CHADRON — Dave Collins, the play-by-play voice of the Eagles, guided attendees at the Graves Lecture Tuesday, Oct. 28, through how Chadron State College athletic contests come to life through his broadcasts.

Collins grew up in Westminster, Colorado, and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado. At Colorado, a play-by-play class he took with Denver sports announcer Larry Zimmer helped Collins visualize a realistic pathway to sports broadcasting.

“I realized it was not just a dream. I could actually do this,” he said. “I took additional courses and completed a six-month internship with KCNC TV in Denver.”

To practice, Collins would sit in the upper deck at Rockies’ games and record himself.

“I would sit there and broadcast a game like I was the voice of the Rockies to just practice and get reps and ultimately get tape,” he said.

The approach worked and he landed his first job in Sidney, Nebraska, at KSID Radio in 2004. After a decade in Sidney, Collins joined Eagle Radio in Chadron. He is currently in his 11th season calling Eagles’ games and has broadcasted nearly 700 combined games for football, volleyball, softball, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball.

He describes the solo act of rural sports broadcasting as multi-faceted.

“My responsibilities on game day are kind of like all the pieces at work underneath a watch face. What people hear on the radio is that finished product on top of the watch. There’s nobody back at the station playing commercials and then sending it back to me. I’m my own board operator and sound engineer. I control every ounce of the broadcast right there on the site,” he said.

In addition to describing the action for the listeners, Collins said he likes to add context by painting the scenery and atmosphere of the game.

“I’m a sports reporter and a storyteller. Our fans look up to these athletes and watch what they do on the field. I like to see my job as creating a Division I or pro level broadcast,” he said. “My mission on game day is to provide an accurate, compelling, and entertaining broadcast with a deep context and stories for the listeners.”

Organization and preparation are vital leading up to a game, Collins noted.

“Most important, and probably the most involved piece, involves a lot of research. I’ve got to know names and jersey numbers,” he said. “Statistics is a huge piece of sports, so I compile and organize all kinds of different statistics to get ready to help tell the story of the game.”

For example, Collins enjoys being able to tell listeners how a certain player did last year against the same opponent.

“I go through all the main stats within the RMAC and see where we are compared to other schools. I like to find out where we rank nationally and relay that to the fans too,” he said. “I love to find out some fun anecdotes people might not know about with the teams. But my number one job is what’s happening, who’s doing it, and what’s the time and score.”

During his presentation, he described the equipment setup for games and the challenges of traveling with equipment to broadcast away games. In addition to an audio mixer, and a cell phone connecting him to the radio station, he uses an iPad as a live stat monitor.

As part of the game day, Collins manages half-time content and post-game interviews with coaches or players.

“It helps the fans get inside of their thought process. So, whenever we get a chance to do that, I really enjoy it,” he said.

Among the unusual experiences he shared was calling a football game CSC was playing in Illinois while he was watching a live stream of it in Miller Hall when his son Braylon, was due, and he could not travel. Adjusting to adverse conditions is something he has seen numerous times. The night the Beebe Stadium re-opened, a lightning storm caused a 90-minute delay for Collins and his color announcer Sam Parker.

“Building relationships and trust as an Eagle is such a huge part of my job and something so important to me. I consider myself a part of every team and this institution,” Collins said.

Fisher presents at Great Plains Economics and Business Conference

CHADRON – Chadron State College Assistant Professor of Business Dr. Nic Fisher made a presentation at the Great Plains Economics and Business Conference in Omaha on Oct. 17 titled Unintended Side Effects: Regulatory Prescriptions.

In his abstract, Fisher stated that developing an economically viable region that incentivizes future generations to live and work in the Midwest requires not only strong employment opportunities but also access to quality housing that supports workforce attraction and retention.

“Across rural Nebraska, political leaders, employers, and educators consistently identify housing shortages as a major barrier to hiring and growth,” Fisher wrote in his abstract. “Yet, despite widespread recognition of the problem, new housing construction has failed to materialize.”

Fisher explored how legal prescriptions and regulation can create barriers to new home construction. During the past year, he examined how local platting and zoning requirements, amendments to Nebraska’s 2010 Building Construction Act mandating adoption of the International Residential Code, and federal provisions under the Dodd-Frank Act combine to constrain development in cities with populations between 2,000 and 9,999.

He said he used a mixed-methods approach including legal analysis, quantitative review of datasets from the U.S. Census, Department of Labor, Department of Housing, IRS, and the University of Nebraska Omaha Center for Public Affairs Research.

“This research identifies how overlapping regulations limit rural housing starts. The findings provide a foundation for policy reforms that address housing shortages, strengthening the ability of rural Nebraska communities to build a workforce that will remain rooted in the Midwest,” Fisher wrote in his abstract.

Fisher joined the CSC faculty in 2021 to teach Business Law and Ethics in the MBA program and contribute to the development of the Healthcare Management focus area. He has served as an advisor for the CSC chapter of Future Business Leaders of America and has been the director of the Nebraska Business Development Center for the North Panhandle Region since the summer of 2024. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Chadron Community Hospital.