When the radio station I worked at in 2014 met an untimely demise, I picked up some work with sister stations 106.7 The Fan and 99.1 WNEW in D.C.
I had a number of friends who worked there, which played a big role in why I wanted to as well. But selfishly, there was another reason. I had just dipped my toes back into doing play-by-play, and the morning anchor was someone I really respected and hoped to meet so I could pick his brain.
But I had no idea how significant he’d become as a friend, confidant and mentor.
Pete Medhurst passed away on Jan. 20 after a battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer. Pete was an Anne Arundel County legend and the beloved voice of Naval Academy athletics.
“Peter was the United States Naval Academy,” athletic director Chet Gladchuk told me after Pete’s death.
He’s not kidding. Few humans were as synonymous with Navy sports as Pete.
“I have the greatest job in the world,” Pete would often remind me. “I get to travel with my best friend [broadcast partner Joe Miller] telling their stories.”
Pete was a phenomenally gifted broadcaster. He was thoroughly prepared … but never needed to be. Pete had an unbelievable gift where you could simply hand the man a roster, give him no background information whatsoever and turn a microphone on and he would make magic. That’s not hyperbole. I witnessed him do it on multiple occasions throughout the years. “Do you want me to stick around and call another game? I don’t mind.” No matter the sport, no matter the level of competition, Pete provided the gravitas to make it feel like a major professional event.
His “into the checkerboard end zone, touchdown Navy Midshipmen” call was among my favorites in all of local sports. He understood the rules of the sports he called better than the officials who were adjudicating the games. He could work any sport. ANY sport. He was the regular race caller at Rosecroft, worked MLB games for the Nationals and MLS for DC United. He called college lacrosse for the Big Ten Network. He dabbled in volleyball, wrestling and water polo on top of his regular football, basketball and lacrosse assignments at Navy.
I happen to know he would have also been an exceptional NASCAR announcer. His dream was to get a chance to call the NCAA softball tournament, particularly as he watched and supported his daughter Kelly in her own softball career at Southern High School. And he could anchor pre- and post-game shows (as you heard adjacent to the Orioles and Ravens on WBAL and 98 Rock) or morning sportscasts or daily talk shows or NFL Draft coverage or, I swear to you, entire programs devoted to the new seasonal flavors at Dunkin.
Shortly after the first time we met, Pete reached out to me to tell me that he had heard one of my calls of a Loyola-Navy game and that he was really impressed. Because I hadn’t done play-by-play since college roughly a decade earlier, I was in a fragile place where I wasn’t fully certain that I was good enough to call games at a high level. Pete’s kind words were reassuring, but I was still skeptical. Pete suggested I should be his backup for calling DC United games in the fall when he would be busy with Navy. Still doubting my own ability, I actually passed on his initial offer.
“That’s nice, man. But I feel like you can do better than me for a major pro sports team,” I said. He wasn’t having it. “No, you’re the perfect choice. That’s why I asked.”
The confidence Pete showed in me changed my professional trajectory. We worked together hundreds of times throughout the next decade. I learned something new from him every time we did a broadcast together. We became good friends. He would call me out of the blue to run ideas by me or to let me know he was listening to one of my shows and had some thoughts about a topic we were discussing.
He was quick with advice to any younger broadcaster in the area who would listen. “Go work in a smaller market,” he suggested regularly, poignant because he cherished the time he had spent on the Eastern Shore as a young broadcaster honing his skills.
I was impacted immensely by my relationship with Pete Medhurst. But our entire state was bettered by having a man with his skills and passion to inform and entertain us as sports fans.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Navy Athletics
Issue 291: February / March 2025
Originally published Feb. 19, 2025