Sports broadcasters celebrating 10 years on the air in Forney

Sports broadcasters celebrating 10 years on the air in Forney

FORNEY, Texas — A pair of Forney sports broadcasters will celebrate 10 years on the air as they continue into the 2015-16 high school sports season.

FORNEY, Texas — A pair of Forney sports broadcasters will celebrate 10 years on the air as they continue into the 2015-16 high school sports season.

Tony “Gonzo” Gonzalez and Nate White will not only celebrate 10 years on the air together but will be the Sportsgram Internet Sports Network’s longest running high school sports broadcasting team delivering internet broadcasts to listeners across North Texas and all over the world.

“Sportsgram Internet Sports Network was founded to serve underserved high school and collegiate athletic programs with live game day broadcasts,” according to its website.

Gonzalez and White have become known as the “voice of the Jackrabbits” and will continue to be known as such with the Forney High School football booster club continuing its long-standing contract with Sportsgram into the 2015-16 season.

The designation happened by chance, according to Gonzalez.

Coming from Mesquite, Gonzalez says he listened to Steve Glenn on KEOM 88.5, a station owned by Mesquite Independent School District. “I grew up listening to that,” he said. “So when we moved to Forney, I just assumed there would be something available here.”

That wasn’t the case and with Forney being such a small district at the time, sports coverage was slim, he said.

In an attempt to get a broadcast in Forney, Gonzalez contacted Glenn who put him in touch with Sportsgram. After speaking with Forney’s Head Football Coach Kevin Rush and striking a deal for that first year with Terry Gregory, founding partner of Sportsgram, the Jackrabbits had a deal to live broadcast their football games over the internet airwaves.

“When Terry got the agreement, he asked if I wanted to be a part of the broadcast,” said Gonzalez. “At the time, I didn’t even know that I would be doing the broadcast. I was just trying to help get them on the air.”

Gonzalez agreed and still leads the same role he agreed upon 10 years ago as the color analyst beside White whose role is play-by-play.

Gonzalez and White will return to the air next Friday airing the Forney Jackrabbits’ non-district matchup against the Wills Point Tigers in Wills Point, Texas.

Fans can plug into the broadcast online at www.Sportsgram.net on any device.

The duo will broadcast every home and away game this season as fans, former players, family members, and alumni listen in — some as far away as South America and China, according to Gonzalez.

Don’t miss Gonzalez’s weekly Jackrabbit football recap, “The Gonzo Report,” on inForney.com.