The “voice of Luverne Cardinal sports play-by-plays” made his last broadcast Thursday night, June 6, in Marshall.
Bruce Thalhuber took over broadcasting sports events for KQAD-AM in Luverne in 2001. Several times a week he recounted the football, volleyball, girls’ and boys’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ hockey and baseball games for the public who could not attend the games in person.
Thalhuber said over the years he’s felt he has become a member of the Cardinal teams as he announced their events on the field, rink or court.
“When they do something good, you naturally get excited,” he said.
Something good happened Tuesday night, June 4, when the Cardinal baseball team broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the seventh to qualify for their third consecutive appearance in the section finals.
Thalhuber went against his play-by-play philosophy of “just call the game” by actively cheering Ben Serie’s line drive to win the game against Fairmont. Shouting was not good for a sports announcer’s voice.
“I couldn’t talk very well the next day,” he admitted, happy he didn’t have to announce another game the same night.
Thalhuber announced last fall that he would end his sports announcing career after the Spring 2019 season.
He wanted to leave the announcer’s booth knowing that he was still able to give radio listeners an accurate account of what occurred on the field.
“The best compliment I can get from someone is them saying, ‘It felt like I was there.’”
While Thalhuber retires from sports announcing, he will continue to work as the on-air personality known as “Bruce T” at the Luverne station and possibly attend Cardinal sports events as a fan from the stands.
“My wife (Phyllis) said she would not sit with me because I’ll probably start doing play-by-plays,” he said with a smile.