Sports Legends: Kevin Carolan & Steve Kurtz

 

I want to paint a picture for you… think back to the late 80’s Coach Truman Williamson has had a great record with the Buena Colts… the fans are in stands at Loveless Field, the Buena Boosters are there with fireworks an flare, Colt Spirit is in the air! If you were not at the game, you were listening to the dynamic chemistry between Steve Kurtz and Kevin Carolan on KTAN radio… even fans in the stadium were listening to the play by play on their hand held radios!  

I was reading through some of my father’s notes on pre-game materials, and I could hear his enthusiasm as I read his word… “Tonight’s non-conference game is against one of the oldest teams still on Buena’s schedule. The Colts and the Douglas Bulldogs started playing each other in 1969…” I read notes where  my father would write down a question he could ask Steve on-air, that’s the kind of man my father was… very organized and he wrote everything down. Which is why he had the best Buena ‘stats’ of all time.

The energy in this community was full of Buena Spirit and Steve and Kevin were Buena Sports advocates, right along with the coaches and the players. My father’s stats were shared across the state and drove colleges to our community looking for recruits.

When my father’s age and health started slipping away, Sheriff Dannels joined Steve on the weekly radio show with Cherry Creek Media, and Kevin continued sharing his stats and information to keep the momentum going. Steve started his radio career in Sierra Vista on KTAN radio and Cherry Creek Radio’s Grady Butler was more than eager to help us with our cause. Sharing information with the media allowed us to send a message to the Sierra Vista School Board that this community knows Kevin and Steve and they stood behind this project! With hundreds of signatures, letters, emails and phone calls, the Board finally approved our project.  Debbie and I were surprised that Buena management wasn’t ‘driven’ to support this honor, after Steve and Kevin dedicated their lives to Buena Sports for more than 40 years, we were touched by the community support and the stories from athletes who remember the articles and play by play broadcasts where they were highlighted.

Debbie Kurtz and I started this project a year ago. The first contact we made was to Coach Greg Duce who remembered Kevin and Steve fondly and stood behind us on this project; little did we know all the hoops we would have to jump through. I contacted the Herald Review who instantly wanted to support this project, again, those who work at the paper today may not remember Kevin Carolan – Sports Editor! But the Wicks respected the work my father conducted at the paper for over 40 years and we appreciate the articles and support you have provided in making this project come to be.

The climate of our society has changed, and the support and spirit has changed at Buena. Today, the ‘fans’ at George Loveless Field don’t really know Steve and Kevin, but our hope is that the synergy of this dynamic team, will be remembered and the large number of people in the community will share their memories of when this community would listen to Buena Sports.