After 32 seasons, there will be a new voice for University of Hawaii football broadcasts.
Citing altitude-related health issues, KKEA’s Bobby Curran will relinquish play-by-play announcing of Rainbow Warrior football games. Curran, 67, who recently signed a three-year contract extension, will continue to serve as host of a popular morning radio show and call UH men’s basketball games.
John Veneri will be the radio announcer for UH football games, and Mark Veneri will provide color commentary.
“If you think about Hawaii football over the past three decades plus, Bobby is almost the face of the franchise in that regard,” said Larry Beil, Curran’s predecessor as UH play-by-play announcer. “He’s been there longer than any player, any coach, anybody even associated with the program at any point. It’s a huge loss and an end of an era.”
Curran narrated 400 broadcasts — the longest announcing streak in the UH football program’s history — before suffering from low oxygen intake an hour ahead of the Oct. 16 game in Reno, Nev. He was back in the booth for the Warriors’ next game.
But because of the 2022 season’s road schedule — a 4,442-mile trip to Ann Arbor, Mich., and two games in high altitude — Curran decided it was better for his health to step away from football broadcasts.
“Whoever expects to do something you really enjoy, and have it last (32) years, I consider myself quite blessed,” Curran said. “It’s hard to look at it any other way.”
Beil, a UH graduate who moved to the mainland in 1989 and is now sports director at KGO-TV in the Bay Area, said Curran’s narrations kept him connected to his alma mater.
“For me personally, I’ve listened to so many UH football games on the mainland through the app or whatever electronic device I could hook up,” Beil said. “Bobby was my connection for many, many years because you couldn’t watch the games on TV on the mainland. I pretty much lived and died with him — not literally, of course — on every call. I might have listened to more Bobby Curran on the road than most people. … His descriptions were so vivid. There were so many gigantic games that he did.”
Curran, a New York native who played basketball at William & Mary, worked his way up from a do-everything station employee to local radio’s prized play-calling position. An avid reader and gregarious orator, Curran would mix precise observations with lively storytelling.
“I had a chance to see a lot of great schools around the country,” Curran said. “We did games everywhere, from Florida to Alabama to Oregon to USC to UCLA to Wisconsin to Michigan and Michigan State. It was unbelievable. Home games against Notre Dame. That was a pleasure. It was really fun. I enjoyed it thoroughly. And I did feel really fortunate I got that opportunity.”
John Veneri is a former slotback who played on the UH team that upset Illinois in the 1992 Holiday Bowl. He was sports anchor at KHON for 15 years, and then handled the station’s marketing for seven years through 2017. He is host of KHON’s “Living808” and “Sam Choy’s in the Kitchen.” After working as a sideline reporter for football broadcasts, he has been the color commentator the past 12 years.
Veneri, 49, said he will draw lessons from play-by-play announcers Felipe Ojastro, Kanoa Leahey, Bob Hogue and Curran. He also credited retired sportscasters Don Robbs and Jim Leahey. He said he will try to incorporate his own style into the broadcasts.
“I hold the position in high regard,” Veneri said. “There have been a lot of people before me who have done it on TV and radio that I respect and honor. It feels really good to be able to say I’m an alumni who has been in and around the program for 32 years, and now I get to call games for the younger generation and the soon-to-be alum. It’s actually really, really cool. It’s something I take and hold in high regard.”
Mark Veneri, 36, is an accomplished announcer and analyst on high school broadcasts. He also has been the sideline reporter for UH football games. “Now we’ll be able to use his knowledge and expertise in a higher fashion,” John Veneri said of his younger brother. “l think it’s a good combination. What better way to be part of (UH’s) braddahhod than with a braddahhood broadcast.”
