Spectators gathered in the David Eisler Center ballroom for the sports speaker series featuring Johnny Kane.
This is the first sports speaker series by the Ferris State Sports Professionals Association this school year and featured Fanduel Sports Networks, Johnny Kane on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 3 p.m.
The sports speaker series has been something the SPA has put on multiple times in recent years, getting relevant people within the sports business to come and connect and provide information to people with similar goals and aspirations.
Kane is a veteran sideline reporter, anchor and play-by-play commentator with 19 years of experience in the sports business.
As of today, Kane, a graduate of Ohio University, is the sideline reporter on Fanduel Sports Network with the Detroit Pistons and the Detroit Red Wings. He also has experience with the Detroit Tigers and 10-plus years working for news outlets.
The reason for inviting Kane to speak to students and attendees was due to the knowledge and experience Kane holds in broadcasting, according to business administration junior and SPA president Korbyn Kahl.
“He is big in the Michigan sports community as a whole,” Kahl said. “I think a lot of our sports communication people want to get into the sports business and bringing him in as one of the best in the business to speak to us was an easy decision.”
The event opened with Dr. Pink introducing Kane to the crowd, providing information on how he met Kane in the past, afterwards, he gave the floor over to Kane.
Kane said when doing an event like this, he wants people to understand the grind of reporting and broadcasting and walk away with a better understanding of the job overall.
celebrities Paul Rudd and Jason Sudeikis. Photo by: Jordan Wilson | Multimedia Editor
“I just want to be as real as possible of what to expect when you get into this career,” Kane said. “I try to give a little bit of real-life experiences and show the people what the job is really like. Everybody’s path is different and I just wanted to share my path and really explain how much of a grind it can be.”
During Kane’s speech, he walked the audience through his journey as a reporter, from living on the floor in a small town in Kansas to a local news station in Kansas City to where he is today as the sideline reporter for the Pistons and the Red Wings.
After he finished speaking, guests could ask questions with Kane one-on-one and take photos with him before departing.
SPA Faculty Advisor Dr. Jennifer Coburn-Engquist hopes that students were able to connect with Kane.
“I think it shows to his personality just how many people stayed to ask questions after,” Coburn-Engquist said. “I want them to connect and maybe even network a little bit if they can.”
Getting someone like Kane on campus to speak to students took simply just asking him said Kahl.
“Right when we got on campus in August we were trying to figure out who to get for our speaker series,” Kahl said. “We found out one of our RSO members, Jonathen Hart had a connection with Kane. We thought it was a great way to open up our speaker series this year, we asked him and he was all for it.”
While there are no more speaker series planned by the SPA, they fully expect the event to return in the future with the same goals in mind of connecting people who want to work in sports with the people who are doing it.