News

Mark Brochin Named IHSAA Media Award Honoree
A familiar sports radio voice to southwestern Indiana listeners will be honored this Saturday as Mark Brochin of The Original Company and WWBL will be presented the 2011-12 IHSAA Distinguished Media Service Award for District III.

Brochin’s contributions to Indiana high school sports will be recognized during the Class A boys basketball duel featuring No. 1 Barr-Reeve at No. 2 Loogootee on Saturday. IHSAA Commissioner Bobby Cox and Sports Information Director Jason Wille will make the presentation.

Since moving to Washington in 1982, Brochin has spent most of his career working for The Original Company which owns 12 stations in Indiana and Illinois and is the state’s largest radio group to carry high school sports. His primary duties are with WWBL, The Bullet 106.5 in Washington. He produces and delivers 10 local sportscasts a day on three of the Original Company stations. In addition, his responsibilities include maintaining and updating the sports portion of the company’s web sites.

In his 40-plus year career, Brochin has been the play-by-play announcer for some 1,600 games across the sports of boys and girls basketball, football, baseball, wrestling, swimming and golf. Most of those assignments have him performing as a one-man crew keeping his own stats while calling the games and performing interviews. In addition, he has provided color commentary for more than 500 contests and participated in state finals broadcasts in 26 different years.

His career path also includes working high school and college broadcasts for Connersville Cable TV plus radio in Rushville, Columbus, Bloomington, Washington, Vincennes, Petersburg, Linton and Evansville in Indiana. He also broadcast games in Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma and penned a weekly sports column in a local newspaper for several years.

Brochin is a 1974 graduate of Connersville High School and a 1978 graduate of Indiana University with a degree in Telecommunications and minors in Marketing and Speech. He started in radio as a high school sophomore at WCNB in Connersville in August 1971.

Brochin has celebrated 33 years of marriage to his college sweetheart, Patricia. They live in Washington and have two children. Andrew is a 2010 graduate of the University of Southern Indiana and Elizabeth is a junior at Washington Catholic High School.

This is the 27th year the IHSAA has recognized outstanding members of the Indiana news media from each of its three legislative districts for excellence in the coverage of high school sports. Brochin is the first individual to be honored this school year.

About the Indiana High School Athletic Association, Inc. (IHSAA)
Founded in 1903, the purpose of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, Inc. (IHSAA) is to encourage, regulate and give direction to wholesome amateur interschool athletic competition between its 408 member schools. The Association provides state championship tournament series in 20 sports, 10 for girls and 10 for boys. Approximately 160,000 student athletes participate in IHSAA sports on an annual basis.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Jason Wille or Chris Kaufman, 317-846-6601
Indiana High School Athletic Association, Inc.
PO Box 40650, Indianapolis, Indiana 46240-0650
jwille@ihsaa.org or ckaufman@ihsaa.org