Buddy Martin Blog. Sean Kelley Wants To Be 'Your Guy' As Voice Of The Gators. Give him a shot.
Updated: Aug 11, 2022
It’s more than just an announcer’s voice they want and expect. He’s got to replace a favorite uncle who told them at his knee about the Glory Days for the past 33 years, explaining like Walter Cronkite whether it’s good or bad news.
By BUDDY MARTIN
He’s old enough to remember listening to the voice of Jack Buck wafting through the St. Louis night from the portable radio in his home on Lennox Drive in Ballwin, MO. It was like hitting the jackpot for a 10-year-old boy.
Sean Kelly was Peter Pan flying on the magic carpet ride of radio, hearing Buck narrate his beloved Cardinals’ 1982 World Series victory. He didn’t know it, but one day he would also talk sports for a living, too.
The oldest of six Kelley kids grew up in Ballwin (pop 31,000), near the big-time sports town of St. Louis, which as he says, “has been blessed for decades with brilliant sports broadcasters” – from Harry Caray to Jack Buck and Joe Buck, to Bob Costas, ad infinitum – which “inspired me and led me toward this profession.”
Following the footsteps of three iconic figures 40 years later, in The House That Otis, David and Mick built, he took a job that only three other men have ever held since 1940. UF had 14 coaches in football and 11 in basketball in that 82-year span. Three announcers. That means the new guy ought to be good until about 2040.
Sean Kelley? I know what you’re thinking. With a name like that he should be the Voice of the Fighting Irish.
At age 50, Sean Kelley is jumping squarely into the cosmic digital space as your new Voice of Gators. The technology is different, but he realizes his role is the same: To establish gravitas as the link between Gator football and basketball with the fans. Just like Otis Boggs, David Steele and Mick Hubert did. Or better.
It’s more than just an announcer’s voice they want and expect. He’s got to replace a favorite uncle who told them at his knee about the Glory Days for the past 33 years, explaining like Walter Cronkite whether it’s good or bad news. Or sometimes simply needing to hold their hand during the storm, or lighten their mood.
Long before he came to Gainesville, Kelley learned about “In All Kinds of Weather,” suffering as a beleaguered Cardinal fan through what was known as “The Dark Days of the Seventies.”
After getting to know Jack Buck, he asked what it was like for him calling all those gloomy games after winning the World Series in the sixties with so many legendary players.
“Sometimes,” Buck told him, “You’ve just got to be better than the team.”
That shouldn’t be a burden for Sean Kelley to carry during the current regime. The teams may not be all that bad, although maybe Kelley will just be that good. After all, he was chosen over 200 other applicants.
He realizes it won’t be easy, because replacing Mick Hubert will be a little like Ron Zook, who tried to follow a legend. He won’t be Mick Hubert nor even try to take his place. He isn’t bringing a catch phrase or signature expression, but hopes one might evolve. It’s a new era and a fresh new voice that will emerge from the booth on Sept. 3.
Kelly comes walking through the front door as a final replacement piece of an athletic department overhaul which includes a relatively new athletic director, a brand-new football coach, a new basketball coach as only the fourth voice, heart and soul of the Gator Nation. For while, it could be like a stranger living in the House of Orange & Blue. Historical references and backstories won't have to be verified and vetted, but he isn’t likely going to be a walking encyclopedia of Gator sports. Nor does he need to be.
No pressure Sean Kelley. And oh yeah – and all this in the confounding, confusing era of the NIL and Transfer Portal.
On the other hand, I believe he’s got this.
So far, we’ve learned that Kelley is a humble man with excellent sports knowledge, a healthy sense of humor and superb broadcasting skills which he displayed in calling games for the New Orleans Pelicans, New Orleans Saints, as well as becoming ESPN Radio’s lead college football radio announcer. He also has called MLB games and worked in many other college venues. He’s a Saluki from Southern Illinois but became a quick study in Missouri and Louisiana.
Sean Kelley? My friends in the electronic media say Florida hit a home run.
“Florida scored big with Sean. I can’t believe the Saints and Pelicans let him leave here,” said talk show host Matt Moscona, whose popular show Upon Further Review is heard daily on ESPN Baton Rouge/New Orleans.
“We’ll see about that ‘home run,’” Kelley said with a light chuckle during a lengthy interview for @The Buddy Martin Show. “I’ve yet to see a pitch. I may look good in the batter’s box. But what happens when the pitch gets thrown?”
He’ll get that AB behind the mic Sept. 3rd when No. 8 Utah comes to The Swamp.
So who will that guy be behind that mic?
“A guy who loves sports. And loves radio,” he said. “And loves being part of a team. Which is part of the reason I’m down here in Gainesville, Florida. My desire to be a part of something … part of the community… be a part of a particular team’s journey.
“I love that process. I guess I’m ‘squared away’ enough to know my role. So, if it’s being a link between the fans and that team, or outlet to tell stories about their young men or coaches that come out, then I’m all in.”
The job of calling Gator football and basketball games, plus side assignments from ESPN Radio when schedule permits, isn’t going to be difficult for a consummate pro like Kelley. His biggest challenge is getting The Gator Nation to buy in.
It took a minute for Hubert to earn that gravitas, well into his fourth season when he delivered the line, “Doering got a touchdown!”
“That process can’t be forced. It has to be organic, much like Mick did with the ‘Doering’s got a touchdown,’” Kelley acknowledged. “Those touchstones have to present themselves. I can’t go into September with a catch phrase, or anything pre-scripted, other than welcoming Gator fans back to another chapter in the storied history.”
He knows it has to be authentic. He can’t walk in as Mick Hubert 2. He’s got nothing in his bag to make him an expert on Gator history. He does have a couple of worthy Gator dudes at his back.
“It sure does help to have Shane Matthews in the booth from one particular era,” he said. “And on the sidelines Tate Casey from a more recent era. And then you’ve got me, kind of the new kid in school.”
No doubt Sean Kelley will be over-prepared and “squared away” for the Utah debut as he pulls back the curtain on this brand spanking new age of Gator sports and will deliver his lines fluently.
He might even show his sense of humor as he did on the ESPN broadcast of a Texas football game when an interloper gate-crashed onto the field wearing a Santa Claus outfit and Kelly literally cut to the chase, picking up the play-by-play without missing a beat.
“Santa’s turning the corner … the 20, to the 25, and to the 30 … He’s lost his hat and being chased by Johnny in a security outfit…”
I can’t wait to hear him describe Anthony Richardson in flight.
Sean Kelley has one wish.
“I hope the Gator Nation will see me as one of their own. Quickly. Because that goes back to the trust as having ‘their guy’ in that booth calling their team’s game.”
I think we’re gonna like “their guy.” He already had me at “Johnny Big Lunch.”
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