Steve Klauke Named 2014 Utah Sportscaster of the Year

SALT LAKE CITY (January 8, 2014) - Salt Lake Bees broadcaster Steve Klauke has been honored as the 2014 Utah Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

Klauke is a two-time winner of the award, having previously been honored in 1995. He was also named Broadcaster of the Year by Ballpark Digest following the 2014 baseball season.

"We are lucky to have one of the best in the business calling our games," Bees general manager Marc Amicone said. "Salt Lake baseball would not be the same without Steve's voice, knowledge and personality behind the microphone."

Klauke is entering his 22nd season as the radio and television voice of the Bees and has called 3,064 of the franchise's 3,074 games. Since being hired as a part of the original Salt Lake Buzz staff in 1994, Klauke has described nearly every moment of the team's history. He has punctuated thousands of home runs with his signature "It's up there, it's out there, it's gone!" call and finished more than 1,500 Bees victories with "Handshakes and high fives all around."

During the baseball offseason, Klauke has broadcasted games for teams across the state during his career, including the Utah Jazz, Utah Grizzlies, Utah Flash, University of Utah men's and women's basketball, and Weber State football and basketball. Klauke has also called countless college and high school football and basketball games for KJZZ-TV and worked televised broadcasts for the Big Sky and Mountain West Conferences.

Klauke moved to Salt Lake City from Aurora, Illinois in 1991 to be a part of the daily sports talk program on KISN 570 as well as Jazz talk before and after every Utah Jazz basketball game. He called the 1996 and 2011 Triple-A All-Star Games, was inducted into the Utah Softball Hall of Fame in 1997, and has filled in for the Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Angels and New Orleans Hornets during his career.

Steve and his wife, Sue, live in Sandy, Utah and are the parents of two children-Adam, a 2010 graduate of the University of Utah, and Lisa, a 2013 graduate of the University of Utah.

Alongside Klauke, the NSSA honored Kurt Kragthorpe from the Salt Lake Tribune as Utah Sportswriter of the Year. State winners from across the country will be honored along with NSSA Hall of Fame inductees Bill Raftery, Dick Schaap, Hal McCoy and Leslie Visser, and national honorees Mike 'Doc' Emrick and Tom Verducci at the 56th annual NSSA Awards Weekend in Salisbury, NC on June 8, 2015.

The Bees start the 2015 season on Thursday, April 9 at Sacramento. The team will open its home slate on Friday, April 17 at Smith's Ballpark. Season tickets and mini-plans are on sale now by calling 801-325-BEES (2337). Additional information about the team is available at www.slbees.com.

--slbees.com-