{"id":82974,"date":"2016-12-27T08:15:50","date_gmt":"2016-12-27T13:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=82974"},"modified":"2016-12-28T08:50:08","modified_gmt":"2016-12-28T13:50:08","slug":"broadcaster-stabler-its-interesting-to-cover-athlete-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2016\/12\/27\/broadcaster-stabler-its-interesting-to-cover-athlete-son\/","title":{"rendered":"Local broadcaster covers athlete son"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL<\/strong>\/independent correspondent<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a unique story involving a father and his son.<\/p>\n

\"Kenny
Kenny Stabler and his son, Brady.<\/strong> Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kenny Stabler is well-known play-by-play announcer for WKSD 99.7 radio, while Brady Stabler is a student-athlete at Wayne Trace High School.<\/p>\n

Stabler has been broadcasting local high school sports for 28 years, but the past couple of seasons have been very special. That\u2019s because he\u2019s been able to enjoy his son\u2019s basketball games, while broadcasting many of them on WKSD.<\/p>\n

Brady is a key starter on this year\u2019s 5-0 team. He started some games last year, and dressed for the state tournament two seasons ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just fun, and I treat it as any other game, I truly do,\u201d the elder Stabler said. \u201cI thought maybe it would be awkward at first, but it hasn\u2019t been at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just try to block it out and try to be the broadcaster, more so than the dad,\u201d<\/p>\n

His son echoed similar thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he\u2019s there, and it\u2019s nice to have him there,\u201d Stabler said. \u201cI like to go up after the game and talk to him, but during the game I don\u2019t think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brady\u2019s teammates also know his father is there calling the games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey usually ask about it the day of the game, and then afterwards in the locker room they ask about the (player of the game) awards, and who they think deserves them,\u201d Brady said.<\/p>\n

With a chuckle, the older Stabler\u00a0said that he\u2019s also heard feedback from radio listeners.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been accused by many people already this year: hey, it\u2019s okay to let loose, Brady\u2019s doing really good, don\u2019t be afraid to show a little emotion like you do for other kids,\u201d Stabler said. \u201cI know in the back of my mind, though, that I have to keep it professional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broadcasting Brady\u2019s games has come with a perk or two, the veteran broadcaster added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re covering Wayne Trace, he\u2019s coming home and telling me some of the things they\u2019re working on, and shares his view on what they see about the (upcoming) opponent,\u201d Stabler said.<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s not broadcasting his son\u2019s games, Stabler enjoys them as a fan in the stands with his wife Rhonda. Daughter Libby is a pharmacy student at the University of Findlay, and is able to attend some games. Other times she listens to them online.<\/p>\n

Along with playing basketball and being an all-Green Meadows Conference golfer, Brady is a 4.0 student and is ranked first in his class at Wayne Trace. He plans to study nuclear medicine at the University of Findlay.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, since the fourth grade, he\u2019s occasionally joined his father in the broadcast\u00a0booth. He\u2019s already served as a color commentator a couple of times this season, but he\u2019s been filling in here and there for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was about midway through the football season and we were at Paulding,\u201d Brady said. \u201cI\u2019d just gone with him to all the games (before then), and I just wanted to do it all the sudden.\u201d<\/p>\n

His father beamed with pride when talking about broadcasting alongside his son.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s turning into a great young man,\u201d Stabler said. \u201cHe\u2019s been with me forever; he\u2019s seen a lot of behind the scenes stuff, he\u2019s been in a lot of locker rooms, and a lot of area coaches and other media people know him, and they\u2019ve seen him grow up right beside me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big joke around is (when) the old guy has to go, sign the young guy up,\u201d Stabler added with a laugh.<\/p>\n

The younger Stabler said that, once in college, he\u2019ll still help with broadcasts when needed, and when he\u2019s available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent correspondent It\u2019s a unique story involving a father and his son. Kenny Stabler is well-known play-by-play announcer for WKSD 99.7 radio, while Brady Stabler is a student-athlete at Wayne Trace High School. Stabler has been broadcasting local high school sports for 28 years, but the past couple of seasons have been very special. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 21:04:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}