Good piece from auburntigers.com by Jeff Shearer
AUBURN, Ala. – As summer turned to fall in 1967, The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Clubs Band" ruled the record charts.
At the Burcham home in Fairview Heights, Illinois, 15 miles east of St Louis, a different album played on the turntable of 6-year-old Cardinals fan
Andy Burcham.
An album of regular season radio calls by Jack Buck and Harry Caray, setting the stage for a World Series title that fall.
"I wore it out, both sides," Burcham recalled.
"Curve ball, line drive, left centerfield, and it is a base hit. The ball goes to the wall, and it's a double for Juli."More than a half-century later, Burcham can still recite – word for word – Buck's call of a Julian Javier extra-base hit.
"That's the spark," he said. "That's the start of my broadcasting career. I knew at that point, that's exactly what I wanted to do for a living. It's all that I've ever pursued."
The journey that began as a baseball-loving 6-year-old crescendoed Monday
when Burcham was named the Voice of the Auburn Tigers.
'I'm ready for this job': Andy Burcham introduced as the new Voice of the Auburn Tigers"I feel that this job, you're not just the voice of the Auburn football team, or basketball or baseball team," he said. "You're the voice of Auburn. You represent Auburn every time that microphone is turned on, and I will never forget that."
Burcham graduated from Indiana State, where he studied radio and TV. After five years broadcasting games at Illinois State and Southern Illinois, Andy came to Auburn to call women's basketball in the fall of 1988. On his first football Saturday, the Tigers beat Tennessee 38-6.
"I had never been in a venue as large as Jordan-Hare Stadium," he said. "The largest place I'd ever been before that was Busch Stadium in St. Louis. I'd never been in anything with the grandeur of an SEC football stadium until that Saturday."
In 1995, Andy began calling Auburn baseball games with
Rod Bramblett, a partnership that spanned 25 seasons.
In 2003, after Jim Fyffe died, Burcham and Bramblett both applied to be the Voice of the Auburn Tigers. Rod, of course, got the job.
"I can't tell you that I wasn't disappointed, because I was, and I had been working to that point, but it was also my best friend who was getting the job," Andy said. "And so I had a decision to make. Do I support him and move forward with my life and my career or toil in the disappointment of it all?"
Upon learning he had not been chosen, Andy walked to Rod's office.
"I congratulated him, and I said, 'I've got your back," Burcham said.
Sixteen years later, the scene was replayed, this time between Andy and Auburn Sports Properties veteran broadcaster
Brad Law.
"The next morning when I came in to work and Brad was there, he told me the same thing," Burcham said.
'You represent Auburn': Andy Burcham in the radio booth at Jordan-Hare StadiumLast fall, Andy and his wife, Jan, went out to dinner on a Friday evening with Rod and Paula Bramblett, something they did frequently before Auburn home games.
This time was different. The Brambletts asked if the Burchams, in the event of Rod and Paula's deaths, would be willing to be the guardians of their children.
"Absolutely we'll do that," Andy and Jan said after taking some time to consider the gravity of the request, never thinking it would transpire. "We'll honor your wishes."
This spring, Rod and Andy revisited the matter in their office at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. Not surprisingly for an SEC broadcaster, Burcham dates the conversation using Auburn's baseball schedule as his calendar.
"It was after the LSU series and before the SEC Tournament," he said.
Two days after Auburn exited the SEC Tournament, Rod and Paula lost their lives in an automobile accident.
On Aug. 5, Andy and Jan became the legal guardians of Rod and Paula's son, Josh, a high school sophomore. On the first day of school, Andy took Josh to Waffle House, a Bramblett family tradition to celebrate the start of a new school year. Josh's sister, Shelby, is a junior at Auburn University.
In less than three months, Andy lost his best friend, became the guardian of his best friend's 15-year-old son, and succeeded his best friend in what was and is, for both, their dream job.
"It's the most important job that I've ever had in my life," Andy said. "It carries a great deal of responsibility, but it's also a job that I've worked for, for my entire career, and I'm thrilled to be the new voice for Auburn Tigers, recognizing that if the accident hadn't occurred on May 25, none of this would be happening at this moment.
"And we'd give anything to go back to May 25 and that doesn't occur and life moves on.
"I am reminded of Rod and his impact in my life and the lives of Auburn fans – the lives of Paula and Rod – every day when I take Joshua Baird Bramblett to high school.
"I'm reminded of Rod every time I walk into our office, anytime I walk into a press box, whether it's at Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn Arena, Plainsman Park or wherever we go. And every time I go home and I see his son living with us. There are constant reminders of
Rod Bramblett in my life. That will never change."
'That will never change': Andy Burcham and Rod Bramblett called Auburn baseball together for 25 seasons
23 Replies
3391 Views