Chuck Crabb: A Talk With A Hoosier Legend

“There was certainly the challenge of stepping into Bert’s shoes. He had done it for 40 years. ”  Chuck reminisced as he revisited his early years aside McCracken Court.

“My style of announcing is, I think, very laid back.  I’m not a shouter. I’m not a screamer. I’m not one that gets excited. Those are the things that the band, and the cheerleaders do to get the crowd get enthused about football. My role is more of reporting, and that’s my degree area, journalism, so reporting comes very naturally.”

Chuck remembers trying to change it up a little in his first season. “I did try to get NBA-like, if you will, getting a little more excited.” He recalls, at one point, playing a little bit on a player’s name after a particularly exciting play. “A name like Wayne Radford, who was playing then… You could say, ‘Raaaaaaadfooooord’ or something like that, and the crowd would respond to it.” The Hoosiers won in overtime against Notre Dame that year, in December of ’77. “The next morning I was asked to come into the athletic director’s office, where (then assistant coach) Bob Donewald was seated. He said, ‘Coach listened to you last night during the game, and if you ever do that kind of announcing again, you’ll never be the announcer for this university.”  Chuck pretty much understood that. “The lesson taught was that no one person, or no one event, is any greater than the game as a whole, and you’re a compliment to what happens with Indiana basketball, so learn your role. And I did very quickly (laughs).” Something must have worked right. Chuck is still here some 38 years later. “I didn’t think I’d every be in a position to be within two years of Bert’s tenure, but it’s here now, almost. It’s very humbling to think that opportunity was offered to me, and guess I’ve gained to acceptance to be able to continue that role as long as I have.”