A woman made history Wednesday in a sporting event that is woven into the cultural fabric of this state: Sloane Martin became the first woman to do play-by-play for the Minnesota boys high school hockey tournament when she called the first two Class A quarterfinals from the Xcel Energy Center.
Martin is an experienced broadcast journalist. She has called the Minnesota state high school girls hockey tournament, was the first woman play-by-play announcer for the Prep Bowl and recently did play-by-play for women’s college basketball on the Big Ten Network.
But as Martin recalls it, the road that led her to the booth during Wednesday’s telecast on KSTC (Channel 45) for two games, St. Cloud Cathedral vs North Branch, and East Grand Forks vs Minnesota River, began at a moment when she was more concerned with getting a job—any job—than she was with breaking a long standing gender barrier in Minnesota.
In 2016, Martin and her husband had recently moved to the state when she started discussing job opportunities with Dennis Silva, an executive producer at KSTC. At one
point in their back and forth, which began over email and then moved to an interview, Martin had a chance to tell Silva what she wanted to do.
“I just came up to him, I found out who he was. And I said, you know, I do play-by-play and I just closed the door at that. Of course I'd be willing to do other roles, but I said, ‘That's what I do.’”
At that moment, both Martin and Silva were aware that when women are involved in sports broadcasting, it has traditionally been as sideline reporters. However Martin, inspired by broadcasting pioneers like Michele Tafoya and Andrea Kremer, had other ideas.
Doing play-by-play was, and is her thing, and she saw her meeting with Silva as a chance to stake her claim.
“I think everyone should have things that really light a fire, where it's this exhilarating feeling and this excitement and it fills you with a certain type of fulfillment that nothing else does,” she explained. “I hope people have that in their lives, whether it's sailing, art, anything else, your own work. And that's what play-by-play does for me. I just feel this jolt of energy and excitement before going on air and I love the position of leading a broadcast.”
Still, at that moment in 2016, Martin needed a job. She was taking a calculated risk when, as a women, she chose not to mention “sideline reporter,” as one of the positions she was interested in. Instead, she stuck to her guns, and it paid off.
She recalled her conversation with Silva.
“He said, ‘That's great and you're great and we'll take you in,” Martin recalled. “And it was him saying ‘This is your role,’ that allowed me to continue to have these opportunities as opposed to being pigeonholed in another role.”
Martin, always a reporter, was reluctant to make herself part of the story, but she understood the greater significance. "Representation is really important and if someone sees me in this role and is visible and it's watching this tournament that a lot of people watch, and it inspires some other girl who wants to do this," Martin said. "That's how it was for me with Michele Tafoya and Andrea Kremer. They were the ones who I was really inspired by and wanting to go into sports broadcasting."
Martin was the second woman to break a barrier in sports broadcasting in Minnesota in March. Last week, Marney Gellner became the first women to do play-by-play for a Twins game when she sat in the booth for their preseason game against the Red Sox.
Martin hopes the trend continues.
“I does start at the top. It starts with a decision maker making the decision to go in that direction. And that's what it takes—maybe it's a little bit unfamiliar to the person in a management management position, but to trust that women can handle these kinds of roles in these kinds of positions, that's going to be really huge in bringing more women into the fold because there's no reason, zero reason that it shouldn't happen,” Martin said.