More Than Just a Mic: Junior Hank Hunter developed a passion for play-by-play announcing at East basketball games and hopes to purse it as a career in the future

“Gooood evening Lancer Nation, welcome back to The Castle!”

“That shot is good!”

Sitting at the courtside table surrounded by team rosters and his scorecard, junior and play-by-  play announcer Hank Hunter makes calls quickly, keeping viewers updated on National Federation of State High School Associations — a subscription-based sports broadcasting network — during an intense and action-packed basketball game.

But this wasn’t always the usual Friday night basketball game experience for Hank.

Growing up playing elementary school basketball and constantly watching K-State games on the TV with his dad, Hank has always been surrounded by the game and always looking to learn more about it. But it wasn’t until high school that Hank took that passion and dove into play-by-play announcing.

“I’d never done anything like this, but I thought back, like ‘Why do people love watching sports so much?’” Hank said. “Like if you watch a game with no announcing and no audio, it’s going to be really boring. I believe that the announcer is just as important for the watching experience as much as the actual game itself.”

Hank reached out to East Athletic Director Ryan Johnson prior to basketball season asking if he could announce at basketball games despite his lack of experience. However, when mentioning his interest in pursuing announcing as a job in the future, according to Hank, Johnson was willing to invest in his dream, making Hank the official play-by-play announcer. 

As there had been no previous play-by-play announcer during Hank’s years in high school, he jumped right into broadcasting with his ball knowledge and has been improving each game. According to Hank, his quality of broadcasting has gotten better because he has learned the art of announcing — not saying too much and letting the game conversation flow. 

“I was just overall impressed that a high school kid would be interested in [announcing] and have the initiative to reach out to the athletic director and really want to pursue that,” Johnson said. “His drive and passion is apparent.”

When it comes time to prepare for games, Hank reads through MaxPreps — a high school sports website with team rankings, statistics and schedules — as well as looking at teams’ websites searching for current and old records and even information about their coaches. Finding these statistics helps Hank stay informed on teams for upcoming games.

Hank also looks for information on common opponents each team has and stats about some of the best players from the Sunflower League teams to throw in while announcing. 

As preparation plays a huge role in entertaining and fluent announcing, being able to speak on the fly, filling dead space and being able to talk in front of people is important to enjoyable announcing, according to Hank.

“You have to be interested in the sport and bring a certain energy to [announcing] to enjoy it,” Hank said. “You have to like what you are doing. That’s one of the most important things.” 

While he continues to improve throughout the season, according to Hank, he hopes to continue announcing in the future and hopefully gain a profession out of it.

“Announcing as a profession is really my dream for either college football or college basketball,” Hank said. “I think college sports are honestly better just because I love the tradition and the values and the heartfelt moments the fans bring to the games. So that’s [the reason] I started [announcing].”