Eric Gallanty — a Staples Class of 2011 grad, and Syracuse University senior — has won a great award. The Sportscasters Talent Agency of America just named him the nation’s outstanding collegiate sports broadcaster.
“Eric does both TV and radio play-by-play,” says STAA CEO Jon Chelesnik. “When I watched his football, I had to double-check that Eric was still in school. He is fabulous.”
Nice — but “06880”-worthy? Isn’t that a little, um, “inside baseball”?
Normally. Except for this: The former WWPT-FM and Staples Television Network star’s honor is the Jim Nantz Award. It’s named for the veteran CBS Sports broadcaster — who was a longtime Westport resident.
Eric Gallanty (left) and Jim Nantz.
Next month’s awards ceremony in North Carolina will not be the first time Gallanty and Nantz’s paths cross. A few years ago, while still in Staples, Gallanty and 2 other rising broadcasters — DJ Sixsmith and Brandon Edelson — were invited by Nantz to lunch at Gold’s.
They expected a quick bite. But he spent 2 hours with them, talking about sports and TV.
Perhaps one day Eric and Jim will share something even more exciting than an award (and a pastrami sandwich): a broadcast booth.
Hi Dan, I thought you might want to know the happiest place in town. Well, it is Winslow Park! Thanks to wonderful âopen spaceâ there are plenty of smiles there, dog walkers, kids on scooters, walkers, people pushing strollers, Frisbee players, young and old alike. Nowhere else in the town can you see such a diverse group having such a wonderful time. We sure did make a good call when we designated Winslow âopen spaceâ.
Dan,
A little additional information to the story, which goes to the type of person Jim is.
I actually set up the lunch: Jim has been a friend for a long time, I got to know Eric and DJ in particular for their great work at WWPT and I thought they would be excited to meet one of their idols, who was also local.
Jim had been on the road for several weeks and called me about an hour before; he was exhausted, thought he would only be able to sit for a half hour and apologized in advance. I braced the kids that lunch might be shorter than expected.
Sure enough, we sat in Gold’s for two hours. Jim is all about helping others and I think he fed off the excitement of the boys. It was really cool to sit and watch their exchange.
Yesterday, when we learned of Eric’s great honor, I texted Jim. He remembered the lunch and asked me for Eric’s contact information. I have no doubt Eric has already heard from him.
Dave