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Plenty of sports hounds dream of being a big-time sportscaster. There’s certainly a truckload full of incentives — travel, lights, cameras, hobnobbing with athletes, dining in first-class restaurants with A-list celebrities and all that.
But nobody sees all the hard work it takes to arrive in that rare spotlight. Paying dues does not adequately cover it. It takes years of days, nights and weekends at local stations with hardly minimum wage pay coupled with moving from town to town, seemingly forever on the merry-go-round chasing the brass ring and hoping that someone somewhere sees you, likes you and takes a chance on you.
No, it doesn’t happen to very many who start out clinging to the dream. So, you have to know that reaching America’s 24th largest TV market has to be knuckle-grinding work which eventually buckles the knees of most before getting there. To say the least, you cannot be average to arrive.
But then Chuck Howard, Charlotte Area Director for National Scouting Report, was never average. Before we get to his impressive broadcasting career, let’s reverse field and open a small window into his past. Let’s start with Howard’s high school days in tiny South Dayton, N.Y. South Dayton is so small that it’s not listed as a town. It’s a hamlet of 620 people. Get the picture? It’s not your average place to grow up.
Yet, there’s something unique about growing up in a hamlet. You’d know everybody, right? Howard did, which no doubt contributed to his already effusive, energetic personality. The town and Howard were a perfect fit. As a result, the guy never has met a stranger – perfect for a career in television.
Then think about this: Thirty-three tackles for a whole season is a stat that many high school football players would relish as a bragging point. Howard somehow made that many in one game. In fact, until recently Howard still held the New York state record for tackles in game. Makes you think the guy must be pretty good at multi-tasking, dodging all those blockers, not to mention his teammates, to get to the ball carrier that many times. You cannot be average and record 33 tackles.
And why didn’t he play college ball?
“I was one of those kids who had no recruiting support and was woefully overlooked. I had no delusions of grandeur,” he said. “But I was a decent enough player to have gone D-III somewhere.”
So, what happened?
“My high school coach simply handed me my game film and told me to send film to coaches. Suffice it to say I did not know what to do on my own,” Howard lamented. “It still bugs me to this day that I didn’t get recruited more in high school. Everything worked out fine, don’t get me wrong, but we all have egos and it would have been cool to have seen where I may have ended up had I played collegiately.”
Without football in his future, Chuck shifted toward something he’d aspired to do since his high school days — broadcasting.
“I knew at a very young age that I wanted to be a broadcaster,” Howard recalls. “Several years ago, my mother found a paper I wrote in third grade in which I was the lead announcer on Monday Night Football as well as the voice of the Buffalo Bills. In high school, as early as the 10th grade, I wanted to pursue sports broadcasting.”
But life goes on and so it did for Chuck. After matriculating from State University of New York in Fredonia with a degree in communications, Howard landed a spot on the sports team in Erie, Pa., where he got to cover area football along with college and pro sports, including the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers. Not your average career start.
“I was fortunate enough early in my career to be in a small market like Erie, Pa., where I got to cover pro sports in Buffalo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh,” Howard said. “So, right out of college I was in pro locker rooms and covering the NFL, NHL, NBA and even a little major league baseball. I next worked in Scranton (Pa.). That’s where I really hit the high school sports hard. It’s coal country and big-time high school sports territory.”
Another move, this time to Buffalo, N.Y., inched him closer to the big time. Howard was his station’s beat reporter for Penn State football, the Buffalo Sabres and most notably the Buffalo Bills during their unmatched four-Super Bowl-appearance run from 1990 to 1993.
His next broadcasting opportunity landed him in Charlotte, N.C., where he was tapped as sports director for WCNC, an NBC affiliate. He held that position for 12 years before being lured to the world of NASCAR in Concord, a suburb of Charlotte and home of Charlotte Motor Speedway. There he transitioned to NASCAR Media Group, where he remained for four years as news reporter, show host and producer.
So accomplished and revered is he in the Charlotte, N.C., market that a few years ago Howard was named the fourth greatest sportscaster in the city’s history. Three times he was selected as Charlotte’s Sportscaster of the Year by the Charlotte Observer. He is a four-time recipient of the Russ Caitlin National Award for motorsports journalism. And among other accolades, Howard received a Regional Emmy in 2005 for his coverage of the Hendricks plane crash.
Today, while serving as NSR’s area director for Metro Charlotte from his Fort Mill, S.C., home, Howard remains a cog in the Charlotte sports market machine by twice weekly producing and hosting a TV show for the Carolina Panthers.
“Working with the Panthers has been great fun,” he said, “especially with their recent success.”
Why then does working with young athletes with NSR stir him?
“Like many folks, when they reach, say, the age of 50, we often times want to make a change in our lives,” he said. “I had tired of the travel and did not like the direction I saw local news and sports going. I wanted to stay in the sports arena and run my own business.
“The NSR opportunity presented itself and I fell in love with the concept and company from Day One. NSR’s long-term success has been key. I try my best to convince people that while it can never be too early to get their child on (coaches’) radar, it can certainly be too late. I am very upfront with prospects and parents.”
The most rewarding part of being an NSR area director?
“Getting that call from an athlete who thanks me for a college coach reaching out to them,” Howard said. “And when parents thank me for working on their behalf.”
Today, Howard has the best of both worlds — broadcasting and NSR.
“I have been truly blessed with the opportunities presented to me via my broadcasting career,” he said. “So many neat things. Interviewing greats like Joe Paterno, Lou Holtz, Steve Spurrier, Dean Smith, Coach K, etc. Being in Buffalo the four straight Super Bowl years was a thrill of a lifetime. Rubbing elbows with NASCAR greats like Earnhardt, Petty and Gordon, to name a few.
“I love the great mix in my life. Still sprinkling in some broadcasting and at the same time working with my NSR families. I’m having a blast.”
National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.
Great article…..I,m forwarding onto Chaut Co. Hall of fame