Larry Ward resigns as UTC women’s basketball spokesman

(gomocs.com) Pictures, pieces of net and championship rings, as well as memories of the Chattanooga Mocs women’s basketball team, are what Larry Ward loves most about life. The iconic voice is leaving his microphone silent after 26 seasons with the program.

“Wes Moore let me cut the net,” Ward recalled after one of his many victories at the SoCon tournament. “I got to climb the leaderboard. That was pretty exciting. It was a memorable thing. It was a small thing, but it was big. When you get to do that, you’re part of the team.”

Ward called more than 800 games for the Mocs and helped UTC win 70 percent of its games, including 15 NCAA Tournament appearances, including the memorable win over Rutgers in 2004.

He began the 1988-89 season with coach Craig Parrott, who commentated the Mocs’ first-ever game in the NCAA Tournament that year. In 12 seasons with Wes Moore, appearances in the Big Dance were almost a given, as he commentated eight of Moore’s nine games and two in the WNIT.

He then stood behind the microphone for Hall of Fame coach Jim Foster, former Moc and current coach Katie Burrows and concluded his career with two consecutive postseason appearances under new head coach Shawn Poppie.

He commentated on games in California, Texas, Washington, New York and Mexico, to name a few, giving those who couldn’t travel to see the (Lady) Mocs in person a taste of their home games. Even opposing team fans tuned in to the games commented on by the Voice.

But now it’s time to hand the microphone over to someone else.

“Now it’s time to change the coaching staff,” Ward said. “I wish them luck and successful seasons in the future, but my travel days are over. I’m tired. I don’t travel with baseball anymore. I can watch the games virtually. I can’t really do that with women’s basketball. It’s time.”

When he started, women’s basketball was almost unknown on radio across the country. Mostly it was teams from the Power 5 conferences. At the mid-level, almost no one was paying the bill.

“It was no accident,” Ward said of the start of the performance.

Ward asked Parrott a question. “I said, ‘Why aren’t you on the radio?'” Ward recalled. “The guys are. Why aren’t you?”

Parrott had no answer, but sent him to then-sports director Harold Wilkes, who immediately supported the idea.

Ward set to work finding sponsors and a radio station that he could call home for three seasons.

Parrott admitted from the start that it wasn’t exactly a financial success. “It was difficult to get on our feet financially. We shared a room while traveling and had a lot of good conversations.”

“It wasn’t a lucrative situation,” Ward added. “At the end of the third year, I went to Craig and told him about it, but told him I would help him in other ways.”

For the next six years, Ward took over as public address for the women’s team. During that time, the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament was hosted in Chattanooga and Ward returned to broadcasting to commentate on the games.

Local radio host Chris Goforth lent his voice to the women’s basketball program for three seasons until he left after Wes Moore’s first season. Over the next two seasons, Moore laid the foundation for what was to come, but not on the radio.

After reaching the NCAA championship in his third season, Moore wanted to get the games back on television and approached Ward, who was a commentator for the Chattanooga Lookouts. However, it wasn’t until later that year that Lookouts owner Frank Burke got involved.

“After two seasons without radio broadcasts, including an NCAA appearance where our fans had to listen to a one-sided version of our opponent, the generous Frank Burke decided to change that,” Moore said.

A conversation between Burke and Oval Jaynes, the then sports director, led to an inquiry about what would be needed to bring women’s basketball back on the air.

“Frank told me to sell the advertising, and I had already found someone to do the show,” Ward said. “I went on vacation. Frank changed his mind and wanted me to do it, and the rest is history.”

That history includes 18 Southern Conference regular season titles, 15 SoCon Tournament titles, 15 NCAA Tournament appearances and four Women’s NIT appearances.

“Larry brought a lot of excitement and energy to our programming, which helped grow our brand,” Moore said. “As a result, viewership and wins skyrocketed. Larry brought Lady Mocs basketball to life on his broadcasts for my last 12 years and 11 more after my tenure. He will be sorely missed by Mocs fans everywhere.”

Ward was at the microphone when UTC reached 39.^th team in NCAA Division I history to reach the 900-win mark. He shared with fans Wes Moore 500^th career victory as well as Jim Foster’s 800 and 900^th Victories.

The Mocs pulled off upset wins over No. 20 Tennessee in 2012, and within three weeks in 2014, UTC beat the fourth-ranked Lady Vols and No. 7 Stanford, both in the Roundhouse, to propel UTC into the AP Top 25. Ward was a witness and accomplice to all of those and many more stunning victories.

During his time on the sidelines, he witnessed changes in the game. From the cozy confines of Maclellan Gym to the vast expanse of McKenzie Arena, fans adapted and filled the seats in the Roundhouse. Moore and winning games contributed to that.

“The fans realized that this game is about more than just girls playing basketball,” Ward said. “It’s intense, maybe even more intense than the men’s game. It never gets boring to watch. Sometimes you get beat, but the excitement of the fans never waned. It just kept getting bigger.”

In 2004, Ward was in McKenzie for UTC’s historic victory over Rutgers in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. His voice could be heard over the crowd and across the radio waves when Katie (Galloway) Burrows sank “the shot” that brought the crowd to its feet.

“It was such a big moment,” he recalls. “That shot turned the idea of ​​women’s basketball at UTC on its head. People thought, ‘Wow! This is fun.’ Attendance went up tremendously.”

He will now leave the sidelines and relive the good old days with former players and coaches in the stands.

“Larry was a loyal supporter of women’s basketball for as long as I can remember,” Burrows said. “From my playing days to my coaching days, Larry never missed an opportunity to support his girls on the radio. The support behind the scenes was even greater. He is an important part of the UTC family and will be greatly missed.”

Ward will continue with the Chattanooga Lookouts, where he will play in his 36th year.^th season with the Cincinnati Reds’ AA minor league farm team. He is a member of three Halls of Fame, including the Greater Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame (2005), the Southern League Hall of Fame (2015), and was inducted into the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame in 2022.

The Chattanooga women’s basketball team will continue to generate excitement and draw fans, but the sound will never be quite the same.