Neb. Broadcasters Assn. Hall Of Fame To Induct 3

The Nebraska Broadcasters Association will welcome Steve Altmaier, Ken Fouts and Kent Pavelka into its Hall of Fame on Aug. 13 in La Vista, during the 85th Annual NBA Convention. These inductees will be the respective 103rd, 104th and 105th members of the NBA Hall of Fame, which was established in 1972.

Altmaier served the people of the Tri-Cities area for 42 years from KGFW and KQKY in Kearney. He got started in 1974 as an announcer on both stations and was promoted to sports director for KGFW in 1981. In 2005 he was named KGFW’s associate news director before becoming news director in 2009; a title he held until his retirement in 2016. Altmaier is known by many for his calming voice and demeanor, and became known by even more as “The Voice of the Lopers” where he called more than 2,500 University of Kearney (UNK) athletic contests over a 24-year span, along with countless high school football and basketball games. His passion for sports broadcasting resulted in recognition as the Nebraska Coaches Association “Media Person of the Year” in 2005 followed by his induction to the UNK Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.

Fouts caught the broadcasting bug while earning his BS in Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, working part-time at KLIN, KLNS, KOLN-TV and KUON-TV. Before graduating in 1964, he knew that directing coverage of sporting events was his career goal. As one of America’s leading producers/directors of national and international sports programming, his employers included NBC Sports, ABC Sports, Turner Sports, ESPN, Fox Sports and others. He produced and directed events including include Cincinnati Reds baseball, NFL playoffs, the World Series, Orange and Fiesta Bowls, Super Bowl XV and two Olympics. The breadth and quality of Ken’s work earned him seven Emmy Awards after producing and directing over 3,000 TV sporting events in 15 different countries around the world over five decades, before retiring in 2002.

Pavelka is best known for delighting Nebraska Cornhusker fans with some of the most legendary radio calls in University of Nebraska Athletics history. He began his career in 1972 at KHUB in Fremont as an announcer and sportscaster. In 1974 he joined Omaha’s KFAB in a similar role and moved up to operations manager. His Husker radio career started at KFAB, doing football color commentary from 1974 through 1983 before becoming the play-by-play man from 1984 through 1996. Pavelka also took on play-by-play for Husker Men’s Basketball from 1974 through 1996. He later joined Omaha’s KKAR before putting the headset back on to call Husker hoops again starting in 2006 with Husker Sports — a position he still enjoys today. A play-by-play legend in Nebraska and beyond, Pavelka recently called his 1,000th Husker Men’s Basketball game.