Powerful Voice for High School Sports
December 19, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Paul Carey was home from the U.S. Army only a few months and just shy of 25 years old when Beal City embarked on its first trip deep into the MHSAA boys basketball tournament.
On the call for local radio station WCEN from gyms at Saginaw Arthur Hill and Lansing Sexton, Carey served as the voice of the previously “laughable” Aggies as they reached the Class D Semifinals before falling just six points short of playing for the title.
“All of Beal City emptied out. They’d never had anything before,” Carey recalled during his annual Thanksgiving weekend visit to the MHSAA Football Finals at Ford Field. “When I got home, within the next two weeks I got a letter from every citizen of Beal City thanking me for broadcasting their games. That’s the kind of appreciation that meant so much.”
During 42 years on the airwaves, Carey was best known as a voice of the Detroit Tigers bounding out of transistor radios all over Michigan, thanks to WJR’s powerful signal.
But for the state’s high school sports community, his legacy is similarly memorable as the voice of the longtime football and basketball scoreboard show and a voter for various all-state teams and wire polls over the decades.
Now 86 and retired since 1991, Carey remains a regular during the first day of the Football Finals, taking in games he broadcast for the MHSAA during the late 1970s and that continue to hold his eye as they have for more than a half-century.
“It was a passion of mine. High school sports always has been,” Carey said. “I think because my dad was a high school coach, and teacher initially, and my brother was a high school coach and teacher, I just grew up in families that appreciated coaching and athletics. I was not a great athlete, but it kept my hand in following sports that way.”
Now, the scores
Carey partnered with Ernie Harwell for Tigers radio broadcasts from 1973-91, including during the march to the 1984 World Series championship. He was named Michigan Sportscaster of the Year six times and to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.
But Carey’s early career included sitting on top of a car, plugged into a phone pole, for a Sacred Heart football game at old Fancher Field just a few blocks from his family’s Mount Pleasant home. Among many more accolades are a Distinguished Service Award from the Michigan High School Coaches Association and a place in the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Hall of Fame.
In fact, the start of his weekly announcing of statewide football and basketball scores preceded his baseball career by 16 years and ended two months after he announced his final professional out.
The Michigan High School Scoreboard show was a staple of WJR’s late Friday nights from 1957-91. Carey would read every score he could collect from a variety of sources, often organized by league and with state rankings and context mixed in.
His idea came from something similar read by Len Colby for Kalamazoo’s WKZO. Carey’s brother Terry was coaching at Niles during the second half of the 1950s, and he and other coaches would get together to listen to the Friday night scores from the southwestern part of the state.
Carey, who left WKNX in Saginaw for WJR in 1956, explained to then-sports director Bob Reynolds that the station’s strong signal could provide for a truly statewide scoreboard experience.
Carey then connected with Edgar Hayes of the former Detroit Times, who gave the OK for Carey to call the paper on Friday nights to get scores from the Detroit metro area. For the rest, Carey relied on wire services – there were three at the time – who relied on newspapers from all over Michigan to call in scores over the course of an evening.
Before every Friday during high school football season – and later Tuesdays and Fridays during boys basketball season – Carey typed up lists of games based on schedules in the newspaper, with spaces to add scores. More than a few times, Carey raced down a back ramp at Tiger Stadium after a Friday night game, back to the WJR studio, with 15 minutes to prep for the show’s 11:30 p.m. start.
“If the Flint Journal, the Grand Rapids Press, the Traverse City paper didn’t call in scores to the AP, then I was out of luck too. And that happened all the time,” Carey said. “I would call back occasionally, say, ‘Did you get anything more?’ It was a rat race.”
The show originally was set for 10 minutes and then extended to 15. American Airlines sponsored a record show that followed, and Carey’s scoreboard show had a sponsor only once in 35 years. Finishing up on time was expected, even with more than 200 scores to read.
But Carey said he always went 20 minutes, sometimes 25.
“Because I wasn’t done. I just kept right on going,” Carey said. “Jay Roberts did the all-night show most of the time, and he was patient with me. He didn’t say too much on the air about ‘that guy ahead of me took all of my time.’”
Carey continued the “rat race” until his final scoreboard show, Dec. 20, 1991. He retired from WJR at the end of that calendar year. And it's important to note: Carey was never paid a dime extra for doing the program. .
“I think Paul is really just a sports fan, and that came across to the listener on his broadcasts,” MHSAA historian Ron Pesch said. “Paul would gather as much as possible off the wire. He'd interject if scores were missing from sections of the state. Press polls from the Free Press, News, AP and UPI were big, so he could point out close calls and upsets.
“He provided immediacy, or the closest thing to it in the days before cable TV and the Internet, and because of his scoreboard show, you could get the results before the morning paper. For listeners, he brought life to something as simple as game scores.”
First team all the way
Carey, who resides in Rochester, also served as the engineer on Tigers broadcasts for 16 years, through 1990. He broadcast Pistons games on the radio for six seasons and did the first broadcast of a Central Michigan University football game, in 1949.
Harry Atkins, covering Detroit’s teams while with The Associated Press for 29 years including the last 21 as its sports editor for Detroit, took note of his colleague's hard work – and especially that Carey was one of few broadcasters who was a journalist in addition to a voice.
That made Carey's other major role in high school sports a natural fit.
Atkins split The Associated Press all-state selection panels for football and basketball into 11 regions, and Carey represented the Detroit area for a number of years. He also was a longtime voter in those sports' weekly polls.
“Paul is just that kind of guy. He thought it was important and he made time in his busy schedule to do it,” Atkins said “And it had an impact on the other 10 voters on the All-State panels, too.
“Some of them were from small out-state newspapers or radio or TV stations. Yet every one of them knew who Paul Carey was. And when he spoke, of course, with what often is called "The Voice of God," those voters paid attention.”
And he still does, as well.
At the end of each fall, Carey still puts together a compilation of the three high school all-state football teams – Associated Press, Detroit Free Press and Detroit News – and files them with years of research and results.
“It’s important to me. Nobody sees it but me, but I get a certain kick,” Carey said. “Once in a while I’ll see a kid playing at Central, Western or (Michigan) State or Michigan, and they’ll say he came from Clawson. I’ll go into my all-state collections, say that would’ve been 2009 he played, and I find a name.”
In addition to the Football Finals on WJR, Carey was part of the Baseball Finals broadcasts into the early 1990s, continuing to contribute even after his retirement from his fulltime gig.
He spent high school games over the years sitting next to legends like the Free Press’ Hal Schram and remembers when current Free Press longtime scribe Mick McCabe was just a rookie. One of Carey's final broadcasts was a 1992 Baseball Final with his nephew Mike Carey, who continues to broadcast MHSAA championship games to this day.
“I am eternally grateful to Paul Carey. His contribution to high school sports in Michigan has been great and significant,” Atkins said.
“We are lucky to have him.”
PHOTO: Paul Carey (left) and nephew Mike Carey broadcast the MHSAA 1992 Class D Baseball Final between Hillman and Athens for PASS.
Union City to Omaha: Skirka Takes Murray State Baseball to 1st College World Series
By
Scott Hassinger
Special for MHSAA.com
July 28, 2025
UNION CITY – From his days fielding ground balls at Alumni Field in Union City to coaching the Murray State Racers at the 2025 College World Series in Omaha, Neb., Dan Skirka has never taken the game of baseball for granted.
A 2003 Union City graduate, Skirka credits his experience of growing up with three older brothers as playing a major impact in his athletic development.
"I played all three sports – football, basketball and baseball – when I was younger while growing up. After my freshman year, I began to concentrate solely on basketball and baseball," he said.
Inspired by watching his older siblings Darren (graduated 1995), Justin (1999) and Brian (2001) compete for the Chargers, Dan couldn't wait to be just like them when he reached the high school level.
"I would attend my brothers' games and I was always trying to emulate them and their teammates,” Dan Skirka said. “The desire to compete for my school when I got the chance helped turn me into the person I am today. It was just really special being on that field, and I never take the game for granted."
While his older brothers played multiple positions, Dan began his career as a pitcher, but an arm injury his freshman year convinced him to switch to shortstop, where he started his last three years for the Chargers.
Skirka was brought up to varsity his freshman year in both baseball and basketball. He played baseball under Joe Tinervia, earning all-conference at shortstop his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. As a senior, Skirka batted .520 in earning all-region as well.
He also was selected all-conference in basketball his sophomore, junior and senior years. A small forward, Skirka remembers well the thrill of winning a District championship his junior year before losing in the Regional Final. Being able to share that experience with guys he grew up with was priceless.
"I learned a lot about leadership skills and how necessary they were in my growth and maturity as a player in high school and college. I learned a great deal from the example the older guys set," Skirka said.
After graduating from Union City, Skirka became a two-year starter at shortstop at Kellogg Community College for head coach Russ Bortell. The Bruins captured a Michigan Community College Baseball Association title during Skirka's sophomore season. The Bruins also reached the regional semifinals that spring after falling in the regional final his freshman year.
"We had a great program at Kellogg, and I learned a ton about baseball from the coaching staff there.” Skirka said. “Grand Rapids Junior College won the regional both years I was at Kellogg. They had a tremendous team and were tough to beat."
Skirka received a Division II baseball scholarship to Grand Valley State University, where he played under Steve Lyon and helped the Lakers win two Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles. As a senior, Skirka was selected GVSU's Scholar-Athlete of the Year and named to the Division II all-region team, one step away from All-America honors, after hitting .400. He graduated from GVSU majoring in social studies with future plans to become a high school teacher and coach.
Skirka helped his teams at Kellogg and GVSU win a combined 173 games. He credits then-assistant coaches Eric Laskovy (Kellogg) and Jamie Detillion (GVSU) as being heavy influences in his decision to pursue a career in coaching college baseball.
"Laskovy and Detillion were both great assistant coaches who later became head coaches at those schools, and they served as great mentors to me. They both felt that I'd make a good college coach,” Skirka said. “I had always had good relationships with my college coaches, and I served as a team captain at each school. I learned a lot of lessons about toughness and loving the game. Sometimes we played in front of no spectators, and there were a lot of long bus rides."
Laskovy, now a highly-successful head coach himself at Kellogg, describes Skirka as the same genuine and humble person that he was during his playing career.
"Dan was quiet, but real confident and he handled himself well on the field. His strong work ethic as a player made him a coach's dream. He had good leadership skills and he always led by example,” Laskovy said. “That shows up now in his personality as a head coach. He knows the game well and won't get outworked by anyone, and he's seen every situation there is to see in baseball. He knows his stuff, and he's earned the respect of every one of his players and they love him. I couldn't be any prouder of him and the success he's went on to enjoy."
Detillion, who served as GVSU's head coach for 12 seasons before joining Henry-Scheim as a dental sales rep, described Skirka as being another coach on the field during his playing career.
"Dan went from being a good contact hitter to being a power hitter his senior season at GVSU. He was another coach on the field and he outplayed others by how well he prepared," Detillion said. “He always does the right thing, and his mannerisms and the way he goes about his business reveal his high character.”
While student-teaching before graduating from GVSU, Skirka served as an assistant coach in 2008 at GRJC before becoming an assistant coach in 2009 for Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas. He joined Murray State's coaching staff as an assistant from 2010-2015 before leaving to become the recruiting coordinator at Walters State Community College (Tenn.), which finished as national runner-up in 2018.
Skirka accepted the position of head baseball coach back at Murray State on July 2, 2018. He’s only a few weeks removed from leading the Racers to a historic season.
Murray State, which is 206-151 under Sirka, finished with a school-record 44 wins this spring, winning the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament championships. The Racers earned their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2003 and fourth in program history. Murray State then upset host Ole Miss to claim the school's first NCAAA Regional crown, followed by a Super Regional victory over Duke that earned the Racers' their first trip to the College World Series. Murray State ended the season 44-17 after CWS losses to UCLA and Arkansas.
Skirka, who received Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Mike Martin National Coach of the Year awards, turned down several coaching offers at other schools to remain at Murray State. He recently received a four-year contract extension that came with a substantial pay raise to become reportedly the highest paid coach in the MVC.
Skirka stated that his decision to stay on at Murray State was a simple one.
"Murray State is a real special place. I love the guys and people in this community, and it just feels like home,” Skirka said. “College baseball presents a lot of challenges. The game is difficult sometimes, and guys need to remember to be patient. It takes weeks, months and sometimes years to earn your time and develop a winning program."
Skirka pointed out clutch performances this season from his senior duo of outfielder and lead-off hitter Jonathan Hogart and third baseman and No. 3 hitter Carson Garner. Hogart hit a school-record 22 home runs, and Garner had 17.
"We have tough kids who grinded out and won 14 games by one run. We were never out of any game with a good mixture of veterans and underclassmen,” Skirka said. “It was a group of guys that loved one another and went out every day and had fun. This group worked hard and competed like crazy. They play the game the right way, and do it with a smile on their face. Our coaching staff is great as well. We meshed pretty well together."
Skirka and his wife Kelsey (Hanson) – also a 2003 Union City grad and a standout in volleyball, basketball and softball – have a 9-year old son, Keagan.
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Union City sophomore shortstop Dan Skirka makes a throw to first base after fielding a grounder in 2001. At right, Skirka dons headphones for a postgame interview this past season. (Middle) Skirka (32) lays the ball up for two points while playing for Union City against Athens. (Below) Skirka is pictured with wife Kelsey and son Keegan before a game this spring. (Union City photos courtesy of Union City High School. Murray State photos courtesy of ProfEatonPhoto/Murray State athletics.)