Young Davis lands gig

KU radio voice's son following dad

Steve Davis doesn’t hide his pride for his father, Bob Davis, the familiar radio voice of Kansas University athletics and the television voice of Royals baseball.

“I like to think he’s pretty good,” said Davis, now a senior and in his last year as a student-manager for KU’s men’s basketball team. “If I can be half as good as him, I’ll be OK.”

Young Davis is about to embark on a career in broadcasting, and his dad is delighted.

“I’m excited for him,” Bob Davis said. “I think he’ll have the time of his life.”

If, that is, you can have the time of your life spending the summer in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and making long bus rides to Casper, Wyo.; Billings, Mont.; and Orem, Utah — to name a few franchises in the Pioneer League, a short-season rookie baseball league.

Steve Davis never has broadcast a baseball game in his life, but he will be the road radio voice this summer of the Chukars, a Royals’ farm club located in Idaho Falls. He’ll also be the public-address announcer at home games, among other things.

“Basically, I’ll be learning the ropes,” he said. “If they want me to sell advertising, I’ll sell advertising. I even get to help roll out the tarp if it’s raining, and I’m pretty excited about that.”

Young Davis harbored the notion through his years at Lawrence High and again at KU that he wanted to be a basketball coach. But his aspirations changed the more he hung around the Royals and realized how much he enjoyed baseball.

“Even though the Royals were terrible, I loved hanging out and working in the (production) truck,” he said. “And I began to think I didn’t want to spend all year on just one sport.”

While chatting with Royals radio broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre one day last summer, Davis asked what he had to do to get into the business. Lefebvre told him he needed to compile an obligatory resume, but that he also needed to provide tapes for potential employers to evaluate.

“So I made some tapes,” Davis said. “I just sat there and did a few innings of some Royals games for nobody but me.”

Later, Lefebvre told Davis he thought there might be a possible job opportunity in Idaho Falls.

“I called Idaho Falls, found there was an opening,” he said, “so I sent my resume and the tapes.”

And the Chukars, who generally receive the Royals’ top picks in the June free-agent drafts, hired him. He will replace Tim Hagerty, who moved on to Mobile, Ala., to become the voice for the Class AA baseball team there.

Davis will head for Idaho soon after graduation ceremonies and remain there until the Chukars’ season ends in early September. Then he hopes to find a job broadcasting basketball games during the winter.

“I’ll start looking,” he said. “Obviously, I like this area, but I’ll go wherever.”