He’s called hundreds of games for Highlands athletics.
His last one will be on the grand stage at the KHSAA state baseball tournament in Lexington.
Brennan Bucher has been on the air for years on bluebirdsradio.com, whether it be football, basketball or baseball. Friday against South Warren or however long the Bluebirds baseball team goes will be his last one.
“It’s everything I could have asked for,” Bucher said. “If you told me I could have got to do any game at UK, but for it to be Highlands baseball at UK on the biggest stage, to be able to do that is pretty incredible. I can’t really put it into words on how grateful I am with this group.”
Bucher just recently graduated from Highlands, a senior that is headed to Arizona State University to continue his education and what he hopes is a long broadcasting career. He’ll head west with more experience than most likely his college classmates…combined.
He’s spent countless hours not only calling games, but the preparation, gameday operations and setting up for them. Some may just hear Bucher on the radio calling games or announcing basketball as the PA, but there’s a lot more into it.
“He’s my right-hand man,” Highlands Athletic Director Wes Caldwell said. “He knows all the ins and outs. Stats, scoreboard, PA. I trust him whole-heartedly, which is hard to do for an 18-year-old kid. He gets it done. We wouldn’t run as smooth as it does without Brennan Bucher.”
This last, and one of his only, state tournament trips with a Highlands team is a special one for him. Bucher played baseball growing up and through his freshman year.
“I was on the same team with a majority of these guys. Jacob Robinson, Brooks Hendrix, Adam Forton, Iain Carner. You go around most of the lineup and I’ve played with them,” Bucher said. “We’re all really, really close. It makes it exciting to keep covering this team and easier to call games and do work on guys that I know so well.”
When he realized the MLB Draft wasn’t going to be calling his name in 2025 or colleges weren’t going to be beating down his door with an offer, he found his calling…calling games for Bluebirds radio.
“I just like calling games on air, telling stories,” Bucher said. “I see it as not working with games, but working with people. I look back at all the people I was able to call and work with, loved every bit of it.”
He’ll go out with the rest of his Bluebird counterparts on the diamond whenever that is. Either Friday or what they hope to be an extended run into next weekend finishing off something the program has been oh so close to doing, winning a state championship. They’ve finished runner-up twice, once in 2015 against West Jessamine and then again in 2018 to St. Xavier.
How it got started
Bucher recalls his first game in eighth grade when he was PA announcer for a Highlands home girls basketball game against Scott.
“They needed someone to fill in for the guy that normally did it,” Bucher said. “I liked it, so I ran with it.”
Longtime Bluebirds girls’ basketball coach Jaime Walz-Richey recalls it too.
“We wanted Brennan to fill in and then he became a fixture,” Richey said. “It was one less thing I’d have to worry about. He was a pro and did an outstanding job.”
Richey taught Bucher in eighth grade in her class and his evolvement with his extracurricular activity and working on his craft at the high school has been second to none.
“He adds excitement and knows when to tone it down,” Richey said. “He gets the crowd involved, has a willingness to learn. He’s asked what he could do better or what he could do differently. Credit to Mr. Poff who gave him the access and availability to do this in high school.”
Friday’s state tournament baseball game won’t be his first state tournament. He also called the girls soccer state tournament game in 2022 when he was a sophomore.
“He was all about the boys sports at first, but he came around and realized girls sports are just as entertaining,” Richey said.
Fast-tracking Bucher to where he is now is that the Highlands journalism department run by Bill Poff is second to none. Not only do students get a leg up on how production of media works, but they also get to gain experience with gameday events, newscasts and the student run website, The Hilltopper.
“They’ve collected awards galore and the students get to take advantage of what’s there,” Bucher said. “I’ve messed up time and time again, but that’s what it’s for. Mr. Poff has an extreme knack and talent to teach kids how to do this.”
What’s next
Bucher will head to Arizona State in August with a focus in majoring in broadcast journalism.
Prior to heading to Tempe, he’s doing play-by-play for the Hamilton Joes, a college summer baseball team in Ohio. He’ll be involved with the gameday production for broadcast setup where he hopes to learn even more than just the on-air stuff.
His dream job in the long run is to be with a professional baseball team.
“Love the sport, longevity of the season and just how baseball works,” Bucher said. “I’m a baseball nerd.”
Caldwell has one request when that happens.
“We’ll be sitting back watching him on ESPN one day,” Caldwell said. “I’ve made a joke that I’m getting two tickets to whatever his first big game is.”