Chris Denari voted 2022 Indiana Sportscaster of the Year
The Indiana native is in his 17th season as the television voice of the Indiana Pacers.
Chris Denari, the television voice of the Indiana Pacers, was voted 2022 Indiana Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.
The NSMA has more than 650 members and each year, members in each state vote on the sportscaster and sportswriter of the year. For Denari, who is in his 17th season calling Pacers games, it’s his first time winning the award.
My former teammate at The Athletic, Bob Kravitz — who has a great pulse on the state’s sports teams — was voted Indiana Sportswriter of the Year for the third time.
Award winners will be celebrated at the annual awards weekend in Winston-Salem, NC June 24-26.
Denari started with the Pacers in 2006 and has been paired with Quinn Buckner the entire time for broadcasts on Bally Sports Indiana (and previously, Fox Sports Indiana.)
Mark Boyle, on the radio side of Pacers broadcasts, won the award five times (1995, 1999, 2014, 2015, 2016). But it had mostly been dominated by Don Fischer, who is in his 50th season as the radio voice of the Indiana Hoosiers. He’s won it a remarkable 27 times.
Go ahead and name the award after him.
Denari previously served as the play-by-play announcer for the Butler men’s basketball team (1989-2006) and the Indiana Fever (2000-2017). In 2016, he was inducted into the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame.
Denari is a graduate of Westfield High School and Wabash College.
