school of communication alum evan hughes helps mold sports media learning at virginia tech

By Andy Loce

Broadcast Coordinator

December 11, 2021

BLACKSBURG — As a freshman in high school, a 14-year-old Evan Hughes found his true love in the press box at Patrick Henry High School calling the 2015 Tomato Bowl — a local high school football rivalry between Hanover County’s oldest schools.

Hughes, a Patrick Henry alum, was then living his dream as the voice of high school alongside his father, Kelly, and while calling his third game, called a play that he says will stick with him forever.

“[Patrick Henry’s] Kade Harris picked off [then-Lee-Davis’] Chase Mummau in the back of the end zone and I just screamed, Holy Toledo,” Hughes said.

From that point, the play sparked Hughes’ budding interest into a burning passion as he embarked on a path from the voice of his high school and continued into college, calling games for ACC Network and spearheading the creation of Virginia Tech’s sports journalism club — 3304 Sports.

Now, with a Jim Nantz award as the nation’s No. 1 collegiate broadcaster, and a degree from Tech in his Christiansburg apartment, Hughes was named the radio voice for the Virginia Tech women’s basketball and baseball team just months after graduation last summer. He also serves as a mentor to aspiring play-by-play broadcasters in VT’s Sports Media and Analytics program.

“Evan made a huge impact on my college experience with 3304 Sports,” 3304’s Sports Director Jake Lyman said. “He gave everybody a chance to get real world reps. ... He wants to help everyone else grow with him and has been extremely unselfish in helping me continue to improve.”

Since was young, Hughes knew he wanted to work somewhere in the world of sports. But the one ingredient that he lacked was finding his place with the vast opportunities in the field.

“I just didn't know exactly how I was going to fit,” Hughes said.

His first chance at broadcasting came at a small softball complex in Rockville, Va., where Hughes was the public address announcer for little league softball games, which sometimes included his younger sister, Jaime.

“I wanted to do this again. It was such a high,” he said. “I was firmly bit by the broadcasting bug then and I haven't lost that itch since.”

After doing public address announcing, Hughes made his on-air debut during his high school years at Patrick Henry, where he launched an online internet streaming show named Patriot Talk Live.

Hughes called hundreds of Patrick Henry sporting events — from football to volleyball to baseball — giving him valuable experience in his youth to grow his broadcasting skills.

“I didn't even realize at the time what the word reps meant and why it was so important,” he said. “I love doing it and I wanted to do as much of it as possible.”

In the moment, Hughes wasn’t worried about the job he was doing or how he was performing on the air, but rather, the love that he had for broadcasting dominated his perspective of all the achievements.

“I felt like I was ahead of the curve going into college,” he said. “Some of my favorite moments of being around sports go back to Patrick Henry.”

Despite gaining several opportunities of broadcasting live sporting events, Hughes said those games didn’t make him the broadcaster he is today.

Instead, his weekends spent at Comfort Zone Camp, run by his mother, Lynne, allowed him to connect with children that have dealt with a loss of a parent, sibling, primary caregiver or significant person.

“I never thought that a grief camp could translate to broadcasting the way it has, but it is the route of who I am as a person,” he said.

He didn’t have the normal weekends that high schoolers typically get, whether that be playing sports and hanging out with friends. Instead, Hughes and his family traveled to Comfort Zone Camps around Virginia.

Despite the sacrifices that he made, Hughes witnessed the beauty of coming together as a community and helping each other who have dealt with hardships.

“I saw firsthand how our facilitators were so silly and goofy and how they were just an energizing group of people,” he said. “I look back and about where I am as a broadcaster now and how I think my biggest strength as a broadcaster is being so welcoming and making it a comfortable listen and bringing energy. I think a lot of that ties into Comfort Zone.”

When Hughes realized that sports broadcasting could lead into a possible career route, he wanted to go to a school where not only he would grow his craft, but where he could also be a true leader just like he displayed during his time at Comfort Zone.

Rather than attending the traditional top broadcasting schools, he chose a different route and enrolled at Virginia Tech. While he was a little skeptical at first, it didn’t take much convincing thanks to his idol turned mentor: Bill Roth.

After spending a year at UCLA in 2015, Roth returned to Blacksburg where he was the Voice of the Hokies for 27 years and won Virginia’s Sportscaster of the Year 11 times. He envisioned a sports media program, one that could rival the nation’s top programs such as Arizona State, Georgia and Syracuse, and once Hughes learned the news, he was sold.

“I'll never forget being at Sunset Grill in Manakin-Sabot, Va. I was with my mom and my dad sent me a text of a link, and it was Bill Roth coming back to Virginia Tech,” he said. “I reached out and saw the kind of layout of the blueprint and I was all in. I just knew right away what this program is going to become and I badly wanted to be part of it.”

Hughes made an almost immediate impact once he stepped on campus, calling Virginia Tech softball games for ESPN 3, becoming one of the bright, young faces of the program seemingly overnight.

Next came his sophomore year in 2018-19, where Hughes and Roth collaborated to develop an idea that changed the school’s sports media program for years to come.

Virginia Tech’s then-communication department lacked the resources and ability to give students on-air opportunities outside of ESPN 3 and ACC Network. With the ideas of Hughes and Roth, they created 3304 Sports — named after Roth’s play-by-play class — where he was named the club's initial Sports Director. 3304 gives current students opportunities to hone their on-air, writing, production and podcasting skills.

In addition to play-by-play broadcasting, he continued to add to his “tool box” as a communicator, which Roth stresses to his students. As a student, Hughes hosted the Tech Sideline podcast, wrote for Tech Lunch Pail, did sideline reporting for ACC Network and was the Director of Radio Broadcasting for the St. Cloud Rox in the Northwoods League, where he was named the 2018 Broadcaster of the Year.

“Evan has helped me tremendously ever since I got here,” said Tyler Katz, a junior in the Sports Media and Analytics program and 3304’s media manager. “Using Bill’s and Evan’s vision, we’ve taken 3304 to the next level for aspiring communicators that want to work in sports. Without Evan’s leadership — especially through the pandemic — 3304 wouldn’t be where it is today.”

Not only has Hughes received praise and recognition from his close peers, but also nationally. In 2020, Hughes finished in second place in the STAA/Jim Nantz Award, the honor given to the best collegiate broadcaster. He followed his runner-up finish by winning the award in May, giving Virginia Tech’s School of Communication its first winner in school history.

“I really wanted to win the award this year,” he said. “It was very humbling to see people outside of Blacksburg recognize me and I am extremely thankful for it.”

Shortly after receiving the award, it didn’t take long for Hughes to land a job doing what he loves, becoming the voice of Virginia Tech women’s basketball and baseball. He said the opportunity has allowed him to reflect on his past and how grateful he is to be in this position.

“I’m 22 years old and I’m in the Kohl Center, a 17 thousand seat arena,” he said. “15-year-old Evan would be freaking out to be in college at Virginia Tech, let alone to be here.”

With the bright future ahead of Hughes, you’ll likely hear his voice in some of the biggest sporting events in the coming years. But by no means is he holding himself back from his dreams as he is keeping an open mind on where the kid from Rockville could end up.

“I want to be the voice of a team like I'm doing right now whether that's professional or at the college level,” he said. “I don't know where I'm going to be in five years and that's exciting.”