Purdue Athletics honors the "Voice of Purdue"

Intercollegiate Athletics has memorialized longtime radio announcer and administrator John R. DeCamp - known to Boilermaker fans as the "Voice of Purdue" - with the naming of the home radio booth at the Ross-Ade Stadium and establishing a student-assistance fund in his honor.

The radio booth, occupied by the Boilermaker Sports Network, is located in the Shively Media Center. DeCamp, a Kendallville, Ind., native, was the Purdue football and basketball play-by-play announcer for 43 years, including three years as a student broadcaster for university radio station WBAA.

DeCamp later worked as the chief announcer, sports director and eventually station manager of WBAA, which became the flagship station of the Purdue Sports Radio Network. He finished his career as director of public relations and promotions for intercollegiate athletics and retired in 1986.

DeCamp touched many lives during his career, including contemporaries and young broadcasters whose names became household words in the media, said Morgan Burke, director of intercollegiate athletics.

But the on-air accomplishments of DeCamp are only part of his legacy.

Burke said, "Those who worked with him on a personal level remember his dedication to the hundreds of young employees and students with whom he worked. Always ready to teach with a word of advice or an enlightening anecdote from his varied experiences behind the microphone, John served as a mentor and role model to many people, including C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb, ABC's Schenkel and the current voices of Boilermaker football, Joe McConnell and Tim Newton."

The John Purdue Club is working to establish an endowment to honor DeCamp's career.

"The purpose of the endowment is to provide financial support for the students who work in Purdue's Sports Information Office," said Nancy Cross, associate athletics director who earlier in her career worked alongside DeCamp in promotions. "Specifically, this fund will support students who work on game broadcasts or Web casts of various varsity sports and just might uncover the next 'voice of Purdue', like DeCamp did for McConnell."

McConnell said, "We are all products of people who influenced us in the formative period of our lives. Since I knew what I wanted to do at an early age, John DeCamp is one of the announcers I listened to most often. His descriptive style of play-by-play is one thing that I tried to incorporate into my delivery. Prior to television, the radio announcer really had to be the eyes for the listener. I learned that from John. I also adopted his love for Purdue, and when I graduated from Franklin College and got my first job at WBAA, he was my first boss. I consider him to be my mentor and a very close friend."

DeCamp, when told of the establishment of the fund shortly before his death, added, "I can't think of any way I would rather be remembered than to have upcoming play-by-play announcers benefit from my career. Two words - perspicacity and perseverance - come to mind in describing my own career. I felt keenness in judgment and discernment plus a high degree of stick-to-itiveness were always important qualities. Success is a matter of having a proper attitude. I was given a job, a chance to travel, and an opportunity to meet a lot of great people and learn from guys who had already achieved. I have tried to do the same for others who came along wanting to learn and succeed. Hopefully, this fund will assist some young people achieve their dreams as I was able to achieve mine."

Anyone interested in honoring John DeCamp by assisting the next generation of sports broadcasters may contact the John Purdue Club at (765) 494-3248 or (800) 213-2239 for more details.

You may also download a giving form here.