A limited-edition series called Friday Night Voices features the local high school football teams’ veteran radio and online broadcasters. Over the years, these local radio icons have seen and heard it all, and they have come to represent Friday night football in Northeast Georgia.
It’s likely that you can visualize the major plays, games, and performances that Stephens County High School football has seen over the last 25 years if you close your eyes and think about them. Perhaps you were physically present. Maybe you watched the highlights of the video. Or perhaps you were one of the many people who tuned in to hear Buzz Tatham and Ken Brady live on the radio as they recounted those experiences.
Now in their 26th season together, the Indians broadcast team on WNEG is calling Stephens County games. For Ken, it has been 28 years in a row. With his good friend Buzz at his side offering color commentary, he is the play-by-play person. We’ll do the math for you. If you’ve listened to Stephens County football on the radio every Friday night since the 1999 Marist playoff game, you’ve heard them call 288 games.
That’s devotion, then.
How it all began for Ken
Both Buzz Tatham and Ken Brady are natives of Toccoa. In 1977, Brady, now 65, received his high school diploma from Stephens County. He went to the University of Georgia and Young Harris College to get his degrees. After honing his skills, he was brought on board as a full-time employee at WNEG Radio in 1981.
Brady remembers, “I grew up listening to the legendary Lynn Pitts calling basketball and football games at WLET.” I always loved football, and I started listening to play-by-play when I was seventeen years old.
In the late 1980s, Brady had his own opportunity to play the sport. Days after the games, on Tuesday, Friday Night Under the Lights was rerun on Toccoa’s now-defunct WNEG TV Channel 32. The show was presented by Charles Head and Mack Poss, who was getting ready for the birth of his first child in 1987.
I recall them calling and asking if Ken could take Mack’s place. Brady remembers. “I’ll try it,” he recalls telling TV32.
His high school sweetheart, Ken, and his wife, Karen, eagerly awaited the birth of their own kid a month later. Josh, their kid, was gracious enough not to disrupt the broadcast schedule, Brady said.
For Brady, it was only the beginning. For a period, he was the preferred sub for WNEG. Head moved on to other endeavors in 1992, and Stephens County night games were picked up by WNEG Radio in 1998. Prior to that, the games were aired live on the now-defunct WLET Radio.
Despite not being a football player, Brady covered high school football games for the Toccoa Record and began working as a radio reporter as a senior, covering both basketball and football.
The beginning for Buzz
Brady’s broadcast journey is similar to Buzz Tatham’s. He, who is now 75, attended Young Harris College before enrolling at UGA. He also went to Piedmont College in Demorest, which is now Piedmont University. At the age of 15, Tatham started working in radio at WLET in 1969. In 1972, he relocated to WNEG.
Tatham, the color analyst for the Stephens County football games, has a long career in sports. After initially working as a coach at Commerce under the renowned Ray Lamb, he returned to Stephens to serve as a football and basketball coach from 1981 to 1998.Since they called the 1999 Stephens County playoff game versus Marist, Buzz Tatham has been Ken Brady’s color analyst. From NowHabersham.com/Riley Moody
When Tatham returned to his starting point, he said, “You don’t outgrow Toccoa, you just grow into it and stay there.”
He was a coach to players like Jay Russell and Rodney Walker. After working with Poss as a radio and television game caller, he eventually had the opportunity to work with Brady.
Tatham acknowledges, “I don’t know that it was a passion.” Ken drafted me; it was one of those agreements where I was supposed to be in the box to let him know what was happening. I didn’t intentionally seek it out, but I simply didn’t want to say anything that might cause Ken to lose his job.
Brady and Tatham’s duo was formally established in 1999 at Marist during Stephens County’s playoff game. Buzz stepped in when called upon and never turned back.
A tight bond on and off the air
When discussing broadcasts from Stephens County, Buzz Tatham and Ken Brady are always brought up together. Their strong bond, which has been cultivated over many years, reverberates throughout the media.
Brady says, “We just get along so well.” We like to take road trips, share humorous stories, and have been on the radio together. I adore Buzz’s old coaching tales and Rodney Walker impersonations. In addition to having excellent insight, he is a pleasure to be around. We simply collaborate well.
Tatham has called games with players he used to coach, including their children and even grandchildren. He can perceive the parallels between himself and his play-by-play companion without having to squint.
According to Tatham, everyone in Toccoa knows everyone. Although we didn’t work together in high school, we were coworkers at the radio station. Our backgrounds are similar to those of Stephens County, Young Harris, and UGA. We weren’t outside hiring, so that adds a special touch. Together, we grew up here.A view from the hot seat under the WNEG tent at the Aug. 15 away game in Mt. Airy, GA. From NowHabersham.com/Riley Moody
That familiarity makes for a better broadcast, as the two play off each other throughout the game. As Brady describes the action in play-by-play, Tatham is giving particulars that add another perspective.
As I m describing the action, I rely on Buzz to give insight on the offense and defense and enlighten the listener, says Brady. Together, we like to accentuate the good and not the bad. We want to give credit when something good happens. Buzz is my navigator on road games. He handles putting up the banner and equipment. He even programmed on his iPad a way to track stats. Here he is doing stats, color commentating, all of it. He s multi-talented. I don t know how he does it.
Buzz is hard at work during the broadcast, and he knows what his role is in telling the story.
I try to say why it occurred the way it did, and what may happen next, says Tatham. Being on the sidelines all those years, I can get better reads, and it s kind of fun to see a play unfold from up in the box.
Favorite memories
Ask both men their favorite game or most memorable, and you get two different answers. For Brady, it s distinct.Tauren Poole, seen here in his playing days at Stephens County High, created some memorable moments for Brady on the field. Poole went on to play at Tennessee and in the NFL. (BLITZSports.com)
The most memorable one was when Stephens had Tauren Poole in 2007, and they were in a second-round playoff game at home against Chamblee, he recalls. That game is known as the Chamblee Shootout (58-57 final in favor of Chamblee). 115 points at The Reservation, that s a record. That game just kept going, kept going, and kept going. I was very tired, and it was emotional for us up in the box, and just wanting Stephens to come out on top. Poole and QB Ethan Martin were so good. It was a loss, but exciting and close. I also fondly remember a game at Franklin County, where a medical emergency happened on the field, and Buzz takes off while we re live, as he had to put his administrator duties above the broadcast.
Ask Buzz about his top moment or memory, and it s a recurring event.
I have a favorite moment, and it s recurring, says Tatham. A lot of times, depending on field formation and field location, you can sense a scoring play before it happens, as it occurs in real time. I can see a block that springs a runner or a receiver slip open. There he goes it s a touchdown you see the mechanics come together, and you can see a score coming. It s something that you see, and it s the favorite moments that I continually have.
Asking each broadcaster their favorite player standouts over the years, notable names surface.
Tauren Poole, he was so strong up the middle, says Brady. Chaz Thornton, who had great speed. There ve been so many, it s hard to pick out. Just off the top of my head, those two because I remember getting excited to just see them run.
I m going to coward out on that one, chimes in Tatham. The waters get muddy when I go back to the players I coached. If I start naming one, I ll name another, another, another. There are so many folks that played their hearts out at Stephens County.
Of the other memorable moments or games, rivalry games against Habersham Central and Hart County are at the forefront.
There was a time in Stephens County history, we could not get Habersham on the schedule, recalls Tatham. That first home one with Habersham in 71 was the largest crowd ever at The Reservation, except maybe the 1988 state title game. There s so many folks related to those across to another county. It s intensely emotional. I m glad it s in place, and I hope it continues to be.
I remember that Habersham and Stephens game with [AJ] Curry and the score was back-and-forth, back-and-forth, back-and-forth that was amazing, exclaims Brady of the 2017 showdown, a 49-46 Indians win at John Larry Black Field. Great game. And there were several big games on the other end against Hart County when CC Morrison scored in a really low-scoring game.
What s next?
The obvious question often unasked when you have such long-time pillars doing what they do best is how much longer do you plan on doing this? The more appropriate question is what keeps you going?
I thoroughly enjoy it I go back to listening to Lynn Pitts on the radio when I was 11-12 years old, says Brady. I recall saying, I wish I could do that someday. My hope is that other people can hear the game the band, the cheerleaders, the crowd that comes through, the atmosphere. We try to take those people along with us. It s so gratifying. To have people that say, Ken, I couldn t make it to the game because of this or that, but I felt like I was there.
That s what keeps me coming back for Friday nights, adds Tatham. As long as I don t say something to get Ken fired, that s my goal. Maybe five years ago, I stated that we re a package deal when he retires, I m gone too.
For everyone s sake, let s hope that s not anytime soon.
