(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Who says you can’t teach an older sportscaster new tricks?
Veteran radio sports reporter and anchor George Ofman, who for decades has made the rounds at traditional broadcast outlets across town (including 670 The Score and WBBM Newsradio), decided to reinvent himself a few years ago with one of these new-fangled podcasts.
There are all sorts of sports podcasts, of course, but Ofman’s hook was a little different. He sought out sports luminaries with a Chicago connection and encouraged his guests to share new information about their lives or careers.
“Tell Me a Story I Don’t Know” was born. After more than 140 episodes, Ofman has just published, with Triumph Books, a compendium of his podcast’s best moments.
In the latest episodes of Looped In: Chicago, he talks about his life and career. Perhaps you don’t know that Ofman grew up in Albany Park, where, as an imaginative child, he caught the broadcasting bug thanks in part to the legendary Jack Brickhouse.
“We lived across the street from Hibbard Elementary School, and there was a whole bunch of kids in the neighborhood. We’d get together and play baseball in the summer on the campus, and I was Jack Brickhouse,” Ofman recalls. “I not only played, but I announced the game. And then after the game, I was the ‘Tenth Inning Show,’ and I would use a soda pop can and I would interview the players.
“I kind of knew 60 years ago that this was what I wanted to do for a living.”
Over the years, he rubbed shoulders with a variety of sports greats in press boxes and locker rooms.
“I’ve always enjoyed interviewing people, and the fact that I had a history with many of these people is kind of why I started the podcast,” Ofman said.
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