Wayne Larrivee
Wayne Larrivee is an American sportscaster. Larrivee is currently the radio play-by-play voice of the Green Bay Packers over the Packers Radio Network and calls college football and basketball for the Big Ten Network on television. Despite his current job with the Packers, Larrivee has long been associated with Chicago sports, having spent over a decade as the voice of the Chicago Bears and nearly twenty years as the television voice of the Chicago Bulls.
Biography
Early life and career
Larrivee was born in Lee, Massachusetts and attended Emerson College in Boston, where he graduated in 1977 with a degree in mass communications.[1]
During his time at Emerson, he practiced the craft of play by play by spending many nights in the old Boston Garden, calling games from high above courtside into his trusty tape recorder. He would astound the regular news staff at WECB, the Emerson carrier current station, with after game interviews, and up-close reflections on the actions of the night during the 10 PM extended news broadcast.
From 1978 through 1984, Larrivee did play-by-play for the Kansas City Chiefs on KCMO radio.[2]
In 1985, Larrivee was hired to be the radio voice for the Chicago Bears and held that position until the end of the 1998 NFL season, when he took over as voice of the Packers the following year. He called the Bears' Super Bowl XX victory and the Packers' Super Bowl XLV win.
He also was the television play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Bulls for WGN-TV for seventeen seasons. At various times he has also called games for the Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Kings, Iowa Hawkeyes football, Missouri Tigers basketball, and Big Ten football and basketball for ESPN Plus.
Larrivee also works for Dial Global's Westwood One sports division, calling NCAA Basketball Tournament games and serving as a substitute announcer for NFL games carried over the network.
In his spare time, Larrivee voices the Badger Mutual Insurance Sports Minute in Wisconsin and several other states. In addition, he voices the Badger Mutual Insurance "In the Tunnel" for Green Bay Packers games.
Other broadcast assignments
In addition to his Packers radio work, Larrivee hosts the team-produced Inside Lambeau television program which previews upcoming games and airs every week on several Wisconsin television stations. He also does a daily sports commentary segment called The Back Page, which originates from Packers flagship WTMJ-AM (620) in Milwaukee, and is syndicated to stations throughout Wisconsin and Northern Illinois and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Larrivee also does sportscasts for WTMJ when the station's regular sports anchors for their morning and afternoon shows are on vacation.
Throughout the NFL season, Larrivee also hosts a nationally syndicated radio show with Pro Football Weekly publisher Hub Arkush.
On April 23, 2000, Larrivee substituted for Al Albert as WTTV's play-by-play announcer during the Indiana Pacers' 88–85 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
On July 18, 2007, Larrivee was named the #2 play-by-play announcer for football games on the Big Ten Network. Larrivee works the telecasts with former Northwestern and Chicago Bears defensive back Chris Martin. Thom Brennaman was named the lead announcer on the same date.
On May 6, 2008, it was announced that Larrivee would no longer be the WGN-TV play-by-play man for their Chicago Bulls telecasts.
Trademarks
At crucial moments at the end of games, Larrivee refers to a clinching point as "The Dagger", which is perhaps one step under the proverbial "nail in the coffin." For example, after the big play, he will say, "and there is your dagger!" This 'catch phrase' has become synonymous with Larrivee and it is believed that he is the announcer that has led a surge in other announcers' using the phrase as well. An incorrect 'dagger' had never been called until the 2012 NFL season in which he presumed a Packers victory near the end of a September 24 game against the Seattle Seahawks, but the Seahawks scored a controversial touchdown to give them the victory. In 2011, Wayne teamed up with Sheboygan, Wisconsin-based advertising agency, DuFour Advertising, to start selling merchandise with his signature phrase. "And There Is Your Dagger" merchandise is available on YourDagger.com.
Another well known catch-phrase of Larrivee's is "Ring It Up!", used typically as emphasis for a three-point basket made, and, of most recent note, for the buzzer-beating overtime 3-point basket on the Westwood One radio network broadcast of the first round contest between Western Kentucky University and Drake University in the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.