ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 6, 1996 TAG: 9606060055
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
WARREN SWAIN leaves Charlottesville's WINA for a play-by-play job with Nebraska and a chance to be closer to his family.
Warren Swain, the football and basketball radio voice of the University of Virginia for 11 years, is leaving the Cavaliers for the play-by-play job with Nebraska.
Swain resigned Wednesday from his dual roles as sports director at WINA in Charlottesville and as UVa's play-by-play voice after agreeing to a multiyear contract with Pinnacle Sports Productions of Omaha, the Cornhuskers' new radio rights-holder.
Kent Cavelka, the voice of Nebraska football and basketball for more than two decades, lost his job when the rights changed hands. Paul Aaron, president of Pinnacle, said the firm listened to tapes of about 80 broadcasters before offering the job to Swain on Tuesday. Pinnacle contacted Swain about the job May 22.
There is speculation that Swain's successor at UVa may be his predecessor - current Wake Forest voice Mac McDonald.
Swain, 49, called some of the greatest moments in Virginia's sports history, but his move is rooted in his roots. He's a native of Pisgah, Iowa, 50 miles north of Omaha. His mother and brother live in Nebraska's largest city, as will Swain. He will commute to Lincoln for his on-air work.
In addition to calling Nebraska football and men's basketball, Swain will have administrative and promotional duties with Pinnacle and some on-air assignments for Omaha's KKAR Radio. Swain is a six-time Virginia Sportscaster of the Year, and won the honor five consecutive times (1990-94).
``At this point, it's a good move for me,'' Swain said Wednesday. ``My mother and my brother are there, and last summer - I always visited Omaha each year for a week or so - one night my brother and I went to an Omaha Royals [baseball] game. He said, `We need to do this more often than one time a year.' I really thought about that.''
In western Iowa, Swain grew up listening to Big Red football and he recalled days as a youth when he would go to Omaha by car and ``take the Football Special [train] to Lincoln, walk the six blocks to the stadium, watch the game, take the train back and drive home.
``I always thought it would be fun to go back to the Midwest if the opportunity came my way,'' said Swain, a graduate of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
Swain previously worked in Nebraska, in 1969, at KHAS in Hastings, his second year in radio.
Aaron said Swain's game-calling basics impressed Pinnacle executives.
``With Warren, you can turn on the radio and within a series of plays, find out the score and how much time is remaining, and you still get an enthusiastic call,'' Aaron said.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Swainby CNB