Tom Whaley has captured 'soul of the game' for 37 years

PERKINS TWP. — Tom Whaley had a decision to make. It was 1989 and he was hosting a popular local trivia show on cable television and also taping and producing a high school "game of the week." He couldn't do both. "It really, really had a following," Whaley said of the trivia show. "Ohio Bell at the time called me and said, 'What are you doing on Tuesday and Thursday nights? You're tying up all the lines.' They told me to do something or they'd shut us down. We started screening calls more. We gave away like a six-pack of Pepsi or a pizza." The tug of sports, though, won out. "I wanted to give continue to give something back to the community in high school sports," Whaley said. "Trivia was fun, lots of yucks, but I really enjoyed covering high school sports." Whaley made the right call and his North Coast Game of the Week — it was known as the Game of the Week before he launched a website 13 years ago — has grown into a popular staple during the football and basketball seasons. The way Whaley shoots and delivers the game — going from a shoulder camera to a hand-held model and switching from leasing time on cable TV to using YouTube and his own website — has changed through the years, but his enthusiasm for his job has remained steady. So has the feedback. That keeps the 75-year-old Whaley coming back for more — even if it means risking bodily harm. "The older I get, I get a little more cautious," he said. "I will back up when I know somebody's coming from somewhere. I used to stay right with the play on the sideline. One time, it was a Margaretta game, I was blindsided. The free safety was coming this way, I was staying on the play, this guy leveled me. The camera went flying. I was on my back hoping I didn't break the camera. I had only one camera." Basketball games can get dicey, too. "I was under the basket one time, also at Margaretta, and one of the players got pushed and jumped right over me — totally did a spread-eagle over the camera," he said. "That one was a little scary." Whaley focuses his camera on six local schools — Sandusky, Perkins, St. Mary Central Catholic, Huron, Edison and Margaretta. He shoots pregame visuals to add his own touch to the production. "I took a different tack; I want to show the soul of the game," he said. "I want to show the sunset over Strobel Field. The storm clouds moving in, the grandparents in the stands, the cheerleaders — all those things for the pregame. The first four, five minutes is nothing but showing the event. I want to hear the sounds." Whaley said it takes 15-to-18 hours to get the product ready to post. Local radio legend Mark Fogg has done the narration for all but the first season of the game of the week. "I tape the whole game, edit it to an hour, add slow-motion replays," Whaley said. "I edit some on Sunday, all day Monday and get it done by maybe 10 o'clock Tuesday morning. Mark comes in, he's brilliant. He lays down the narration and I mix the music and the game's natural sounds at the same time. "I take that recording back in the game and sync it to the game and tie it all together. I have to encode it, which means taking it down from a large file size to a small file size." Whaley works in a studio at his home that was built by his father-in-law more than 20 years ago. The final product is uploaded onto his website — northcoastgameoftheweek.com. He also began streaming on YouTube a couple years ago. "The kids love it on their phones," Whaley said. "I was at Rotary the other day and one of the players came up to me — he was a student of the month — and said, 'Mr. Whaley, I love the North Coast Game of the Week.' I asked him how often he watches and he said every day." Whaley, a Perkins High School graduate, has been in the sports business since graduating from Ohio University in 1973. The broadcasting major worked for North Central TV — where he launched his trivia show in 1974 — before he got married and moved to Germany for a year and a half. His wife, Lezlie, was an MP in the army and Whaley drove an ambulance. Whaley resumed his TV career when the couple moved back to Ohio. He left North Central Cable Television to help the Sandusky Register launch a TV station. Seven years he set out on his own and now is in his 37th year doing a game of the week. He's also done production work for several companies, including Cedar Point and Shores & Islands Ohio. "My first year in business was at the cable tower on Strub Road," Whaley said. "We had a little corner for all the equipment. Back in the analog days, this whole wall was full of equipment — videotape machines, special effects generators. The whole wall. You would turn on all the equipment and the lights would dim." Whaley has adapted to changing technology through the years, going from black and white television to streaming services. "I knew traditional TV was sort of going by the wayside; streaming was the way to go," Whaley said. "You don't have to sign in, you don't have to pay for it and I have five years of games up there, including the 1999 Perkins state championship. People can click on what they want." The Perkins state football championship at Paul Brown Stadium in Massillon stands out as Whaley's most memorable game. The Pirates' dramatic 16-14 win against Ironton — highlighted by a last-minute touchdown pass — can still be viewed on his website. "The stadium was absolutely packed," he said. "I was on the sidelines with a huge camera. It was so much fun; it was electric. To see that final pass, the sideline just exploded in mayhem. Kids were crying, (Perkins coach) Rock (Farlow) had tears in his eyes. I still have that shot on the website." Whaley has been able to make the North Coast Game of the Week his full-time job thanks to a stellar work ethic and pleasant personality that has helped him sign up many advertisers. "That takes a lot of time. I don't really like it a lot because you're asking folks for sponsorship money, but I have not had any problems finding sponsors," he said. "The business community has been very supportive. "They're not traditional 30-second spots. Some are sponsorships of a particular play. Mathews Ford does all the slo-mo replay, then we have things like Keep it Local." Whaley's featured a Fan of the Week for about 20 years. It is sponsored by Snow Trails in Mansfield (Whaley is an avid skier). He added the Sandusky Bay Pancake House player of the game this year. All the spots fit into his one-hour time frame. "We don't have to stop play and the bugs show on the bottom," he said. "They're still getting their image out there." Whaley and his wife — a retired Edison teacher — have two sons, Chad and Ryan, both athletes and graduates of PHS who now live and own businesses in the area. Whaley, who has two grandchildren, said he's not ready to retire his camera just yet and has had "negotiations" with Lezlie about how to spend his future Friday nights. He said he's going to keep working for "at least a couple years" and still gets a charge when he walks into a stadium and hears someone say, "the game of the week is here." "There were rumors last year that I'm gonna give it up," he said. "I heard from so many parents and grandparents. I keep going, and I like what I do. I like being on the sidelines. That gives it a whole different perspective. "I want to hear the hits, I want to hear the coaches yelling, I want to hear the kids after a play look at the camera and say, 'Did you see that?' Stuff like that means everything to me."