Mark Champion, 30 years in as Pistons radio voice, wants to be 'part of the turnaround'

He grew up dreaming of calling MLB games. He long was one of the NFL’s most prominent voices, and remains the narrator of the longtime “I’m going to Disney World” commercials that air nationally after the Super Bowl.

But Mark Champion’s most enduring job has been with the Detroit Pistons. This season is his 30th as the team’s play-by-play radio voice. His first was in 1990-91, when he did radio and TV on a part-time basis through 1995-96. After a three-year stint with Michigan State basketball, he returned to Pistons radio in 2000, and officially started doing all 82 games after his Detroit Lions responsibilities ended in 2005 (his Lions duties took precedence when the schedules overlapped).

Three decades in, the games — and his favorite Pistons calls — blend together. But the relationships forged with the organization, his coworkers and the city of Detroit stand at the forefront of his mind.

He has called some of the biggest moments in Detroit sports history, and worked alongside many of the most prominent figures — including longtime Pistons TV voice George Blaha and color commentator Greg Kelser, current radio color commentator and former Bad Boy Rick Mahorn, former Pistons John Long, Vinnie Johnson and Earl Cureton, and countless on-field and behind-the-scenes figures with the Pistons and Lions.

“It’s all gone amazingly fast,” Champion said. “I mean, I look back on it and it's been 19 years since I did the Lions. To me, that’s like, what? And the Pistons have been like a family. There've been a lot of different coaches and front office people and that sort of thing, but they've stayed the same in treating me well.”

Champion, 73, is a Muncie, Indiana native who grew up a Chicago Cubs fan and was inspired to pursue play-by-play calling through listening to Cubs radio broadcasters Jack Quinlan and Vince Lloyd in his youth. He attended Ball State, where he began working for a local college station before graduating in 1972.

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Champions’s first stop was in Tampa, Florida, where he was a local reporter before he landed his first job covering professional sports as the radio voice of the Buccaneers in 1979. He remained in that role for a decade, before moving to Detroit in 1989 to become the voice of the Lions. That was his introduction to local audiences, as he worked with the Lions for 16 seasons before he was replaced by Dan Miller.

Though he was happy in Tampa, he calls his decision to move to Detroit a “no-brainer.”

“My thought when I took the job with the Lions was that it was a great sports town, it had all the four teams plus a couple of major college teams,” he said. “So I looked at it from a career standpoint hoping that I could expand my horizons once I got to Detroit, and luckily it worked out for me and I’ve been able to do quite a bit.”

Champion was first known to Detroiters for his “Holy Mackerel!” and “Man, oh man!” catchphrases while calling every snap of the Barry Sanders era. But as a Hoosier, he said he has always had basketball in his blood. He never played, though he was the student manager for his high school team for three years.

So he cherished the opportunity to cover between 20 and 30 Pistons games a season starting in 1990, right after the franchise won its second championship. The Bad Boys were at the “top of the mountain” at the time, he said.

Though he was only around for the tail end of that era, he rejoined the Pistons right as the team began forming the core that would later produce a third title in 2004.

With the NBA came a significantly more-packed schedule, with multiple games in different cities over the span of a week.

“They always talk about players, how the game slows down for them. It’s the same way with broadcasting because you get to know these guys, what they look like, what they do,” Champion said. “A lot of stuff you've already got prepared by just doing games. Basketball is definitely harder to prepare for because you could have five games and seven days, which is crazy.”

Champion has a reputation as an over-preparer, with lists of stats and names sprawled in front of him during games. He “invented being early” according to Blaha, who said Champion can arrive at the arena as soon as three-and-a-half hours before a game. The two men enjoy grabbing dinner at Italian restaurants together while on the road, but have an implicit understanding that if there’s still preparation needed to be done before the game the next day, dinner will be postponed.

“If he doesn't have all this certain stuff done, he's going to be close to a breakdown if the game starts without him being ready for it,” Blaha said. “So he might be even beyond me in that area. But we both feel like, hey, if there's a game, going out to dinner is going to have to wait if we're not prepared, you know what I mean? And you wouldn't be doing your listeners or your viewers any justice. They don't get shortchanged by Mark, I guarantee that.”

Mahorn, 65 and in his 22nd year as color commentator alongside Champion on WXYT-FM 97.1 The Ticket, says there’s a “thoroughness” to his colleague's approach to the job.

“I’ve learned a lot from him because if I don’t come in there with my knowledge, he’s gonna dominate,” Mahorn said. “But he does a good job of letting me talk and do the things I need to do as the color guy, no pun intended. Also, he’s sharp. He’s sharp with what goes on as he’s doing the whole show.”

“It keeps the camaraderie going, being a former player,” Mahorn continued. “You’re still around the game that you grew to love and play. But also, Mark makes it an easy transition because you only got 24 seconds on each play. Sometimes the game is heated, and they’re playing. I just let Mark do his thing. And if I’m saying something, he lets me do my thing. It’s a work relationship that becomes a team, and we always want to perform and have a great show because that’s what he does.”

Champion was thrilled to see the Lions make a surprise run to the NFC championship game in January, noting it was bound to happen eventually. He’s optimistic the Pistons will soon have a similar run of success, with a young foundation in place led by Cade Cunningham.

It has been a tough season for the 9-50 Pistons, but has had no impact on Champion’s passion for the team or for his job. During a recent conversation with Blaha, the two men realized there are only a handful of broadcasters nationally still working games in their 70s. For now, neither appear to be planning to hang it up.

“I want to be a part of it when it does turn around,” Champion said. "I'm 73 and George is about to turn 80. We would both like to be part of the turnaround. So, we'll see. But it has been so much fun. I love doing basketball. I really do. Like I said, I grew up in the state where basketball is a religion, and to be part of it is amazing, especially in the NBA.

“I love it. I love to travel. Some people don't, I love to travel. I love getting ready for the games. Sometimes I enjoy getting ready for the games more than I do doing the games because you learn so much. And then doing the games with Mahorn. I mean, how could you not have fun with that? If nothing else, we have fun. It’s just a great, great lifestyle.”

Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him @omarisankofa.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mark Champion, 30 years as Pistons radio voice, still living his dream