Casey and the Bear End of an era for Mankato Radio

On Sunday morning, April 22, 1973, Barry Wortel walked into the main KTOE studio hours before dawn.

It’s the loneliest shift in radio, one that few want to work. It’s also where many aspiring announcers are forced to start, mostly doing station IDs, a little news and monitoring pre-recorded programs.

I am guessing nine out of 10 who pull this shift wash out in a year or two; it’s too hard getting up at 4 a.m., especially on Sunday.

Wortel, or “The Bear,” as he is affectionately known, doesn’t do Sunday mornings any more. He kept at it, kept moving up the ladder, wearing various hats: afternoon announcer, program director (in charge of hiring and scheduling announcers) and then part-time sales.

Now he’s been on-air at KTOE an astonishing 50 years. He interviews at least six high school and three college coaches every week. Some of those coaches will likely join him when he does his final “Benchwarmer” show on Sat., July 1. nnnn

Last year, another veteran local sportscaster, Casey Lloyd, stepped down after 50 years of calling MSU Maverick football, basketball and other sports.

As “The Voice of the Mavericks” told The Free Press last September, when he called a game for college station KMSU in 1970 (the campus then was still “down in the valley” and the studio in what is now Old Main Village), Casey in no way expected it to last. Instead, he got hired by KYSM, and since, as he told Chad Courrier, “MSU has been my life.”

Lloyd, who is about a decade older than The Bear, was honored by MSU Athletics last fall with its inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award. He got a standing ovation from the hundreds of staff, coaches, community supporters and alumni packed into the CSU ballroom.

An emotional Casey, who was seldom accused of objectivity as he called Maverick games, told the crowd of “…how much energy I get from the students, the potential I see in them.”

A bit later, Alex Andrews Shepp, who helped give Casey one of his greatest broadcast moments back in 2009 when she helped lead the Mavericks to the national women’s D-II basketball championship, took the stage and said, “Casey has a way of making you feel valued.” nnnn

Maybe that’s why both Barry and Casey lasted 50 years in one market: that personal touch, their dedication to the coaches and the players, as well as to the fans.

The Bear, a 1970 Loyola grad, had been driving cab after attending Brown Institute. He started talking to KTOE’s Bud Quimby and others, and eventually scored that Sunday morning gig.

When sportscaster Ben Dickmeyer stepped down, avid sports fan Bear asked management to “give me a chance.” nnnn

Thousands of games down the line, he says, “This has been the best year.” That includes a standing ovation at halftime of the East-West basketball game, a presentation of special gifts at the reunion of the undefeated 2003 State Champion Loyola boys’ basketball team, and being presented the State High School League’s Outstanding Media Service Award at the recent state basketball tournament.

'It’s not a job'

Sports announcers are renowned for their long careers — look at Vin Scully (89 when he called his last Dodgers’ game) or Dick Vitale or Jim Nantz. It’s not only their loyalty and dedication, it’s pure love of what they’re doing.

Casey, who estimates he’s called 3,000 games, told the MSU Reporter, “It’s not a job. I just love it.”

Sports guys also tend to have amazing memories of a certain play or player, or of a particular game. Barry still remembers his first play-by-play, Mankato West at St. Cloud Apollo in football in September 1975.

“I did OK,” he smiles.

For Casey, that first game for KMSU was UNI versus the thenMankato State College men’s basketball team.

I was fortunate enough to work with both Casey and the Bear at different times in my career. The first word that comes to mind to describe them is “devotion.”

I am guessing that, over a halfcentury, they probably took a total of four weeks of sick time between them. Regardless of headaches or sniffles or blizzards or long drives to Winona or Bismarck, they were going to be mic-side for their games.

Casey will continue pursuing another passion, announcing at Brainerd International Raceway (where he once met Paul Newman). The Bear will continue leading trips for the Travel Center and admits he’d be open to calling some games at tournament time when stations often need extra announcers.

But as Barry put it to me recently on his 2 p.m. show, “It’s time, I’m ready. I’ve had my fun. Fifty years of tremendous memories.”

Longtime radio guy Pete Steiner is now a free lance writer in Mankato.