Bill Roth, former voice of Hokie football, basketball and baseball games and now professor for the Virginia Tech Dept of Communications in the College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences, will be the featured speaker at the Roanoke Valley Sports Club meeting on Tuesday, August 22, at the Salem Civic Center. Meeting activities begin at 5:45 pm with the dinner at 6:00 pm and speaker at 6:45 pm.
After graduating from Syracuse University in 1987, Roth began working for Virginia Tech as the “Voice of the Hokies” in 1988, lasting for 27 years. During that time, the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association named him the state’s Sportscaster of the Year 11 times, and he was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.
In addition to being the “Voice of the Hokies”, Roth served as a 1993-1996 play-by-play announcer with the Richmond Braves baseball team, the triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. During the 2015-2016 season, Roth served as the sportscaster for the UCLA Bruins.
Roth has broadcast several NCAA men’s basketball tournaments, as well as four Orange Bowl games, four Sugar Bowl games and five Gator Bowl games.
After leaving UCLA, Roth returned Virginia Tech and became a college professor of practice in the Department of Communication in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Science, emphasizing sports media. During his early times at Virginia Tech, he increasingly took on teaching roles.
The Sports Club will also honor the high school state champions from Cave Spring High School girls’ double tennis and Patrick Henry High School boys’ lacrosse.
Anyone not a member of the Sports Club and is interested in attending the meeting should call Joyce Montgomery at 354-6751 or Maggie Drewry at 353-1103 by Thursday, August 17, 2017.
