A Sea Of Red

I knew both Brian and his brother when we were all in school back in the Mid-to-Late '80s. Brian's had a tremendous career as a play-by-play man and the Chicago Tribune gives him some attention as part of their Rose Bowl coverage.

Rose Bowl the dream of Illini radio voice

By Ed Sherman | Tribune sports media reporter
12:24 AM CST, December 26, 2007

The Rose Bowl is personal for Brian Barnhart.

The play-by-play voice of Illinois football and basketball was raised just down the road from Memorial Stadium in Tolono. He was an Illini fan almost from Day One.

Barnhart grew up listening to previous Illinois voices: Larry Stewart, Dick Martin and Jim Turpin. Now he is following in their footsteps by calling Illinois' biggest football game in 24 years when the Illini face USC in the Rose Bowl on Tuesday.

It took Illinois a long time to get to this point, and Barnhart didn't exactly take the direct route either. After graduating from Liberty University, he pursued his goal of becoming a major-league baseball announcer. A tour of the minors for more than a decade eventually led to him hooking up with the Anaheim Angels in 1998.

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Good for Brian! I know he always worked real hard at school.

Good to hear that good thing are happening to good people. I ran into Brian a few year back when he wa working for the California Angels. We went to LU at the same time and he was the same great guy I remembered. I wih him continued succes...he deserves it!

Nice going Brian! He was a great guy back in the day.

We all most know each other based on our similar connections.

I knew Brian and his baseball-playing brother as well.