Voice of the Thunderbolts | Cranston Herald

By ANISHA KUMAR, Special to the Herald

A month ago, the Thunderbolt Sports Talk podcast — in which Cranston High School East graduates Timothy Yean and Charlie Adams recap the week in school sports — released its 15th and final episode: “The Last Dance.” The episode begins with an electric guitar riff before Adams takes the floor.

“Tim, it’s been a journey and it ends here,” he says.

“It will be sad to say goodbye,” adds Yean.

Between podcasts and sporting event announcements, Yean’s voice is familiar to Cranston East students. And Yean, who recently won the Rhode Island PBS Scholarship in recognition of his passion for sports broadcasting, is ready to take the next step in his journey.

During his next four years as a communications major at Rhode Island College, Yean will receive up to $60,000 from the scholarship, which is funded by the Rhode Island Foundation. He was selected from 27 applicants from Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts.

Yean applied for the scholarship after hearing about it from a previous winner and a school president, submitting a written response, a letter of recommendation, his transcript and his resume. In high school, he was student council president and athletic spokesman for Cranston East.

He remembered that while playing Red Dead Redemption 2, he received the call from the RI Foundation informing him of his winnings.

“I was really in shock when I got the call,” Yean said. “My heart was racing and I was completely confused, and the whole time I was just saying ‘Oh my God.'”

“It was immediately clear to me that I no longer had to worry too much about financing my studies,” he added.

Yean’s passion for sports broadcasting first emerged in eighth grade, when he wrote down a hare-and-tortoise algebra problem like a sportscaster covering a race, according to an RI Foundation press release.

At Cranston East, Yean took a course in Writing for Sports Media with Ken Simone, who later mentored him throughout high school and advised the Thunderbolt Media Club.

“He was a person I could go to not only for advice but also for normal conversations, and he helped me grow from a quiet kid who was new to Cranston to a leader in my school and my life,” Yean said of Simone. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to repay him for all the help and support he gave me.”

Yean’s other mentors on his career as an announcer included Mo Holtzman and Pete Silva.

Adams was also a great support to Yean throughout high school. “His drive and effort are unmatched and I am proud to call him my friend,” Yean said.

Yean also thanked his parents for their “hard work and dedication to giving me and my sister the best life possible.” The fact that he can now take some of the financial burden off them while he goes to college is “the best part of the whole thing,” he added.

He reflected on working with Adams and her boyfriend Andy Wu as announcer and host for the Rhode Island Interscholastic League girls soccer championships and winning the Thunderbolt Award at his graduation in June.

“I had a lot of fun broadcasting my high school games with my friends,” he said. “I don’t think you can replicate that on any other level.”

Now Yean is looking forward to starting his studies and “taking advantage of all the broadcasting opportunities RIC could offer.”

“Everything is open at the moment,” he said.

Editor’s note: Anisha Kumar is an editorial intern at Beacon Media this summer.