Staples' Sixsmith To Receive Scholarship Award From Connecticut Sportswriters' Alliance

Like his broadcasting partner Eric Gallanty, Staples High School senior D.J. Sixsmith was accepted into the prestigious Newhouse School of Public  Communications at Syracuse University.

However, Sixsmith could not overlook an opportunity to go to school in the media capital of the world and the doors it could open.

In the fall, the award-winning broadcaster will be headed to the Bronx to become a Fordham Ram and work at WFUV, one of the country's most renowned college radio stations for sports broadcasting (Gallanty is going to Syracuse).

"I was just very impressed at the prospect of covering major sports teams in New York as a student," Sixsmith said.  "It was an offer I couldn't pass up."

Sixsmith already has made a name for himself and developed a following as the "Voice of the Wreckers" for the past two years while broadcasting football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, volleyball - and even rugby - on WWPT, the school's student radio station.

He is the winner of this year's Bohdan Kolinsky Memorial Journalism Scholarship, sponsored by the Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance and named after the former Hartford Courant scholatic sports editor who died in 2003. Sixsmith will receive his award Sunday at the Alliance's annual Gold Key Dinner.

In November, he was honored on the national level, winning two John Drury National Radio first-place awards, one in the category of sports talk for an interview conducted with ESPN anchor David Lloyd and the other for best sportscast.

Sixsmith also received a second-place award for best play-by-play (along with Ben Myers and Jake Chernock) for a broadcast of a Staples-Greenwich boys basketball game on Feb. 12, 2010.

"I'm blessed because I've had so many opportunites," he said. "There are very few high school radio stations, let  alone TV stations. People are in awe of what we do at Staples."

Sixsmith is aware of the littany of top sportscasters that Fordham has produced, starting with the master, Vin Scully, who has been broadcasting Dodgers' games since the 1950s. Other well-known Fordham broadcasters include Bob Papa (New York Giants), Mike Breen (NBA) and Michael Kay (Yankees).

Could a kid from Westport be the next in line? His colleagues wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

"I see him on ESPN more than I see him on the YES Network or SNY," said fellow Staples senior Brandon Edelson, who is in charge of the Staples Television Network that Sixsmith helped found.

"I'm confident I'll see him doing play-by-play," added Mike Zito, Sixsmith's faculty adviser. "I think he is going to go far."

Working at ESPN would be Sixsmith's dream job, but he doesn't want to limit himself to one sport.

"I've been so fortunate doing all these different sports," Sixsmith said. "I'd like to be able to continue that in my career."

Sixsmith lists the always excitable Gus Johnson as his favorite broadcaster. Johnson, who does play-by-play for CBS and the Big Ten Network, has been criticized by some (most notably the New York Post's Phil Mushnick) for being too hysterical on the air. Sixsmith doesn't see it that way.

"You can tell he really loves his work," he said. "Even if it's a bad game, he makes it entertaining to listen to him."

Sixsmith also is passionate about his work, although he is not a screamer. He described his style as conversational and goes out of his way to be objective, which is rare these days, even on the professional level.

"One of the first things I learned here, even though this is the Staples radio station, is that you have to be fair to both sides," he said. "The best broadcasters are good to both teams and I think that's critical to a good broadcast."

Zito describes Sixsmith as "a real schmooze", but also is impressed with the preparation his protoge puts into a broadcast.

"Part of it is that he's just a likeable and talented kid," Zito said. "But the work ethic is another reason he is as successful as he is. Most pople don't see the preparation that he puts into it, but I do."

Sixsmith always has been a big sports fan and remembers talking about sports at his father's dinner parties when he was eight or nine years old.  But it wasn't until he gave up football that he decided to pursue broadcasting as a career.

Sixsmith played football from the third grade through sophomore year and was an undersized 150-pound linebacker and offensive tackle on the Wreckers' JV team. He says what he lacked in size he made up for with toughness and heart but after suffering two concussions, it was time to try something else.

"Retiring from football was the best decision I ever made," he said. "Call it retiring. I don't want to say I  quit. I could still play football if I continued, but I'm glad I chose this path."