Giovanni Heater (at left) and Kyle Marchak report live from Scott Stadium at the University of Virginia.
Every year the spring semester ends, there’s still a buzz coming from Virginia Tech’s School of Communication.
On the last Friday of May, the Sportscasters Talent Agency of America (STAA) hosts the All-America and Jim Nantz Award program, named for the iconic sportscaster. The program honors the nation’s outstanding collegiate radio and TV sports broadcasters with a live show streamed on YouTube.
This year, for the second in a row, sports media and analytics juniors Kyle Marchak and Giovanni Heater were announced as first-team and second-team All-Americans, respectively. The duo grew up together in Syracuse, New York.
“Kyle and Giovanni are two of the most talented student broadcasters in our country,” said Bill Roth, the voice of the Hokies and professor of practice in the School of Communication. “They have both worked tremendously hard during their time at Virginia Tech to learn and grow their craft in our sports media and analytics program. Both are richly deserving of this national recognition.”
This year marks the fifth consecutive year that a Virginia Tech student has finished as a first-team All-American, an achievement only matched by Syracuse University. Evan Hughes ’21 finished as runner up in 2020 and was later named the Jim Nantz Award winner in 2021. Kevin DiDomenico was honored as a first-team All-American in 2022.
“We don’t have the same status as other programs who have been around longer, but now we’re here,” Marchak said. “It’s a statement to the program more than anything. It tells us that this is a program where if you want to work in sports, Virginia Tech is the place to be.”
The sports media and analytics program launched in 2020 as an official major within the School of Communication under the direction of Bill Roth. The addition of Anthony Amey as a dedicated sports media and analytics faculty member in fall 2022 further bolstered the major. Earlier in May, the major received accreditation from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.
“Accreditation highlights the quality instruction and support our faculty and staff provide for students as they prepare for a career,” said John Tedesco, director of the School of Communication. “It’s also a testament to the hard work of all of our students in the major, leading to a national recognition like the one Kyle and Giovanni received in the STAA All-America program.”
Over the past three years, Marchak and Heater have called hundreds of games and broadcast studio shows. It’s part of the opportunities Virginia Tech students find when they enter the program.
“I am so honored to represent the school that I’ve grown to love so much,” Heater said. “It shows that Virginia Tech has become the destination for aspiring sports broadcasters. If you dedicate yourself to the craft and take advantage of everything the sports media and analytics program has to offer both in and out of the classroom, the sky is the limit.”
Opportunities to gain experience as a student exist with the ACC Network, Learfield Sports, a collegiate sports marketing company, and 3304 Sports, the multimedia platform for student sports journalism at Virginia Tech. Students have industry standard equipment at their disposal inside the multimedia center in the Moss Arts Center. And beyond the support in the School of Communication, there are built-in mentors across Virginia Tech:
Hughes, assistant director of broadcast services and voice of Virginia Tech women’s basketball and baseball
Bailey Angle ‘17, in-venue host for Virginia Tech Athletics
Zach Mackey, director of broadcasting at Virginia Tech
“Family is how I would describe the community we have in Blacksburg,” Marchak said. “Between the School of Communication and 3304 Sports, between faculty and staff and students at my level, it’s a family thing. There’s no replicating the sensation of living in a town like Blacksburg that’s so unified. For me, it’s a huge blessing to have the support that’s so familial in Blacksburg.”
This summer, Marchak will be the play-by-play broadcaster for the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League, a collegiate summer wood bat league in Massachusetts. Meanwhile, Heater will continue calling games for the Salem Red Sox alongside sports media and analytics junior Carter Hill. It’s a post Heater held last year and resumed in April when the season began.
If Marchak and Heater are honored as Sportscasters Talent Agency of America All-Americans again next year, they will be the first three-time honorees at Virginia Tech. However, the childhood friends are keeping it all in perspective, grateful for everything they’ve learned as Hokies.
“Virginia Tech is a place where you can develop and achieve success at the highest levels in the industry,” Heater said. “To be on the list next to the guy that I came to Virginia Tech with is the icing on the cake. We are still just those kids calling our own wiffle ball games in the backyard at heart.”
Cory Van Dyke, Virginia Tech