UNK TODAY
6 | Saturday, August 24, 2024
On the fast track Alex Hammeke launches broadcasting career while attending UNK
TYLER ELLYSON UNK Communications
KEARNEY — Alex Hammeke was the best male tennis player at Ellinwood Middle School. That’s a nugget he often shares while talking about his athletic background. “There were six of us on the team. One guy. I just ignore the fact that the rest were girls,” he said with a laugh. Hammeke refers to himself as “not athletically gifted.” He didn’t play sports in high school. Instead, he found another way to pursue his passion. “I was not given the smarts of the family. That was given to my sister. I was given my aunt’s in- ability to shut up,” he joked. “And I couldn’t have found a better way to put that to good use.” With a knack for telling sto- ries and connecting with people, Hammeke decided to enter the world of sports communication. The central Kansas native started broadcasting games in high school, first through the NFHS Network, an online plat- form similar to Striv, then as a color commentator for a local radio station. At nearby Barton Community College, where he earned an associate degree in sports management, Hammeke was the full-time voice for the Cougar baseball team. “After my sophomore year of college, I was pretty much con- vinced that sports broadcasting is what I wanted to do,” he ex- plained. Before he could take the next step toward that career, Ham- meke needed to find a school that
ERIKA PRITCHARD PHOTOS , UNK COMMUNICATIONS Alex Hammeke works for NRG Media in central Nebraska as a midday host, afternoon personality and play-by-play announcer. “Basically, if you were to turn on any radio station in town, wait five minutes and you might hear me.”
Honing his skills Clark was a senior lecturer at UNK and general manager of the campus radio station, KLPR 91.1 FM, when Hammeke enrolled in fall 2021. He was excited to have an ac- complished writer and broadcaster and “very cool guy” join the pro- gram. “Alex is a hilarious, hardwork- ing, extremely intelligent per- son. He is also someone I would describe as having an ‘old soul,’”
pus. However, Ford Clark agreed to meet with Hammeke and his father and show them around the Department of Communication. Four days later, following a tour at Oklahoma State University with roughly 60 other students, Ham- meke made his decision. “I wasn’t going to go south. I was going to go north and be a Loper,” he said. “After Ford met with me and showed me what I could do here, I was convinced this was the place to go.”
Clark said. “He is a throwback to a person you might think grew up in my generation. He has a love for AM radio, he loves reading paper versions of newspapers and he can talk to virtually anyone of any age. He also loves to travel and garner knowledge, and he retains knowl- edge like no one I have ever met. “He is truly someone unlike anyone I have ever known.” Obviously, the former UNK fac- ulty member and his advisee im- mediately clicked. Within his first
offered a four-year degree in this field. Naturally, he simply Googled “sports broadcasting majors near me.” “Kearney popped up. Oklahoma State popped up. If I hated both schools, I’d say screw it and just go to Wichita State. They were my fail-safe,” Hammeke said. He visited the University of Nebraska at Kearney on a cold and blustery day in January 2021. It was J term, so very few stu- dents and faculty were on cam-
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