully. If I was shooting baskets, I heard Marty Glickman and then his protege, Marv Albert. And part of the reason why, a big part why I went to ������, is because Marty Glickman and Marv Albert had gone to Syracuse. And so, too by then had Dick Stockton and Len Berman and others,” says Costas, the only person in television history to have won Emmys for sports, news and entertainment.

“Since then, it’s become a list too long to count. It’s Sportscaster U. To me, a game wasn’t a game without those great and often melodic voices that gave the game lyrics and melody almost that quintessential example of that is Vin Scully with the great lyrics and this melodic and rhythmic case and delivery that he had that was perfectly suited to baseball. That wasn’t a partial influence. It was a major influence in my wanting to become a sports broadcaster,” Costas adds.

Costas’ broadcasting career has included winning 28 Emmy Awards, calling 12 Olympics, and covering multiple World Series, Super Bowls and NBA Finals. The WAER Hall of Famer still calls baseball games and makes appearances on MLB Network and CNN, and hosts “Back On the Record with Bob Costas” on HBO.

On this “’Cuse Conversation,” Costas discusses his love for baseball and the new rule changes meant to speed up the pace of play, reveals which broadcasters inspired him, remembers thinking his career was doomed to fail after hearing his first sportscast, shares how and the helped him develop his voice and his style, and relives his most memorable sportscasting moments.

Note: This conversation was edited for brevity and clarity.

Check out episode 134 of the “’Cuse Conversations” podcast featuring Bob Costas ’74. A transcript [PDF] is also available.

Helping celebrate the best of ������, Costas will be among the many participants in Thursday’s —a day to come together to support Syracuse and show what it means to be Forever Orange.

������ is ringing in the holidays with its third “” concert on Sunday, Dec. 18, at 7:30 p.m. in historic .

Free and open to the public, the all-ages show features songs, carols and instrumental classics performed by the (SUBE) and the (SOS) Chorus, led by artistic director James T. Spencer and master director Kay Crawford, respectively.

Both groups are joined by emcee Bruce Paulsen, an on-air host for WCNY-FM; Harmonic Collective, an award-winning men’s a cappella chorus; and pianist Jon Bergman.

Attendees are invited to bring food or personal care items as a donation for the . For more information, contact Hendricks Chapel at chapel@syr.edu or 315.443.2901.

The University offers free parking in the Irving Avenue Garage and the Quad Lot on North Campus. Convenient on-street parking is also available, due to students being on winter break.

“This new holiday tradition provides a distinctive opportunity to connect campus and community,” says the Rev. Brian E. Konkol, dean of Hendricks Chapel. “The ������ Brass Ensemble and Spirit of Syracuse Chorus are much loved at Hendricks Chapel, leaving us excited for this latest chapter in our collaboration.”

SUBE and the SOS Chorus came together in 2019 for the inaugural “Horns and Harmonies” concert. The results were so positive that organizers decided to formalize the collaboration.

“A tradition was born, building on decades of successful SUBE winter concerts in Hendricks Chapel,” says Spencer, a meredith professor of who has conducted, written for and played in SUBE for much of its 35-year history. “SUBE and the SOS Chorus bring out the best in each another, while fostering a sense of community.”

“Horns and Harmonies” features individual and combined sets by SUBE and the SOS Chorus, culminating in a group performance of Leroy Anderson’s “A Christmas Festival.” The evening concludes with a traditional candlelight service in which everyone sings “Silent Night.”

Spencer, for one, is excited to deliver “fresh interpretations” of seasonal classics like Prokofiev’s “Sleighride” and Strauss Jr.’s “Radetsky March,” along with such holiday fare as “Jingle Bells” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” There’s even a piece inspired by the John Adams orchestral fanfare, “Short Ride in a Fast Machine.”

The SOS Chorus will also delve into different genres, ranging from pop (Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird”) to quasi-classical (“Night of Silence/Silent Night”) to Broadway (“We Need a Little Christmas from Mame”). Rounding out the lineup are such chestnuts as “Sleighride”; “Mary, Did You Know?”; and “The Man with the Bag.”

“We’re excited to reunite with the SUBE,” says Crawford, who is joined by assistant director Sky Harris and associate directors Alicia Caron and Paulette Young. “Four-part a cappella harmonies combined with the sounds of a British-style brass band are pure joy.”

“Horns and Harmonies” will be broadcast on WCNY-FM on Saturday, Dec. 24, at 8 p.m.

, which is licensed to the University and is part of the , also plans to air the performance in December.  Celebrating its 65^th season, the 70-member SOS Chorus is one of the oldest chapters of Sweet Adelines International (SAI)—a global organization committed to advancing barbershop harmony through education, performance and competition. Prior to the pandemic, the all-female chorus placed 21^st out of 600 groups worldwide at the SAI Convention and Competition in New Orleans.

“We create musical excellence in a warm, caring and supportive environment,” says Crawford, who has been involved with the chorus for more than three decades. “This encourages the personal growth and development of each member.”

Harris, Crawford’s colleague, is the founding director of Harmonic Collective, which participated last summer in the Barbershop Harmony Society’s international convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

SUBE is no stranger to Hendricks Chapel, having participated in the annual “” concert from 2007-19. The 35-piece ensemble regularly performs at ������, SUNY Upstate Medical University, the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Le Moyne College. SUBE also presents about a dozen concerts a year throughout the region.

Based in Syracuse’s , SUBE is preparing to return to the Gettysburg Brass Band Festival in Pennsylvania, where it last performed in 2017. The ensemble also has appeared at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, Kentucky, and the North American Brass Band Association’s U.S. open contest, earning two first place awards.

Sound Beat: Access Audio, a storytelling initiative of the Special Collections Research Center at ������ Libraries, is launching a 12-part podcast series titled, “The Land You’re On: Acknowledging the Haudenosaunee.”

The first three episodes will be released on Wednesday, Nov.9, 2022, at a launch party at Bird Library in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons from 3 to 4 p.m. and through the website and WAER 88.3’s website. Subsequent episodes will be released weekly on those two platforms, Soundbeat.org and WAER.org, which will also make the series available on popular podcast platforms such as Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.

The podcast launch party will include an overview of the series, a preview of the first three episodes; remarks from Neal Powless G’08, University ombuds; and traditional Haudenosaunee food and drink from Angela Ferguson, seedkeeper of the Onondaga Nation.

The podcast series features candid conversations with Haudenosaunee students, alumni, staff and community members. Learn about the history and the people who were the first residents of our area. Why is a lacrosse stick so important to the Onondagas? What is it like being an ancestor of the Indigenous people of the land but going to college with mostly white students and faculty? How did matriarchal societies work for Native American groups and what is their connection to women’s suffrage? These are some of the topics covered in the podcast series. The first three episodes released include:

• Episode 1: “The Land Acknowledgment”: How can you acknowledge what you don’t understand? Neal Powless defines key terms in the ������ Land Acknowledgment.
• Episode 2: “The Doctrine of Discovery”: How a 15th century papal bull connects Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Christopher Columbus and the land beneath you.
• Episode 3: “An Evening at Minnowbrook”: Joanne Shenandoah in Concert: A performance of story and song before a small audience in the Adirondack lodge overlooking Blue Mountain Lake.