New Lumberjacks Broadcaster Frank Zawrazky Can’t Hide his Passion for the Team
October 10, 2022 – United States Hockey League (USHL) – Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release
MUSKEGON – If you’re not excited about the 2022-23 Muskegon Lumberjacks quite yet, just tune in to one of the team’s online broadcasts.
You will find yourself engrossed in the game, and rooting hard for the Jacks, before you realize what hit you, because the team’s new broadcaster, 21-year-old Frank Zawrazky, will pull you right in.
Zawrazky is wildly passionate about broadcasting and the Lumberjacks – to put it mildly.
His excitement starts bubbling over about a half hour before games, when it’s not uncommon for others in the press box to hear a loud “Let’s rock!” followed by a “Whoop!”
He’s already giving Lumberjacks players fun nicknames during broadcasts. Between periods of a game against Cedar Rapids last weekend, he excitedly told everyone that he’s referring to Jacks forward Jack Reimann – just acquired in a trade last week from Sioux Falls – as “Hummingbird,” because he’s “very aggressive and puts his nose into every situation.”
For Zawrazky, every game is a huge event, all the players on the team are heroes, and his audience picks up on his excitement.
Part of his passion comes from his incredible drive to become the best hockey broadcaster he can be.
“I was raised very traditional Italian, and I was taught from a young age, whatever you do, you don’t go halfway,” he said. “You give it everything you have. I’m always trying to put my best out there.”
The other part is just his natural enthusiasm. He simply loves what he’s doing and finds it impossible to hide it.
“It’s so much fun,” Zawrazky said. “I psyche myself up like the energizer bunny. I don’t need coffee or energy drinks. It’s just me. I’m kind of a high-energy guy.”
Zawrazky is in a unique situation, because he’s getting his first opportunity as a full-time team broadcaster before he’s even done with college.
He’s a junior at Loyola University Chicago and won’t graduate until next winter.
That means he makes the four-hour drive between Chicago and Muskegon every weekend when there are home games. Last weekend, for instance, he drove to Muskegon on Thursday night, stayed in a hotel room, worked the Friday night home game, slept at the hotel again, then did the Saturday game, spent a third night at the hotel, and drove back Sunday morning.
He said he would never drive straight back to Chicago after a game because he’s too exhausted. That’s not surprising, because he pours out all of his emotions during every broadcast.
“I crash hard after the games,” he said.
Zawrazky has been a hockey fan for most of his life and knew years ago that he wanted to broadcast the sport. He attended Play-by-Play Sports summer camps for several years in high school, just to start getting a feel for the profession.
His high school in suburban Chicago happened to have its own radio station, so Zawrazky started a talk show called Tomahawk Roundup for Chicago Black Hawks fans. The show caught on, and he was able to switch it over to a college campus radio station when he enrolled at Loyola.
Before the 2020-21 season, he came to Muskegon with his parents for a summer beach weekend. He was excited to hear what town his mother chose for the outing, because he was acquainted with former Lumberjack player Hank Kempf, had heard good things about the franchise, and wanted to inquire about internship opportunities.
Zawrazky borrowed his parents’ car while they were at the beach and visited the Lumberjacks business office for several days in a row. He finally got an interview and was hired as an intern for the 2020-21 season.
He did most of his intern work from his dorm room in Chicago, writing game recaps and performing other odd tasks. During the season he spent some of his savings to come to Muskegon and do color commentary on a handful of Jacks broadcasts with former announcer Scott Bradford.
He left a very good impression, so when the Jacks broadcasting job opened shortly before the current season started, the team reached out and he jumped at the opportunity to take the position, more than a year before he gets his degree.
“I told them I was willing to make the four-hour drive for the games,” he said. “I am more than excited to make the trips. It’s so rewarding to get to work with a team that values a great broadcast. I want to learn and evolve. Its’ about learning and improving your craft, and Muskegon is a great opportunity to do that.
“I got goose bumps the first time I walked back into that press box.”
Zawrazki had very little actual experience as a game announcer when he started with the Jacks a few weeks ago. He practiced hard leading up to his first broadcast, and got feedback from two of his heroes – Jack Edwards, a broadcaster for the Boston Bruins, and Joe Beninati, a broadcaster for the Washington Capitals.
He knew both from interviewing them on his Black Hawks talk show, and sent them his practice tapes for critique.
“I was nervous going into my first game (a Sept. 9 exhibition game),” he said. “I was sweating buckets. But after the first period I got my feet underneath me and took things as they came.”
That doesn’t mean Zawrazky is happy with his broadcasting skills at this point. He’s endlessly self-critical and is always looking for ways that he can improve.
In Zawrazky’s world, there is no such thing as good enough.
“I’m pretty hard on myself,” said Zawrazky, who hopes to someday broadcast National Hockey League games. “Nobody else is going to give me the straightforward truth. My approach really helps me, because I see the little details in things. My parents will tell me I had a good broadcast, and I’ll say I did okay.
“It’s that elevating factor. What separates me is that I will not stop until I hit that perfection.”
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