Wayne Larrivee is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

sportscaster. Larrivee is currently the radio play-by-play voice of the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

on the

Packers Radio Network The Packers Radio Network is a broadcast radio network and the official radio broadcaster of the Green Bay Packers, fully under the team's control in regards to technical productions and on-air personnel. The network's flagship is iHeartMedia's WRN ...

alongside color commentator

Larry McCarren Laurence Anthony McCarren (born November 9, 1951 in Park Forest, Illinois) is a former American football player for 12 seasons in the National Football League with the Green Bay Packers. McCarren had a long career as the Packers' starting center. ...

and calls college football and basketball for the

Big Ten Network Big Ten Network (BTN) is an American sports network based in Chicago, Illinois. The channel is dedicated to coverage of collegiate sports sanctioned by the Big Ten Conference, including live and recorded event telecasts, news, analysis programs, ...

on television. Despite his current job with the Packers, Larrivee has long been associated with

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

sports, having spent time as the voice of the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

, over a decade as the voice of the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

and nearly twenty years as the television voice of the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

Biography

Early life and career

Larrivee was born in

Lee, Massachusetts Lee is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, metropolitan statistical area. The population was 5,788 at the 2020 census. Lee, which includes the villages of South and East Lee, is p ...

and attended

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands ( Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, where he graduated in 1977 with a degree in mass communications. During his time at Emerson, he practiced the craft of play by play by spending many nights in the old

Boston Garden The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (late ...

, calling games from high above courtside into his trusty tape recorder. He would astound the regular news staff at WECB, the Emerson carrier current station, with after game interviews, and up-close reflections on the actions of the night during the 10 PM extended news broadcast. After beginning his professional career at KGRO Radio in

Pampa, Texas Pampa (from the Quechua: ''pampa'', meaning "plain") is a city in Gray County, Texas, United States. Its population was 16,867 as of the 2020 census. Pampa is the county seat of Gray County and is the principal city of the Pampa micropolitan ...

in 1975, Larrivee moved to KSTT Radio in

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

where he announced

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

football games,

Quad City Angels Quad as a word or Numeral prefix, prefix usually means 'four'. It may refer to: Government * Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States * Quadrilateral group, an informal ...

minor league baseball games and high school basketball games. From 1978 through 1984, Larrivee did play-by-play for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

KCMO Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...

radio. In 1985, Larrivee was hired to be the radio voice for the

and held that position until the end of the

1998 NFL season The 1998 NFL season was the 79th regular season of the National Football League. The season culminated with Super Bowl XXXIII, with the Denver Broncos defeating the Atlanta Falcons 34–19 at Pro Player Stadium in Miami. The Broncos had won ...

, when he took over as voice of the Packers the following year. At each stop, Larrivee succeeded iconic play-by-play announcers, Joe McConnell in Chicago and Jim Irwin in Green Bay. He has called two Super Bowl victories; the Bears' in

Super Bowl XX Super Bowl XX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

and the Packers' in

Super Bowl XLV Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champi ...

. Larrivee also was the television

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

announcer for the

for

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...

for seventeen seasons. At various times he has also called games for the

Kansas City Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

football,

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the Fighting Tigers of Columbia who, in 1864, protected Columbia fro ...

basketball, and

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

football and basketball for

ESPN Plus ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, in partnership with ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Compa ...

. Larrivee also works for

Dial Global Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The company w ...

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...

sports division, calling NCAA basketball tournament games and serving as a substitute announcer for

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

games carried over the network. In his spare time, Larrivee voices the Badger Mutual Insurance Sports Minute in Wisconsin and several other states. In addition, he voices the Badger Mutual Insurance "In the Tunnel" for Green Bay Packers games.

Other broadcast assignments

Throughout the NFL season, Larrivee also hosts a nationally syndicated radio show with ''

Pro Football Weekly ''Pro Football Weekly'' (sometimes shortened to ''PFW'') is an American sports magazine, founded in 1967, and website that covers the National Football League (NFL). It was owned by Pro Football Weekly LLC and headquartered in Riverwoods, Illinoi ...

'' publisher

Hub Arkush Herb "Hub" Arkush (born February 14, 1953) is an American football sportscaster and analyst. He is the editor and general manager of ''Chicago Football'' and ChicagoFootball.com, a magazine and website devoted to coverage and analysis of all thin ...

. On April 23, 2000, Larrivee substituted for Al Albert as

WTTV WTTV (channel 4), licensed to Bloomington, Indiana, United States, and WTTK (channel 29), licensed to Kokomo, Indiana, are television stations affiliated with CBS and serving the Indianapolis area. They are owned by Nexstar Media Group alongsid ...

's play-by-play announcer during the Indiana Pacers' 88–85 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. On July 18, 2007, Larrivee was named the #2 play-by-play announcer for football games on the

. Larrivee works the telecasts with former Northwestern and

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

Chris Martin.

Thom Brennaman Thomas Wade Brennaman (born September 12, 1963) is an American television sportscaster. He is the son of former Cincinnati Reds radio sportscaster Marty Brennaman. Broadcasting career After graduating in 1982 from Cincinnati's Anderson High Sch ...

was named the lead announcer on the same date. On October 10, 2017, Larrivee was announced to be the television play-by-play announcer for the

Milwaukee Panthers men's basketball The Milwaukee Panthers men's basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team competing in the Horizon League for the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. They play their home games at UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena in Milwaukee, Wisco ...

team.

Trademarks

At crucial moments at the end of games, Larrivee refers to a clinching point as "The Dagger." An incorrect 'dagger' had never been called until the

2012 NFL season The 2012 NFL season was the 93rd season of the National Football League and the 47th of the Super Bowl era. It began on Wednesday, September 5, 2012, with the defending Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Giants falling to the Dallas Cowboys ...

in which he presumed a Packers victory near the end of a September 24 game against the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

, but the Seahawks scored a controversial touchdown to give them the victory. In 2011, Larrivee teamed up with Sheboygan, Wisconsin-based advertising agency DuFour Advertising to start selling merchandise with his signature phrase.

References

External links

Larrivee's page
at

WTMJ-AM WTMJ (620 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Owned by Good Karma Brands, the station has a news/talk radio format. Its sign-on dates back to 1922 and for most of its history it was owned by ''The Milwaukee Journal'' ne ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larrivee, Wayne Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Chicago Bears announcers Chicago Bulls announcers Chicago Cubs announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Emerson College alumni Green Bay Packers announcers High school basketball announcers in the United States Iowa Hawkeyes football announcers Kansas City Chiefs announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Minor League Baseball broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers People from Lee, Massachusetts Sportspeople from Berkshire County, Massachusetts