Roast, Toast & Boast
July 29, 2015
Soldier of the Year a Larose native
July 29, 2015
One of the best parts about this job is the opportunity to build friendships with some of the extraordinarily talented and diligent people who dedicate their careers to local athletics.
Mike Wagenheim is one of those people.
See, I met Mike when he first started as a play-by-play announcer for Nicholls State University in November 2010.
He quickly rose up the ladder and became the university’s Coordinator of Broadcast Media the following July. By May 2012, the Colonels re-upped him again and made him the school’s Assistant Athletic Director for Communications.
When I first met Wagenheim, I was at a women’s basketball game in the winter of 2010.1 was covering the Colonels, and he was new to the area. Seeing my media tag, he went out of his way to introduce himself and we shared a few words before tip-off.
The thing that Mike stressed to me multiple times throughout that initial conversation was how much he appreciated the fact that I was there to cover the Colonels. He stressed to me multiple times that if I ever needed any help with a story to give him a buzz.
Throughout the months that followed, I saw exactly how genuine those words were.
Mike Wagenheim loves Nicholls State University. He loves its people. He had a rare ability to build productive working relationships with the program’s coaches and players. He did any and everything in his power to make sure that Nicholls got as much coverage as it could in our area.
When on the clock, he worked tireless hours, serving as the play-by-play voice for the university’s football, men’s basketball and baseball teams. He also helped power the Colonel Sports Network, which airs Colonel Football Weekly, Colonel Basketball Weekly and the Seth Thibodeaux Show – all shows that Wagenheim both hosted and produced.
Wagenheim’s radio voice is top-notch. As a guy who does a little radio work myself, I admire the way that he’s able to use the game to tell a story and paint a picture. Radio is an incredibly difficult medium, because everyone in the audience is blind. To use words to paint a clear picture is a form of art, and Wagenheim does a great job keeping audiences engaged and active.
And if that’s all not enough, it’s still worth noting that Wagenheim was influential in Nicholls putting several of its live sporting events on the Internet through streaming.
If it was a Nicholls sporting event, the odds were
that Wagenheim was in attendance. If he was not, it’s probably because he was at another sport’s game across campus or out of town.
The reach of Nicholls athletics grew in Wagenheim’s run with the university, and he made countless contributions to put the school’s sports in a better position than ever before to be seen.
I’ll even go so far as to say that some of the successes that Nicholls is experiencing on the playing fields are in-part because of that increased exposure and name recognition that the Colonels have been able to obtain.
When I was a child, local athletes viewed Nicholls as a last resort for college athletics – the place to go when there was no other option.
But today, it’s a little bit different, and we’ve seen several top prep athletes choose Nicholls, which has placed the Colonels’ athletic department in a healthier place than it has been in a while.
But away from work, Mike’s a pretty cool dude.
Anytime I saw Mike at a practice or sporting event, he made sure that I had everything that I needed to do my job with convenience.
Once we had that all settled, we’d talk about sports, life and really just about anything that may be exciting or topical at the time.
Some people with overly busy schedules are completely lacking a personality, but Mike was always a pleasure to talk to, and someone that I’d enjoy being around.
Of course, the cat has been out of the bag for weeks now that Wagenheim is leaving Nicholls State University to chase other endeavors.
He’s announced on his Facebook page that he will be chasing an opportunity in Israel – a job that he said will give him a little bit more free time for himself, which will allow him to chase his hobbies and enjoy the social life he never quite could materialize in Thibodaux.
The Colonels have not yet named anyone to take Wagenheim’s place, but we’re sure that they’ll pick someone before the football season rolls around.
Whoever it ends up being will have big shoes to fill, because the guy that just left the program was a class-act and a hard worker.
Best of luck to you, Mike. Thanks for everything.
Kudos, buddy on a job well done.
