Chuck Crabb: A Talk With A Hoosier Legend

The legendary voice of the Indiana Hoosiers sits down with Ink on Indy to help us learn the story behind the mic.

For 38 years, Chuck Crabb’s iconic voice has echoed through Assembly Hall. Like the five banners that hang over the south bleachers, the big white state of Indiana at center court, and those glorious candy striped warm-up pants, Chuck Crabb is a huge part of what makes the tradition of Indiana basketball so special.

There may be no more recognizable call-to-arms in college basketball as hearing Chuck bellow, “Ladies and Gentlemen, your Indiana Hoooooosiers.” Even as I typed those words, I got goose bumps, and very few phrases have that kind of effect on me.

A native of nearby Brazil, Indiana, Chuck came to IU in the fall of 1969 with aspirations of becoming a sports writer. He completed his undergrad degree in journalism from Indiana in 1973. “I wanted to be the next Grantland Rice (the inspiration for the name of ESPN’s Grantland.com). I wanted to be a sports writer.” No jobs were available in sports writing upon his graduation, so Chuck briefly ended up as the desk editor for the afternoon paper in Terre Haute. “I never was really able to fulfill my dream of being a sports writer, but I’ve obviously been involved in other ways.”

Chuck recalled his early beginnings, working for Tom Miller, former IU Sports Information Director, “I started doing some IU public address announcing as an undergrad. There’s a separate P.A. system that serves the 5th level of the football press box, and I was asked to start handling that service, announcing the football statistics to the writers covering the game.”

Obviously, he must have made a good impression. Shortly thereafter, in March of 1976, Miller and Bert Laws, Chuck’s predecessor as Hoosier basketball P.A. man, approached him about what would b a dream job in many Hoosier fans’ eyes. “The excitement of Indiana beating Michigan State to go 18-0 for a second straight year, personally, for me, went through the stratosphere, when Tom and Bert asked me if I’d replace Bert in one more year when he retired.”

Bert Laws started as football announcer for the Hoosiers in 1936, and retired as men’s basketball and football announcer in March of 1977. For almost eight decades, Indiana has had just two guys behind the mic, each becoming legends in their own right. Few institutions can lay claim to that much history and dedication.

Ironically, in the year prior to taking over the IU public address duties, Chuck was hired full-time by the university as the very first assistant athletic fundraiser in the varsity club, working under then Varsity Club Director, and future IU Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, Dave Martin. There was a lot of discussion throughout that school year as to whether or not he would have enough time to wear both hats, potentially throwing a wrench into the gears.

“(They said), Chuck, you’re going to be too busy working events, being socially involved with everything happening in fundraising,” Chuck recalled, and he certainly understood what athletics was saying. However, at the end of the 1977 basketball season, then athletics director, Paul Dietzel, was inundated with audition tapes, and inquiries from students wanting to be the P.A. announcer for a few years, until they finished their degrees and moved on to their professional careers. In having just completed a 40-year period with Bert Laws, the athletic department really gained an appreciation for the continuity and longevity they had with the soon to be retired voice of the Hoosiers. It was that appreciation that led them to ultimately award the job to the man who has since been in the seat at center court in Assembly Hall for the better part of 38 years. “(Paul said,) If you’re good enough for Tom Miller, you’re good enough for me, so figure on adding this to your responsibilities.”