Kansas Athletics

LAWRENCE, Kan. – University of Kansas graduate and Lawrence radio veteran Brian Hanni has been named the play-by-play voice of Kansas Jayhawk football and men’s basketball on the Jayhawk/IMG Radio Network, Kansas Athletics and IMG announced Tuesday.  Hanni replaces Bob Davis, who served in that role from 1984 until his retirement this year.

Hanni will also host “Hawk Talk,” the weekly radio shows of football coach David Beaty and men’s basketball coach Bill Self, and perform other duties as assigned by Kansas Athletics.

A Topeka, Kan. native, Hanni graduated from the University of Kansas in 2002 with a Broadcast Management degree with an emphasis on sports broadcasting and media sales. Hanni created the daily show “Rock Chalk Sports Talk” on KLWN Radio in Lawrence in the summer of 2002 and hosted it until 2012. The Jayhawk Radio Network has aired the show since 2008.

Hanni did radio broadcasts of KU baseball games for over a decade, and spent eight years on the radio broadcast team for KU women’s basketball. He also served occasionally on KU men’s basketball and football broadcasts for eight years.

Hanni left Lawrence in 2012 to become the voice of Texas Tech men’s basketball and baseball on the Texas Tech Sports Radio Network. He also did a weekday radio show, “The Bottom Line.”

“Naming a replacement for an institution like Bob Davis was a very difficult proposition,” Kansas Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger said.  “We view this position as not only a radio voice, but as an ambassador for Kansas Athletics and our university.  We received interest from many well-established broadcasters; ultimately we felt that Brian’s talent as a broadcaster, his positive outlook and his proven connection with the community separated him from the other outstanding candidates.”

Hanni has won over 25 awards from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters. Last year he was inducted into the Topeka West High School Sports Hall of Fame for his efforts in sportscasting.

Hanni is well-known in the Lawrence community, not only for his broadcasting talent but also for his charity work.  In 2009 he founded (and still organizes) an annual celebrity basketball game, “The Rock Chalk Roundball Classic,” which raises money for local families fighting cancer. He is an active participant in other youth-related organizations within the community as well.

By The Associated Press

Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry has won the George Halas Award for overcoming adversity to succeed.

The Professional Football Writers of America honored Berry on Monday. Berry, the AP’s Comeback Player of the Year, overcame a diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma in late 2014 to return to the field and have an All-Pro season in 2015.

The 47th Halas Award winner, Berry is the first member of the Chiefs to receive the honor.

He underwent six rounds of chemotherapy treatment from Dec. 10, 2014 until May 13, 2015. Berry was declared cancer free last June 22, and he was on the field for the first training camp practice July 29.

Berry returned to the starting lineup in Week 2, was third on the team with 61 tackles (55 solo), and had a pair of interceptions.