Calling it how they see it: Greg Waddell and Drew Davis’ journey to Miami hockey’s broadcast booth

When Drew Davis and Greg Waddell gear up for a weekend of action with the Miami University hockey team, they aren’t in the locker room tying skates, pulling on a chest protector or strapping their helmets.

Instead, they’re in the rafters of a National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) rink, putting on their most important piece of equipment: a radio headset. They complete the look with black and blue suits and button-down shirts.

The two men have been side-by-side in the broadcast booth calling hockey games since 2011, but arrived from slightly different paths.

Waddell began his broadcasting career as a student at Bowling Green State University from 1983 to 1987. He called hockey games during his first year when the Falcons won a national championship.

However, the team faltered slightly in his sophomore and junior years before placing first again in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association his senior year. His start in the college hockey world came from a desire for any opportunities a first-year student could take advantage of.

“When I was an undergrad, it was all the upperclassmen that were doing the football and basketball games,” Waddell said. “So, if I wanted to get on the air, I had to do it with the hockey team.”

Waddell moved his way up the ranks, working with a variety of minor league teams like the Saginaw Monarchs of the International Hockey League – a league that had not existed since its collapse in the 2000-01 season.

He also covered the Dayton Bombers of the ECHL and the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks of the American Hockey League team at the historic Cincinnati Gardens. He worked with multiple radio stations, including the flagship station of Miami sports under the Clear Channel Broadcasting umbrella (now iHeart Media) – WLW and 1316 Homer.

Waddell began working in the studio for Miami football games on the channel before Steve Baker asked him to switch to hockey full-time in the fall of 2006.

He called games when the new Goggin Ice Center opened, but had broadcasted before at the old arena, giving him and Davis, who sat in the student section at the final game, a special connection.

Davis attended Miami from 2003 to 2008, receiving degrees in journalism and sports studies. He swam with the RedHawks, but his passion for hockey started at a young age. When his pool time dwindled, he turned to an internship that blossomed into his partnership with Waddell.

“I ended up taking an internship, and that became a full-time assistant job in both broadcasting and sports information on telecommunications here at Miami after graduating,” Davis said. “ I was under Steve Baker and made friends through that time with Greg and expressed my desire to be on the air for hockey games.”

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The two appeared on the air together in a different setup than today. After Davis’ exhausting persistence to have his shot on a Miami hockey broadcast, Waddell joked about it happening, and Davis took the joke seriously.

In October 2010, Davis and Waddell stepped into the booth for the first time together. However, they did so without Baker’s permission. Baker didn’t believe Davis was ready for the job and was unaware of the one-game setup.

Davis did not see the inside of the hockey broadcast booth for the rest of the season but after working hard in other sports, he was given the color commentator and analyst role in 2011 and has not looked back.

The two have traveled far and wide to broadcast Miami hockey games, arriving at their destinations using the team bus, plane and sometimes even rental cars.

However, as the play-by-play man, Waddell finds himself at every Miami hockey game, home or away, while Davis can’t always make it. And it’s because of this that Waddell has made an impact on younger broadcasters outside of the Miami community, including Bridgette Proulx.

Proulx started her broadcasting work with Greg, anchoring Miami hockey games on IMG Radio in her first job. She eventually moved from North Carolina, where her IMG Radio job was located, to Massachusetts, her home state.

She wanted to work in hockey broadcasting, and Waddell gave her the opportunity to be a color commentator on Miami hockey broadcasts when the RedHawks traveled to play Providence College and the University of New Hampshire. Because of this experience, she met her future boss at Providence.

“I probably wouldn’t be where I am today without Greg, believe it or not,” Proulx said. “I was doing Boston, college football, basketball, hockey, and then I was with Greg, doing Miami hockey, but it was such a big difference working with Greg because I’m used to the Boston working situation where it’s always like, ‘Oh, I need you to do this, I need you to do that.’”

Proulx said one of her fondest memories of Waddell’s easy-going nature in the booth was a Miami Vice-themed night at New Hampshire, when the two wore neon sunglasses together for an entire broadcast.

Photo by Provided by Bridgette Proulx | The Miami Student
Greg Waddell (left) and Bridgette Proulx (right) sit in the Miami Vice theme during one of Proulx’s favorite broadcasting nights at the University of New Hampshire

Waddell and Davis’ road to this point in their careers was long, but now, they look forward to spending time together in the broadcast booth almost every weekend during hockey season. They also look forward to helping young and upcoming broadcasters achieve their dreams as best they can and making their broadcasts as interesting as possible.

While it’s not the National Hockey League, the two are proud to be the voices of a community of hockey fans who hope to see their program revived by a new coaching regime and vision.

@jjmid04

middleje@miamioh.edu