I guess I have waited long enough to say this about Dave Bernhard. Will probably give myself away. But....
When it comes to broadcasting, Dave Bernhard is a true professional and very good at what he does. But, he is an even better person. I have never run into anyone who knows him and doesn't like him. I have only known a few people in life who I can say that about.
I had the good fortune to work together with Dave about 25 years or so ago. We did TV HS baseball and girls softball games and we also did a Providence football game on radio. And we did state final baseball games on radio and state final softball games on TV. Dave was always, always prepared. He did a ton of homework before games to familiarize himself about both teams. He knew all the players and something about them. Anything to add to the broadcast.
Someone mentioned the play-by-play man on the Tuesday night game didn't get the years of state titles correct when talking about Fenwick? It was a mistake or perhaps just getting the years confused. Dave would never have done that because he did all his homework and knew all those types of things. He had so many things written down when he was ready to take the mic. His goal was to have more than you need and can get on the air. Better than not having enough. For sure.
He wrote the pregame openings himself and hit the mark almost every single time. No one worked harder, and it showed.
Dave was also always open to new ideas and was willing to try a lot of things. When we did baseball, he did the play-by-play and I was the analyst. One day I was driving to do a game with him. I was thinking I'd like to try to do the play-by-play for a couple innings. So, I asked him if he could do the first three innings, I would take the 4th and 5th and he would bring home the 6th and 7th. He looked at me, didn't hesitate, and said, "hey that's a great idea. let's try it." I know guys who would have said no. But Dave didn't have that kind of ego at all. If it was going to make the broadcast better by changing things up, he would at least try it.
I guess I did OK, because he said we were going to do it that way from then on. I learned so much from him and I really liked working with him because he makes whoever works with him, look and sound better. He sounds so good and comes off so smooth because he takes the time to give his best effort and you can tell he loves doing it.
I have watched and listened to so many guys who aren't very good and don't get much better because I think they don't prepare as well and don't go through the trouble to have those bits of info in front of them. And, some guys just don't have that kind of talent.
We also did a Wednesday night live HS show on TV. That was a blast! Doing live TV is not easy. I think it looks easy because the guys who are good at it make it look easy. One time I got to meet Dave's dad. Being the kind of guy I am I wanted to learn something no one in the audience would know. So, I asked his dad if Dave got in trouble at times when he was a kid. I was hoping to get something funny I could go on the air with. But, much to my disappointment, his dad said, "no, Dave was a good boy." Totally believable, but totally disappointing. LOL.
He loved to laugh too. One day we were doing the state softball finals at NIU. The booth was right behind home plate. My fat *** was up there in the booth with him. A foul ball came straight back and bounced close to the booth. On air, I said "I should have reached for that." Then he said, "oh no big boy, I don't want you falling out of this booth and maybe getting hurt on the bleachers." To that I said, "if I fell out of this booth and landed there, it wouldn't do those bleachers any good either." Oh, did he let out a laugh. Nothing funnier than a fat guy making fun of his fatness.
We had a lot of good times and Dave is a great guy. They are lucky to have a guy like him doing those games. He's a treasure.
