Heft Celebrating 30th Year In Broadcasting

AMES, Iowa- Eric Heft just wanted to be around the school he loved, that's how it all started.

When his close friend Pete Taylor, who was Iowa State's legendary radio play-by-play voice for 33 years, approached him before the 1979-80 season about working alongside him on ISU's men's hoops radio broadcasts as the color analyst, Heft enthusiastically accepted.

Now 30 years later, Cyclone fans from all over the world have enjoyed the familiarity of Heft's voice describe the action on the court. Through the highs and lows, Heft has seen it all. He has some great stories to tell.

A native of Lewisville, Ohio, Heft was recruited to play basketball at ISU by former coach Glen Anderson beginning in the 1970-71 season. He was a member of the freshman squad his first year, as freshmen were not allowed to participate on the varsity under NCAA rules at the time.

Anderson resigned at the end of Heft's first season and the Cyclones scored a major coup in the college basketball world by luring legendary coach Maury John from Drake. John had built the Bulldogs into a national power, leading them to the 1969 Final Four.

Heft thrived under John's leadership, becoming a part-time starter in his sophomore year (1972-73) and later evolving into the scrappy floor leader that John coveted. Heft averaged 9.0 points and led the team assists in his senior season (1973-74) with 103. It was the first year in which the NCAA recognized assists as an official statistic in the box score. In a memorable game in his senior campaign, Heft handed out 16 assists in a triple overtime loss at Nebraska. It still stands as ISU's single-game assist mark.

“I really don't remember much about the assists because it was the first year they started keeping track of them,” Heft recalled. “It was a couple of weeks later Harry Burrell (ISU's longtime sports information director) made the comment on one of our road trips about getting 16 assists, and I said, ?which game was that?' I had no idea that I even did it.”

Following graduation, Heft stayed in the Ames area and worked in the insurance industry. As a hobby, Heft started doing play-by-play radio work for Ames High School boy's and girl's basketball games. He did that for a year (1978-79) until his friend asked him for help.

“Initially a guy named Rob Williams was doing games for Ames High School and he asked me if I would do the color for them,” Heft said. “Pete was doing ISU games by himself at the time and asked me if I wanted to join him on the Cyclone telecasts as the color analyst. I told him I was committed to doing the Ames High games for this year, but I would love to help out the next season.”

Heft and Taylor forged their friendship when Taylor was calling ISU games while Heft was a player for the Cyclones.

“Pete started doing ISU games when Maury John came to Iowa State, which was my first year,” Heft said. “Back in those days, when we traveled for basketball, we never took a bus when we were on the road, we rented cars. The coaches would take one, Pete would drive one and Frank Randall (ISU's longtime athletic trainer) would drive one. I always got in the car with Pete and that is how we got to know each other. After I got out of school, we hooked up and started playing tennis together and hanging out.”

Heft immediately learned the tricks of the trade from Taylor, who was regarded as one of the best in the business. Working with a friend and a pro helped create an easy transition for the rookie radio man.

“I think Pete was really easy to work with,” Heft said. “It's like anything. You learn to pick your spots a little bit better and that kind of thing. But play by play is always the most important aspect in radio. It's different from TV because the viewers can actually see what's going on and the color guy can talk over the action.”

The Cyclone basketball program wasn't exactly a model of stability when Heft began his radio career. ISU only had one winning season from 1975 to 1980 when Heft went on the air. Lynn Nance was the head coach in his first season, as the Cyclones ended the year with an 11-16 mark.

The excitement started to come back into the program when the ISU administration hit a home run with the hiring of former Michigan coach Johnny Orr. Orr, who had guided the Wolverines to the 1976 NCAA title game, shocked the college basketball world by taking the ISU job in 1980. The cupboard was pretty bare when Orr arrived on the scene, but you could tell it was the start of something special.

“ISU basketball had been bad for several years after coach (Maury) John passed away in 1974,” Heft said. “I think the rise into a good program was probably the most fun. Once you're up there you kind of expect it, but when you're trying to get there and climbing the ladder, there is nothing quite as much fun as that.”

“It was a great time to be a Cyclone with Johnny,” Heft added. “With Ronnie Harris, Terrence Allen, Barry Stevens, Jeff Hornacek and Jeff Grayer, it just kept getting a little better. It now became less important how well the other team played. In those early years we could maybe beat a good team, but we had to hope they didn't play well. The better we got, the less you worried about how the other team plays. It was such a great ride. I think coach Orr was just fabulous to be around. His teams were fun to watch.”

Heft had the best seat in the house as he witnessed the emergence of ISU basketball. Each year, the wins kept increasing and the fan-frenzy surrounding the program improved. One of Heft's greatest moments calling a game occurred in Orr's sixth season when the Cyclones made the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament and defeated Orr's former Michigan team in Minneapolis in 1986.

“There were a lot of great wins, but to me the No. 1 win was beating Michigan in the NCAA Tournament,” Heft recollected. “It was great to get to the Sweet Sixteen and great for coach Orr, because that was such a cathartic moment. You don't know how high you can go until you reached the top. Winning that game over his old school, I know it meant so much to him.”

Working with Coach Orr on the postgame show led to some memorable moments. It often times veered down the path of a comedy show rather than a drama.

“One of my favorite moments was a Johnny Orr postgame show in the mid 1980s when he was talking about officials,” Heft said. “Coach Orr thought this one referee was a lousy official and felt he did us in at Oklahoma earlier in the year. So we play Oklahoma in Ames a month later and we have the same guy as our official again. Johnny gets T'd-up in the game and we lose. In the postgame show Pete asks Johnny what happened with the officials.”

What happened next can only be regarded as a classic Johnny Orr moment.

“Johnny says, ?You know we had those same guys down in Oklahoma and I told them (the Big Eight office) I don't want those guys anymore and we don't have them the rest of the season until today.'” Heft laughed. “Johnny then tries to get the official's attention during the game, but he won't acknowledge him. Johnny then says, ?He's standing five feet away from me and doesn't hear me. I then swore at him and he heard that.'”

As the postgame show is about to wrap up, Taylor and Heft can barely hold back their tears of laughter.

“Johnny then calls out the coordinator of officials for the Big Eight Conference at the time,” Heft said. “Johnny perks right up and reiterates, ?we had the same guys down there and I told them I didn't want those guys anymore, and (the conference officials coordinator), if you're out there listening. Son, you're not doing your job!'”

“It was one of the funniest moments and it probably led to the fact that coaches cannot comment on officiating anymore,” Heft said.

If you have been to an ISU game and watched Heft call a game, you quickly notice which team he is rooting for. He bleeds cardinal and gold and he is not hesitant to show his allegiance, especially to the officials.

“I've enjoyed watching officials,” Heft said. “I've had a lot of frustrating moments, just like any coach, it's kind of the same thing. Unlike the guy that does the games for ESPN, I care who wins, those guys don't care. I care. I want Iowa State to win. There are some great officials doing games, you just don't see enough of them.”

As the years rolled by, ISU continued to get better in men's hoops. Heft was on the sideline as ISU won the final Big Eight Tournament in 1996 and witnessed back-to-back Big 12 Championships in 2000 and 2001. The 2000 Cyclone squad, which advanced all the way to the Elite Eight, is one of his favorite teams.

“Obviously, the 1999-2000 season was great because it wasn't expected,” Heft said. “That's another time when we were really climbing that ladder and we never knew what the ceiling was. Actually, looking back at it, the ceiling was the national championship. We didn't quite get there, but that was a great team to follow.”

Heft would be the first to tell you the best part of his more than three-decade run of broadcasting Cyclone basketball games was the opportunity to share the microphone with Taylor for 24 seasons.

They were a great team and they helped ignite enthusiasm for a future generation of Cyclone fans.

“It was awesome,” Heft said about the opportunity to work with Taylor. “It was the most fun I ever had. And not just the games, I mean traveling together. Back in the early days, everything was either commercial travel or we drove on our own, so Pete and I traveled together for a long time. We were pretty much best friends.”

The entire Cyclone nation was shocked when it heard the news that Taylor died following complications from a stroke on March 5, 2003 at the age of 57. To many, Pete Taylor was ISU athletics. Taylor touched many lives in his hall of fame broadcasting career.

“The first game without Pete was really hard,” Heft said. “I missed the final two regular-season games and I didn't know if I was going to go to Dallas or not for the Big 12 Tournament. It was kind of difficult. The game itself wasn't so hard because once you're doing the game, you're doing the game. The hardest part was talking to all of the other announcers who loved Pete so much. I'll never forget after the game. We won the game (a 97-70 win over Texas A&M) and I'm heading into the locker room to do the postgame show and I see Larry (ISU head coach Larry Eustachy). He saw me walk in and he started to tear up and I gave him a hug. It was like, ?Yeah, that was for Pete.'”

One of Taylor's prot?g?s was WOI-TV sports director John Walters. Walters had worked with Taylor for a number of years at KCCI-TV in Des Moines and did play-by-play for the Cyclone Television Network from 1996-2003. Walters was given the impossible job of replacing the legendary Taylor. Walters and Heft have now formed their own outstanding tandem on ISU broadcasts.

“It's been unbelievable to be able to work with Eric,” Walters said. “He's taught me so much and we have fun too. That's the biggest thing. You can tell that his passion for ISU is all the way to the core, and that's what makes it great because every win means that much more when you're calling it with somebody who cares that much. He just makes it a blast. I wouldn't want it any other way. It's been a great time.”

Heft knows he's been blessed to have such a long tenure bringing ISU basketball to fans across the country.

“I'm unbelievably blessed to be able to do something I love for a place that I love, and doing it with great people like Pete and John,” Heft said. “When the thrill of victory is not greater than the agony of defeat, that's when I hang it up. There's nothing like being around a team on the road that wins a game. It's just an incredible feeling and an incredible rush. I am so lucky and I have a lot of people to thank for it.”

Q&A with Eric Heft:

Who is your favorite Cyclone?
“My first favorite when I started doing the games was Ronnie Harris, because he was such a tremendous competitor and willing to do whatever it took to win. It was the early years when Orr was starting to get it going and Ronnie had to guard Waymon Tisdale, a player seven inches taller. If he had to make a play at the end of the game, he never shied away from that. He always guarded the other team's best player and he always played to win. If I was picking a team back in the days of pick-up basketball, Ronnie would always be the first guy I wanted on my team because I knew he would do everything he could to win. It was all about winning.”

Johnny Orr?
“Always made you feel great. He was just great to be around.”

Tim Floyd?
“The most purposeful person I have ever met in my life.”

Larry Eustachy?
“One of the most charming guys, in his own way, I have ever met.”

Wayne Morgan?
“Implemented an outstanding match-up zone.”

Greg McDermott?
“Perfect fit for Iowa State. A person of great humanity.”