Play-by-play voice Gary Ball on mend from stroke with fresh outlook, new studio
Last Friday night marked the return of high school football, of course, but for play-by-play man Gary Ball, it meant something much more.
The producer of the long-running “Scholastic Ball Report” on CWKYT and regular voice of PrepSpin.com’s streaming high school football and basketball games suffered a stroke last November.
What followed were months of hospital stays, rehabilitation and doubt.
“It was like, ‘Am I ever going to get back to announcing?” Ball said. “That’s the thing that I really love. And I thought it would be taken away from me.”
Warning sign
Ball felt unusually tired the evening before Thanksgiving. He went to sleep and when he stirred, he told his wife, Brigid DeVries, “My arm’s asleep.” They called his doctor.
The doctor advised Ball to go to the emergency room if it didn’t get better in 30 minutes.
“The emergency room was full, and they took me right back,” Ball said. “So, I knew something was really wrong with me at that point. … They started doing tests on me and then, all of a sudden, boom, I was out of it.”
Ball suffered a lacunar stroke, which happens when a small artery supplying blood to the brain is blocked.
“If I hadn’t been in the emergency room on Thanksgiving eve, I would have died,” Ball said.
The road back
Ball was in and out of Central Baptist Hospital and Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Center for two months for rehabilitation and a couple of complications that arose during his recovery. It was also the height of COVID-19 at that time. “It was awful.”
The stroke slurred his speech, numbed his right arm, took away his ability to walk for a time and even gave him recurring hiccups, which, eventually, went away.
Finally, on Jan. 21, Ball got to go home. He’s been rehabilitating ever since with three therapists — physical, occupational and speech. He has a slight limp, but he ditched the cane a while ago.
Before the first big game, he practiced with PrepSpin.com owner William Warfield and broadcast partner Mike Meighan ahead of Friday night’s live action at East Jessamine High School.
“I didn’t think I’d get through it,” Ball said. “I thought I’d do a quarter, maybe half and then have somebody sit down, but I got through the whole game.”
Ball estimates he’s at about “75 to 80 percent,” and thinks getting back to at least 95 percent of his pre-stroke self is within sight.
“It worked out pretty well,” Ball said of the broadcast. “If you watched the game, you know, it’s pretty good.”
DeVries, a former commissioner of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association, took over hosting duties of Ball’s weekly “Scholastic Ball Report” on CWKYT as he recovered. The ‘Report” highlights the on-field and off-field achievements of high school athletes and also deploys them as interns to help run the show. Ball will return to the program for its fall debut on Labor Day weekend.
“If I learned anything from the stroke, I’m going to enjoy each day,” Ball said.
Mobile studio
One thing making Ball’s comeback a lot easier is PrepSpin.com’s new trailer, or as it’s officially called “The Whitaker Bank Mobile Broadcast Studio.”
Warfield, who last year signed a major deal with Mingua Beef Jerky’s Curtis Mackley in addition to the Whitaker sponsorship, had been thinking about having a studio on wheels for some time, especially after the loss of almost all of his high-end equipment from his truck in a restaurant parking lot burglary in 2017.
“I knew it would serve a dual purpose of home office and rolling studio (for his onsite video podcast),” Warfield said. “I never thought we would actually have play-by-play inside it. Then COVID hit.”
In addition to many schools not wanting Warfield’s three-man-plus team occupying press box space under COVID restrictions, Meighan developed a chronic foot problem, and Warfield suffered an unusually long illness, as well.
“We kept getting beat up, health-wise,” Warfield said. “So, the idea to add this huge TV inside the trailer came to mind. This allows the guys to call the games inside.”
Warfield found a vendor that could put the trailer together, and he’s been outfitting it with screens and all his equipment since its delivery in July. It has a custom PrepSpin.com broadcast table, lined walls and lighting and three air conditioners. All that’s left is the paint job, which will be a custom wrap promoting his company and his sponsors.
“No one has anything like it. It’s definitely a first of its kind,” Warfield said.
Now, Warfield can produce streams and his team can call games from the air-conditioned studio with one or more camera operators around the field.
Ball doesn’t miss the press box. “We love it,” he said of the studio. “It’s ideal.”
This Friday, PrepSpin.com will stream Lexington Catholic’s Traditional Bank Bluegrass Bowl game at home against Pulaski County for free on its YouTube channel, website and apps. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:45 p.m.
New broadcast in town
There’s another new way to watch Lexington high school football in town thanks to WTVQ-36 and WLXG-AM 1300.
Sports anchor Bryan Kennedy has spearheaded an effort to combine HypedUp.TV and WLXG’s “Varsity Game Night” to WTVQ’s 36.2 digital channel, which is available over the air and Lexington cable systems.
HypedUp.TV, founded by Corey Rainey, provides the video, WLXG’s Angelo Carriero and color man Josh Toftness provide the commentary and WTVQ provides the signal. The broadcast cannot be streamed due to Fayette County Schools’ exclusive streaming deal with the NFHS Network, but over-the-air broadcasts get around this problem.
“A big reason we did it is, honestly, for exposure for local athletes,” said Kennedy, who made a trial run of the idea during last season’s 43rd District basketball tournament. “I’m a big high school football guy. I played high school football, and I always feel like, sometimes, high school athletes get left behind, especially in a city as big as Lexington with Kentucky and EKU close. Something like this can give them even more exposure. I mean, there’s nothing cooler than being a high school athlete and seeing yourself playing on TV. I think that’s pretty cool.”
The team made their debut doing the Mingua Beef Jerky Bowl doubleheader at Henry Clay last week and is set to broadcast this Friday’s Madison Central at Paul Laurence Dunbar game at 7:30 p.m.
In Lexington in addition to the 36.2 digital signal, the game can be found on Spectrum Channel 138, Metronet Channel 132 and Windstream Channel 11.
This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 8:28 AM.
