Brian
Barnhart
Class
of 1982
Mr. Brian Barnhart graduated
from Unity
High School in 1982 and earned his bachelors degree
in
radio/television broadcasting from Liberty University in 1986. He
began
his broadcasting career as an undergraduate in 1984, serving as
play-by-play
announcer for Liberty basketball. In
1986, Barnhart began his professional broadcasting career, serving as
the
play-by-play voice of the Lynchburg Mets and Salem Buccaneers before
moving up
to the Oklahoma City 89ers, the Class AAA affiliate of the Texas
Rangers, from
1988-1994. Mr. Barnhart did high school football and other sport
play-by-play
for 11 years and was the voice for
Oklahoma Baptist basketball from 1992-1994 and Oklahoma City Blazers
minor
league hockey in 1993. From 1996-1998, he did news, sports and
play-by-play at
WWLS in Oklahoma
City. Brian served as
a professional broadcaster and the play-by-play voice for the Anaheim
Angels
before taking the position of news and sports announcer at WDWS-AM 1400
where
he did play-by-play work in football, men’s and women’s basketball,
volleyball
and baseball on the Illini Sports Network.
Mr. Barnhart has worked more than 2,000 sporting events during
his
17-year career. In 2002, Mr. Barnhart
was named the Illinois football and basketball play-by-play
announcer. Mr. Barnhart is honored to
carry on the long
standing tradition of Illini sports and describes the opportunity as
“the
highlight of my career: Mr. Barnhart
resides in Champaign with his wife, Jennifer, and children
Lauren and
Michelle.