When the class of 2025 graduated in June, it took the voice of Raider sports with it.
Since 2024, high school sporting events have been broadcast on the Shaker Athletics YouTube channel, featuring live commentary from alumnus Vaughn Ullom (’25). So far, no one has stepped in to fill Ullom’s shoes.
Athletic Director Mike Babinec said that there are challenges with replacing Ullom. “Vaughn was a once-in-a-generation kid. We didn’t go out seeking Vaughn; he kind of fell into our laps,” Babinec said.
Ullom’s work earned him the nickname, “The Voice.” He was so dedicated to broadcasting that he extended his commentary to baseball games, a rare practice among high schools, according to Babinec.
“He and his dad got in a car and went to every single away baseball game. He even went on the spring trip with the baseball team,” Babinec said.
Ullom’s work wasn’t always the acclaimed work Shaker came to know. Ullom said that his commentary was not high quality when he first began, and no high schooler should be held to the standard of a professional. “You need to understand that anyone who’s starting [broadcasting] isn’t supposed to be good,” Ullom said.
Since Ullom’s graduation, sports events are now streamed from the SHHS fan page on the Hudl website without student commentary. “Any stadium events and every north gym event is livestreamed for free,” Babinec said.
However there will be an exception to the north gym and stadium rule. “Ice hockey has their own Facebook livestream that broadcasts all their games,” he said.
Hudl is a web service that hosts recordings of athletic events for fan access. The links for the SHHS Hudl fan page and all ice hockey livestreams can be accessed in Babinec’s weekly Raider Round Table newsletter.
The idea of broadcasting at Raider sports events started during the COVID-19 quarantine when alumnus Carson Fowler (’20), asked if he could provide commentary to games the district streamed because of quarantine. “He was the first kid, during Covid, when nobody was here. That’s when the livestreams started kicking in. Carson was like, ‘Can I just start talking into the camera?’ and it started his career,” Babinec said.
After high school, Fowler attended Syracuse University and earned a degree in broadcasting and digital journalism. He completed internships with both ESPN Cleveland and SportsNet New York. Fowler now works for CBS Green Bay, covering sports in the Wisconsin area.
Ullom continues to practice commentary at Arizona State University and has already found broadcasting opportunities on campus. “I got involved with this radio station, and they give a lot of opportunities to everybody. Today, I’m submitting a tryout for basketball commentary,” Ullom said.
Anyone interested in listening to archived broadcasts by Fowler or Ullom can go to the Shaker Athletics YouTube channel.
Babinec said the Athletic Department hopes to revive commentary. “We’ve talked about, within the department, trying to start some type of mentorship program so that we have someone like Vaughn to start a cycle of kids, and we don’t have that gap that we currently have this year,” Babinec said.
Broadcasting would become part of the already existing Athletic Internship Program “for kids that are wondering how to do scoreboards, public address announcing, working with officials, all that. So, the next component of that would be to try to find a slice of that pie that would be focus on the broadcasting piece,” he said.
Babinec said, “So, if you know anybody, if you have anybody that comes to mind, we’d love to do it. If we have to buy the equipment, or have to do whatever, we’d be happy to do it.”
Ullom said interested students should be patient with themselves. “You’re going to start out struggling,”he said, “but you’ll grow to have confidence and you’ll grow to have fun.”
A version of this article appears in print on page 11 of Volume 96, Issue 2, published Oct. 28, 2025.
