ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 7, 1996 TAG: 9609090119
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: ON THE AIR
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
On the eve of his return as Virginia's prodigal broadcaster, Mac McDonald wasn't talking football.
McDonald's last football game as UVa's play-by-play voice was the 1984 Peach Bowl. ``There's no way, no way, I ever thought I'd be back,'' he said Friday.
The surprises haven't ended since Virginia athletic director Terry Holland coaxed McDonald back to Charlottesville from Wake Forest earlier this summer.
When McDonald sat in a WINA Radio studio Friday morning, cueing up tape of Virginia coach George Welsh for use on the air, he thought about his drive to work.
``All of a sudden, [tonight's] game was very unimportant. I mean, a hurricane was coming. It was pouring. Trees were coming down,'' McDonald said. ``So, I told the news people I'd take my cellular phone in my Jeep and go out and do live reports from the streets.''
McDonald, 43, can't wait for tonight's UVa opener against Central Michigan at Scott Stadium. He replaces Warren Swain as the voice of the Cavaliers, 11 years after he left UVa's airways and six years after he departed Charlottesville.
``It's been kind of humbling to be back,'' McDonald said. ``People call the station and say, `Hey, glad you're back,' and people stop me on the street and say hello.
``It's kind of like being in a time warp. I've lost all of this hair, and all of these people look the same as they did when I left.''
McDonald's exit from the UVa network after the 1984-85 basketball season was rooted in personality conflicts. He worked in sales until he returned to his native Des Moines, Iowa, in 1990 for a new radio start.
He didn't stay there long. When longtime Virginia assistant Dave Odom moved to Wake Forest as the Deacons' head basketball coach, he coaxed McDonald's return to the ACC.
Then, a few months after Holland was named Virginia's AD last year, McDonald saw his longtime friend. Holland asked McDonald, ``When are you coming back?''
``I told Terry we'd be back in February for basketball,'' McDonald said. ``Terry looked at me and said, `No, I mean permanently.'
``Warren was here. Realistically, there isn't any way you could have thought what would happen really did. In the back of my mind, though, I did think that if Warren ever left, Terry would probably ask me back.''
Swain and McDonald worked together on Iowa State broadcasts in the 1970s. When Swain was offered the Nebraska play-by-play job and an Omaha radio station spot, he moved home to the Midwest. And Holland called McDonald, who left International Sports Properties, which coordinates and markets the Wake and Virginia Tech networks, among other properties.
McDonald is the sports director at WINA, the UVa flagship station. He spends much of his time working with Virginia Sports Marketing. In addition to radio play-by-play, he's also hosting the UVa coaches' TV shows.
What Holland wanted McDonald for as much as his on-air work was putting more pizazz into the UVa radio and telecast presentations. That will be obvious on the air tonight (WROV 1240 AM in Roanoke).
``It feels really, really good to be back, but it's an eerie feeling, too,'' said McDonald. ``I've been going back into Virginia's football history a lot on my own, and I've come across a lot of things I'd forgotten, but remember after reading about them or hearing tape of them again.''
One thing McDonald does recall about UVa history is his first day on campus, only eight days before the 1980 football opener against Navy. He'd driven into Charlottesville from Iowa.
``I was 27,'' McDonald said. ``I was driving around campus, trying to learn where things were, and I came across a softball field. There were some guys playing, and I recognized Ralph Sampson. How could you not?
``He was out there with Lee Raker and Jeff Lamp and Terry and some other guys. I got out of the car and Terry came up and asked if I wanted to play. I told him my glove was in the car. A friendship began that day.''
So did a job opportunity 16 years later.
AROUND THE DIAL: The next ``Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel'' on Home Box Office airs Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., and the feature piece is director Spike Lee's 20-minute segment on controversial Cleveland baseball star Albert Belle. Tim Green is a Fox Network NFL analyst, but he will appear Sunday on ``60 Minutes'' on CBS (7 p.m., WDBJ). The former NFL defensive back's latest book is ``The Dark Side of the Game'' and unlike his earlier works, this one isn't a novel. Green will discuss life inside pro football. The Salem Avalanche's season is history, but the club's play-by-play voice, Mark Aucutt, is still working. Aucutt is calling high school football games on WXCF (1230 AM, 103.9 FM) in Clifton Forge this season. The postseason baseball schedule is out. The best-of-five division series open Oct.1 with games in three of the four series, two on ESPN and a prime-time game on Fox. Unlike last year, when the former Baseball Network regionalized the games, every playoff game will be aired in a different time period. For instance, the Oct.1 games are scheduled at 1, 4 and 8 p.m.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 linesby CNB