Yorktown High School Graduate Makes It to the Big Leagues of Broadcasting

Recent Yorktown High School graduate Max Wallace entered broadcasting camp three years ago to gain more confidence and improve his public speaking. On Sunday, the 18-year-old led a nationally televised MLB broadcast.

Wallace, now a freshman at Elon University, handled play-by-play duties on ESPN’s “KidsCast” version of the “Sunday Night Baseball” game between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles. The Aug. 21 game was played in Williamsport, Pa., the home of the Little League World Series.

Less than a year ago, Wallace was sharpening his broadcasting skills at Yorktown High School, where he independently recorded and recapped some Huskers varsity sports contests and posted them to his YouTube channel. He was also a regular contributor to The Voice, Yorktown High School’s student-run newspaper.

English teacher Leo Sposato mentored the broadcast hopeful during Wallace’s senior year, helping to improve his video-editing skills.

“When it comes to editing and YouTube, he showed me pretty much everything I know,” Wallace said of his high-school teacher.

Before falling in love with broadcasting, Wallace was on a path to becoming an engineer. He was on Yorktown High School’s robotics team for four years, serving as build captain during his sophomore year and as team captain during his junior and senior years.

As a sophomore, Wallace entered a broadcasting camp led by Bruce Beck, the lead sports anchor at WNBC. The Emmy Award-winning sportscaster launched his Iona College-based camp in 2017, teaching broadcast hopefuls how to read from a teleprompter, interview athletes, and call games.

Last year, ESPN collaborated with Beck’s camp to launch an alternate presentation of the MLB Little League Classic. The “KidsCast,” which was broadcast on ESPN2, put some of Beck’s top campers in the booth. ESPN brought back the KidsCast this year, selecting Wallace from 109 submissions. His color commentator was 14-year-old Leo Roth, a high school freshman in Brooklyn. Joining them on the broadcast was 11-year-old Pepper Persley, who was not a member of Beck’s camp.

“They determined that Leo and I were good enough to go on as the KidsCasters,” Wallace said.

He got the call from Beck on Friday, Aug. 12 — just nine days before the game. Wallace and his family celebrated, but only briefly. It was time to prepare.

In addition to studying the teams, Wallace and Roth met several times over Zoom where they mock broadcasted MLB games. Beck sat in on the broadcasts to offer feedback. In the days leading up to the ESPN broadcast, Wallace and Roth attended several games at the Little League World Series, calling the games from the stands.

They also did a three-inning practice game with ESPN, which was a new experience for Wallace, who said it was jarring to hear a producer talking in his ear during a “live” broadcast. At one point, Wallace said he accidentally responded to the producer’s comments in the middle of the inning. Eventually, they worked the kinks out and were ready for Sunday night’s telecast.

“This was my first time on live TV, first time working with a producer, first time I called a game that wasn’t just talking into my phone,” Wallace said. “I kid you not, my hands felt like the weight of cinder blocks. I wasn’t scared, but I was so excited to go.”

Sure enough, the preparation paid off.

“I gave Leo a fist bump and I said this is going really, really well,” Wallace said. “By the third inning, I forgot I was on live TV.”

One of the highlights for Wallace was a mid-game interview with Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo.

“You wouldn’t even know he’s an MLB player,” Wallace said. “He’s down to earth.”

Wallace wasn’t the only local in Williamsport that night. “Sunday Night Baseball” reporter Buster Olney also hails from Yorktown.

“He came up to me in the second inning,” Wallace said. “He said, ‘You’re in [my son’s] fantasy league, aren’t you?’”

After the game, Wallace left Pennsylvania and headed toNorth Carolina to immediately start his freshman year at Elon University. Wallace will study broadcasting and plans to contribute to the school’s broadcasts.

At just 18 years old, Wallace already has an unforgettable experience on his resume.

“It was a dream come true,” he said.