Living the dream: Larson earns spot in Beloit

BELOIT, Wisconsin -- How does one end up with a dream job? In Larry Larson’s case, he won a literal Dream Job Competition. Simple, right?

Larson, a native of Rockford, Ill., is the voice of the Beloit Sky Carp. He landed the gig with the High-A Marlins affiliate after surviving a reality show-style gauntlet that involved beating six other finalists in a live broadcasting competition judged by exemplars of the industry. It was a nerve-wracking, surreal and thoroughly unique way to land a coveted Minor League Baseball gig.

The Dream Job Competition was the culminating event of the Sports Broadcasting Symposium, which took place from Jan. 7-9 at the Sky Carp’s home of ABC Supply Stadium. Larson sent in a submission tape several months earlier, but he and the six other finalists were not named until the night before the competition. Their task was to call a half-inning of the 2016 World Series off a monitor, with the caveat that they did not know which one beforehand (Larson ended up drawing the bottom of the first, in which Cleveland sent eight men to the plate and scored two runs).

“I prepped all night, made up spreadsheets and notes about every guy possible just in case I got a wacky inning,” said Larson, who now works out of the broadcast booth where the contest took place. “All the judges could hear you live, as well as the rest of the people at the symposium.”

The judges included Wayne Randazzo (New York Mets), Brett Dolan (Houston Astros) and Joe Davis (Los Angeles Dodgers). In the mid-1990s, Dolan was a broadcaster for the Beloit Snappers, who rebranded as the Sky Carp this past offseason in conjunction with their move from Pohlman Field to ABC Supply Stadium. Davis, who provided play-by-play during Tuesday's Major League All-Star Game, graduated from the University of Beloit in 2010.

Here’s how to tune in to all 132 @beloitskycarp games this season:

📻 (all games): Big Radio app - https://t.co/6K7uri501r or https://t.co/LMl9jMRdvA
📺 (home games): https://t.co/mi8h6CBmgY, simulcast on 23.3 Rockford (@23WIFR) and 15.4 Madison (@WMTWTV). #HereToStay pic.twitter.com/tswlcws5xB

— Larry Larson (@MLBLarry) April 8, 2022

Larson went first in the contest, then had to sweat it out as he listened to his competitors.

“There were a lot of talented people in the final cut, that’s for sure,” he said. “I’m pretty hard on myself, that’s something I’ve worked on over the years. You kind of have to be to get better in broadcasting. So I’d be listening to these guys. ‘Okay, well, he’s got a real shot. Okay, he did better than me. Okay, he didn’t do better than me.' Broadcasting is all subjective, that’s the beauty of it. At the end of the day, it was down to what the judges thought, not what I thought.”

Finally, the big moment arrived. Drumroll, please.

“They had all the finalists standing in front and they listed everybody off in the order of how they placed,” said Larson. “Then Joe Davis announced the winner between me and the guy who finished in second. To have Joe Davis say ‘Okay, you’ve got the job,’ that was like a fever dream moment.”

Although he's only 22, Larson worked hard to get to that moment. He's a 2022 graduate of Peoria's Bradley University, where he broadcasted any sport he could. From 2019 through 2021, he also called games for his hometown Rockford Rivets, members of the summer-collegiate Northwoods League. At the time of the Dream Job Competition, he was in the midst of applying for positions all over the country. Suddenly, dramatically, perhaps improbably, his post-collegiate job search became a moot point.

#NewProfilePic figured it was time for an update to reflect my current role with @beloitskycarp: Broadcaster and t-shirt tosser. pic.twitter.com/ZekfnJGnOG

— Larry Larson (@MLBLarry) July 2, 2022

“It’s been a blast. Growing up in Rockford, I went to a few games at Pohlman Field and that was a very unique ballpark,” said Larson. “And now to be able to come in for the first full season at this ballpark, that’s a big blessing because everything works great, it’s all state-of-the-art technology. … I didn’t think I was going to be able to get a job doing 130 games all by myself. I’m really lucky, for sure.”

Larson may have his “dream job,” but he still has a long way to go before achieving the ultimate dream of calling games at the Major League level.

“After a few years, who knows? I’ll start looking for a Double-A or Triple-A job or whatnot, but who am I to predict?" he said. "We’re not in a predictions business. Just trying to do our best to describe what’s going on right now. I'm enjoying every moment of it."