The voice of USF Athletics, Jim Louk, will routinely put down his radio headset and pick up the pen to share his perspective on the history of USF Athletics.  

Louk has been broadcasting games for 29 years and is the resident historian in the Athletics Department hallways.  

By JIM LOUK

Voice of the USF Bulls

Too many stories left untold; "Letters" re-launched.


I often tell people that USF Athletics is a land of opportunity.  For me, the opportunity has been the chance to get involved in a variety of projects and duties that have helped me to enjoy professional growth.   There's no better way to stay fresh than taking on a new challenge, even after almost 30 years of association with the department.

That was my mindset a couple of years ago when I volunteered to start writing for our website. The lure of trying something new outweighed my concerns over whether I would be able to pull it off or not.  As it turned out it was almost like a hobby; an entertaining diversion for me mixed in with a lot of other daily duties.

It went ok, I think, although it took a while to dust off my journalism degree and remember all the things I allegedly learned in college.  After all, I've mainly been dealing in the spoken word for a long time.

At any rate, I'm really pleased to say that I'll be writing on a more consistent basis now, and that I have been given the honor of having a little corner of this website on a regular basis.  There's even a nifty new format, thanks to USF's Charlie Terenzio.

There's a lot to cover.  We'll certainly continue to look at days gone by and visit with former coaches, student-athletes and administrators.  The history of USF Athletics is relatively short, but rich.  There are a lot of stories to tell; some things even the most devout USF fan may not be familiar with.

At the same time, the past is a fun place to visit, but not a good place to live.  So we'll have plenty of present day things to discuss as well, especially as football season approaches.

I can't always promise proper grammar and perfect English. There's a few of us broadcaster types doing this now, with mixed results.  Recently I brought up the subject of proper punctuation to a fellow broadcaster and his response was "Well, I don't know really.  I guess I'm not for it or against it." 

And neither am I.

Fortunately our Senior Writer Tom Zebold (it's really nice to hear someone else referred to as "Senior") has agreed to serve as an editor.
 
Editors are to be treated with respect, as they greatly influence the final copy that you see.  So I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you that Tom Zebold is a great writer, a solid editor, and a fine human being.

That should get me through at least July.

I am grateful for this chance to visit with you on a regular basis, and to continue my broadcast work as well.
 
If you have ideas for stories or if you have questions about USF Athletics, I'm pretty easy to find at either louk@usf.edu or via twitter @usfjimlouk.

There aren't many things in this life that I enjoy more than talking and writing about USF Athletics.    I hope you'll enjoy this new series of articles.

And I promise to at least consider leafing through the punctuation rules.

GO BULLS!