What can Brown do for Rebels? Plenty, including calling games

Most high schools don’t put out a 118-page media guide at the start of every football season.

Then again, most high schools don’t have a Rob Brown.

Roncalli does, though — and the longtime media veteran is wearing a number of different hats for the school’s athletics department. On Friday, in addition to carrying out his duties as sports information director, Brown also will handle the radio play-by-play call when the Rebels take on NorthWood for the Class 4A state championship.

It’s a labor of love for Brown, whose work days revolve around his financial services business in Greenwood.

“I really enjoy it, and it gives me a chance to stay involved in sports,” he said.

Sports used to be Brown’s day job.

Before he moved to Johnson County in 2003, Brown had spent several years in sports media. From 1993 to 2000, he was the radio voice for the Fort Wayne Fury of the Continental Basketball Association, and from there he headed west and spent three seasons in the media relations department for the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers.

So when the Rebels were looking for someone to help them set up a basketball radio broadcast before the 2007-08 season, Brown was an easy pick.

He partners with Roncalli students for basketball broadcasts, something he finds particularly rewarding because it’s giving interested kids a rare opportunity to get some on-air experience. Six of Brown’s former student partners from his nine seasons have gone on to call games in college.

When Matt Taylor left to take a job as the sideline reporter for the Indianapolis Colts Radio Network, Brown took over the Roncalli football broadcasts as well. He and color analyst Dan Bauer have been together in the booth since 2011, and they will call Friday’s game together.

Brown enjoys knowing that his work means something, and he’s received plenty of affirmation during this football playoff run — particularly after the team had to make the long road trip to East Central for last week’s semistate game. Roncalli won the game 24-21 on a 30-yard field goal by Patrick Sandler as time expired.

“I had somebody tell me that they were at Iaria’s downtown having dinner on Friday night, and the cooks were listening in the kitchen,” Brown shared. “And when the kick went through, the cooks started screaming and came out and told everybody that we had won the game. I mean, hearing that kind of stuff is really cool.

“Those are the reasons I do it. Those kinds of things are really neat.”

Brown’s wife Rachel is the school’s associate director for advancement at Roncalli, and both of his children attend the school — but he’d be an integral part of the Rebel family with or without those blood ties.

This football season has been an exciting one for Roncalli, which is looking for its first state title since 2004, and Brown, like many Rebels fans, has been enjoying the ride.

“It’s been really fun to have a front-row seat for that,” he said.