Sam Ramirez and Mark Herman have broadcast every Oregon High School varsity football game since August 25th, 2000 on Sky 95.7 FM (WSEY). They will be celebrating their 25th anniversary season of working together this Friday August 24, when the Oregon Hawks take on the North Boone Vikings in Poplar Grove, Illinois.
Sam Ramirez (age 47), the longtime Sports Director for Sky 95.7 does the play-by-play and his radio partner Mark Herman (age 70) does the color commentary and statistics. The duo started broadcasting together in August 2000 shortly after the local Oregon, Illinois FM radio station first began operation.
“Sam (a Sterling native) was 23 years old and told the Oregon High School Athletic Director, that he wanted to be the “voice of Oregon Hawks” and would be broadcasting every Hawks football home and away game,” said Herman. “The AD was skeptical to say the least, but it obviously worked out”.
The station needed someone that knew the community to do the color commentary and keep team statistics, so they contacted Herman who was then working at the Oregon Park District as the Superintendent of Recreation. “Steve Marco, the Program Director, asked me if I was interested in helping Sam on the radio as he thought I had a ‘good radio voice’. He never asked me if I knew anything about football.” said Herman. Luckily, Herman had played varsity football at football powerhouse Annandale High School in Virginia in the early 1970’s.
Their first year on the radio together turned out to be one of the Oregon Hawks best teams ever. The Hawks went all the way to the IHSA Class 3A State Championship game in Champaign going 12-2 and finished runner-up to Harrisburg. “What a way to start broadcasting the Hawks on Kool 95.7 (switched to Sky 95.7 in 2019). From Winnebago to Champaign, that is a season I will never forget. “said Ramirez, “the semifinal win over Addison Driscoll still might be my favorite broadcast ever. One of them for sure.”
Since 2000, they have done every Oregon Hawks varsity game and have seen it all, through extreme heat, freezing cold, rain and snow. They have been there for thrilling championship victories, heartbreaking defeats and everything in between.
The broadcasting duo has seen dramatic changes in technology as they started our broadcasting games using landline rotary telephones along with portable rooftop directional antennas. Now they do all of their broadcasts with cell phones and use social media to instantly get scores from games all over the state. “In 2001, we did a game at Stillman Valley and we had bad weather. Our engineer wanted me to go on to the rooftop in the middle of a storm to fix the antenna.” said Ramirez, “I had no other choice. But the equipment from day one to where we are now has changed for the better drastically.”
Sam and Mark have also seen the changes in high school football participation numbers, the switch from run-dominated teams to wide-open passing offenses and the realignment of area conferences. But they still enjoy presenting Oregon High School football to those people in the community who can’t make it to all the games. There is still nothing better than hearing your son or grandchild’s name called live over the radio.
