{"id":8199,"date":"2015-10-23T04:30:53","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T09:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/?p=8199"},"modified":"2015-10-20T14:18:25","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T19:18:25","slug":"howards-journey-hamlet-to-headphones-to-nsr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/howards-journey-hamlet-to-headphones-to-nsr\/","title":{"rendered":"Howard’s journey: Hamlet to headphones to NSR"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chuck<\/a>
Chuck Howard was drawn to\u00a0athletics early in life playing four sports in high school.\u00a0 He now produces a weekly TV show for the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, N.C.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Plenty of sports hounds dream of being a big-time sportscaster.\u00a0 There’s certainly a truckload full of incentives — travel, lights,\u00a0 cameras, hobnobbing with athletes, dining in first-class restaurants with A-list celebrities and all that.<\/p>\n

But nobody sees all the hard work it\u00a0takes to arrive in that rare spotlight.\u00a0 Paying dues does not adequately cover it.\u00a0 It takes years of days, nights and weekends at\u00a0local stations with hardly minimum wage pay coupled with moving from town to town, seemingly forever on the merry-go-round\u00a0chasing the\u00a0brass ring and hoping that someone somewhere sees you, likes you\u00a0and takes a chance on you.<\/p>\n

No, it doesn’t happen to very many who start out clinging to the<\/em> dream.\u00a0 So, you have to know that\u00a0reaching America’s 24th largest TV market has to be knuckle-grinding work\u00a0which eventually buckles the knees of most before getting there.\u00a0 To say the least, you cannot be average to\u00a0arrive.<\/p>\n

But then Chuck Howard, Charlotte Area Director for National Scouting Report, was never average.\u00a0\u00a0Before we get to his impressive broadcasting career, let’s reverse field and open a small window into his past. Let’s start with Howard’s high school days in tiny South Dayton, N.Y.\u00a0 South Dayton is so small that it’s not listed as a town.\u00a0 It’s a hamlet of 620 people.\u00a0 Get the picture?\u00a0 It’s not your average place to grow up.<\/p>\n

Yet, there’s something\u00a0unique about\u00a0growing up in\u00a0a hamlet.\u00a0 You’d know everybody, right?\u00a0 Howard did, which no doubt contributed to his already effusive, energetic personality.\u00a0 The town and Howard were a perfect fit.\u00a0 As a result, the guy never has met a stranger – perfect for a career in television.<\/p>\n

Then think about this:\u00a0 Thirty-three tackles for a whole season is a stat that many high school football players would relish as a bragging point. Howard somehow made that many in one game.\u00a0 In fact, until recently Howard still held the New York state record for tackles in game.\u00a0 Makes you think the guy must be pretty good at multi-tasking, dodging all those blockers, not to mention his teammates, to get to the ball carrier that many times.\u00a0\u00a0You cannot be average and record 33 tackles.<\/p>\n

And why didn’t he play college ball?<\/p>\n

“I was one of those kids who had no recruiting support and was woefully overlooked.\u00a0 I had no delusions of grandeur,” he said. “But I was a decent enough player to have gone D-III somewhere.”<\/p>\n

So, what happened?<\/p>\n

\"Chuck<\/a>
Howard\u00a0speaks with former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“My high school coach simply handed me my game film and told\u00a0me<\/em> to send film to coaches. Suffice it to say\u00a0I did not\u00a0know what to do on my own,” Howard lamented.\u00a0 “It still bugs me\u00a0to this day that I didn’t get recruited more in high school.\u00a0 Everything worked out fine, don’t get me wrong, but\u00a0 we all have egos and it would have been cool to have seen where I may have ended up had I played collegiately.”<\/p>\n

Without football in his future, Chuck shifted toward something he’d aspired to do since his high school days — broadcasting.<\/p>\n

“I knew at a very young age that I wanted to be a broadcaster,” Howard recalls.\u00a0 “Several years ago, my mother found a paper I wrote in third grade in which I was the lead announcer on Monday Night Football as well as the voice of the Buffalo Bills.\u00a0 In high school, as early as the 10th grade, I wanted to pursue sports broadcasting.”<\/p>\n

But life goes on and so it did for Chuck.\u00a0 After\u00a0matriculating from\u00a0State University of New York in Fredonia with a degree in communications,\u00a0Howard landed a spot on the sports team in Erie, Pa., where he got to cover area football along with college and pro sports, including the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers.\u00a0 Not your average career start.<\/p>\n

“I was fortunate enough early in my career to be in a small market like Erie, Pa., where I got to\u00a0cover\u00a0pro sports in Buffalo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh,” Howard said. “So, right out of college I was in pro locker rooms and covering the NFL, NHL, NBA and even a little major league baseball.\u00a0 I next worked in Scranton (Pa.).\u00a0 That’s where I really hit the high school sports hard.\u00a0 It’s\u00a0coal country and big-time high school sports territory.”<\/p>\n

Another move, this time to Buffalo, N.Y., inched him closer to the big time.\u00a0 Howard was\u00a0his station’s beat reporter for Penn State football, the Buffalo Sabres and most notably the Buffalo Bills during their unmatched four-Super Bowl-appearance run from 1990 to 1993.<\/p>\n

His next broadcasting\u00a0opportunity landed him in Charlotte, N.C., where he was tapped as sports\u00a0director\u00a0for WCNC, an NBC affiliate.\u00a0 He held that position for 12\u00a0 years before being lured to the world of NASCAR in Concord, a suburb of Charlotte and home of Charlotte Motor Speedway.\u00a0 There\u00a0he\u00a0transitioned to NASCAR Media Group, where he remained for four years as news\u00a0reporter, show host and producer.<\/p>\n

So accomplished and\u00a0revered is he in the Charlotte, N.C., market that\u00a0a few years ago\u00a0Howard was named the fourth greatest sportscaster in\u00a0the city’s history.\u00a0 Three times he was selected as Charlotte’s Sportscaster of the Year by the Charlotte Observer.\u00a0 He is a four-time recipient of the Russ Caitlin National Award for motorsports journalism.\u00a0 And among other accolades, Howard received\u00a0a Regional Emmy in 2005 for his coverage of the Hendricks plane crash.<\/p>\n

Today, while serving as NSR’s area director for Metro Charlotte from his\u00a0Fort Mill, S.C., home, Howard remains a cog in the Charlotte sports market machine by twice weekly producing and hosting a TV show for the Carolina Panthers.<\/p>\n

“Working with the Panthers has been great fun,” he said, “especially with their recent success.”<\/p>\n

Why then does working with young athletes with NSR stir him?<\/p>\n

\"Chuck<\/a>
Howard catches up with one of his NSR athletes, Juliana Anderson, during a volleyball tournament.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Like many folks, when they reach, say, the age of 50, we often times want to make a change in our lives,” he said. “I had tired of the travel and did not like the direction I saw local news and sports going.\u00a0 I wanted to stay in the sports arena and run my own business.<\/p>\n

“The NSR opportunity presented itself and I fell in love with the concept and company from Day One. NSR’s long-term success has been key.\u00a0 I try my best to convince people that while it can never\u00a0be\u00a0too early to get their child on (coaches’) radar, it can certainly be too late.\u00a0 I am very upfront with prospects and parents.”<\/p>\n

The most rewarding part of being an NSR area director?<\/p>\n

“Getting that call from an athlete who thanks me for a college coach reaching out to them,” Howard said. “And when parents thank me for working on their behalf.”<\/p>\n

Today, Howard has the best of both worlds — broadcasting and NSR.<\/p>\n

“I have been truly blessed with the opportunities presented to me via my broadcasting career,” he said. “So many neat things. Interviewing greats like Joe Paterno, Lou Holtz, Steve Spurrier, Dean Smith, Coach K, etc.\u00a0 Being in Buffalo the four straight Super Bowl years was a thrill of a lifetime.\u00a0 Rubbing elbows with NASCAR greats like Earnhardt, Petty and Gordon, to name a few.<\/p>\n

“I love the great mix in my life.\u00a0 Still sprinkling in some broadcasting and at the same time working with my NSR families.\u00a0 I’m having a blast.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plenty of sports hounds dream of being a big-time sportscaster.\u00a0 There’s certainly a truckload full of incentives — travel, lights,\u00a0 cameras, hobnobbing with athletes, dining in first-class restaurants with A-list celebrities and all that. But nobody sees all the hard work it\u00a0takes to arrive in that rare spotlight.\u00a0 Paying dues does not adequately cover it.\u00a0 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[11,295,293,290,31,56,222,294,292,296,291],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8199"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8217,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199\/revisions\/8217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}