FEEL GOOD FRIDAY: Wokoun still enjoys being ‘voice’ of Putnam County sports

Thursday, December 26, 2019
Doug Wokoun (center) and Jarrod Duff describe the action from a North Putnam football game this fall.
Courtesy photo

He is the voice of Putnam County high school sports.

Doug Wokoun takes us to a Putnam County high school football or basketball game or to breakfast with the county coaches every Friday and Saturday over the airwaves of WREB Radio.

Those who can’t get to the game at Greencastle, Cloverdale, North Putnam or South Putnam hear Wokoun describe the efforts of our high school athletes. Some fans at one game follow Wokoun and his partner at another contest.

Wokoun brings us the unique perspective of broadcaster, teacher and coach, and without personal opinion. Many of the athletes he describes over the air, he has or once had in the classroom at either his current school, Cloverdale, or at North Putnam or Turkey Run. Wokoun has coached football, basketball, baseball and golf at various levels his 40-plus years in education in Indiana and Ohio.

The 1973 graduate of Greencastle High School has been on the Putnam County airwaves since 1971 when the station was WXTA and owned by Lee Buck. Wokoun worked Saturdays and Sundays for two years.

“My first show was a two-hour show on Saturday afternoons from Ron’s Restaurant. I think we were still WXTA then,” Wokoun said.

While in college at Indiana University and his first two years of teaching and coaching in Ohio, Wokoun worked weekends when the station became WJNZ, when his mother, Jinsie Bingham owned it. He filled in board shifts, taped commercials and did a few games, often the second game of the night. WJNZ used to do two games a night — one live and the second tape delayed.

It was in 1989 that he became a weekend regular, joining Steve Paquin for a 15-year run. At first Wokoun did color while Paquin did play-by-play. Eventually they would switch roles from game to game.

“That was a crazy time because I was (teaching and) coaching junior high football Monday through Thursday, then going to do a game (for the radio station) on Friday and in between taping coach Nick (Mourouzis for DePauw’s Tiger Talk). Coach Nick and Bill Lynch (the recently retired football coach) are both really a lot of fun to interview. They’re both great guys,” Wokoun said.

"Feel Good Friday" is sponsored by Brad Tucker Insurance of Greencastle.

Since 2004, Wokoun has had several broadcast partners. This list includes his current sidekick Jarrod Duff, Jonathon Goode, Josh Eppert and Shane Grimes.

And there have been some one-game cameos in there, too — including me.

“I did a year by myself, which was really excruciating,” Wokoun said.

And Nancy, his wife of 31 years, has lived this with him. Her Fridays were always free. Teaching and coaching Monday through Friday, taping shows with DePauw coaches somewhere in there, broadcast a game on Friday night, Coaches Corner on Saturday morning, and at tournament time, a Saturday night contest.

“Had Nancy not been very understanding... her willingness to give up the time she has given up has been the only reason I’ve been able to do it. Had she been less understanding this would have been a lot tougher,” Wokoun said.

What can be tough is doing a broadcast without interjecting your own opinion. Wokoun doesn’t second-guess coaches or officials on the air and he never criticizes the high school athletes. The closest he comes to second-guessing an official is “I don’t know about that one,” or “I’ll have to ask coach about that tomorrow on Coaches Corner.”

Wokoun keeps his emotions out of the broadcast. Yes, he gets excited about a good play or performance — he’s not monotone boring — but Wokoun is always in control.

“I’m trying to tell the listener what I am watching. If I’m out of control, then what I am watching is not going to get translated. I try to be like I’m talking to somebody who can’t watch. There is some exciting things that happen,” Wokoun said.

“I think about a play at Greencastle last year (football), Gavin Bollman caught a pass and ran by about five defenders. It’s hard to not get excited about watching an athletic event. Some of the times you watch Robbie Gibson run. Some of the stuff he did, it’s hard to (not get excited). Or to go back to when North Putnam went to the (football state) championship. Some of those guys did some fantastic things,” Wokoun said.

So does Wokoun have a favorite memory or two?

Right away, Wokoun goes to South Putnam’s two trips to the Class A football state championships (1986 and 2002). He recalled the South Putnam basketball team that ran into Pat Rady’s Terre Haute South team in the Terre Haute regional and Greencastle’s 1993 basketball team that lost to Lafayette Jeff in regional.

“You think about those things, it’s really frustrating when you know these kids have worked really hard and you’ve watched them do some tremendous things and then they’re at the wrong place at the wrong time and it just goes south on them. The more you know about some of those kids the harder it is not to be rooting for them in some way. And the only time you can really do that is when you’re playing (some team) from out of the county,” Wokoun said.

Wokoun and I have traveled together to games through the years.

The drives to South Decatur and Springs Valley seemed like annual events during the late 80s and early 90s when Putnam County football teams were powerhouses. He even wrote a story or two for the Banner Graphic in the ’80s.

Doug Wokoun is the voice of Putnam County high school sports.