University of Kansas basketball coach Bill Self echoed the sentiments of Jayhawk fans across the nation with his assessment earlier this month of radio announcer Max Falkenstien.

"This is his 59th year announcing KU sports," Self said, a trace of amazement in his voice. "He's been a great ambassador for the university."

For generations of Jayhawk fans, the 80-year-old Falkenstien has been just that.

During good times and bad, Falkenstien has provided a voice of optimism and hope, and has managed not to get into a mode of being ultra critical of players, coaches or officials.

Through the years, he has made more friends than he can count with players, coaches and officials.

Most importantly, he has maintained his popularity with fans listening to games on the radio at home, at work or in their car. Many fans have never listened to a Jayhawk game that Falkenstien didn't broadcast.

"The real joy of my life has been getting to know the coaches and players on a real intimate level," Falkenstien said, "suffering the agony of defeat and the joy of victory with all of them."

Falkenstien spent a good part of his early career working in Topeka for both WREN-AM and WIBW-AM radio stations. He moved with WREN radio when it relocated to Topeka from Lawrence in the 1940s and stayed nearly a quarter-century in the Capital City.

Prior to a game earlier this month, he reminisced about his long career, which saw him inducted in September into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

Topeka memories

Falkenstien said the 23 years he and his wife, Isobel, called Topeka home, from 1945 to 1968, were among the happiest times of their lives.

"We raised our family there and had a lot of great friendships, which we still maintain," Falkenstien said. "We still belong to the Topeka Country Club. We do a lot of traveling back and forth from Lawrence to Topeka."

For about the first 40 years of his radio career, Falkenstien did play-by-play reporting of Kansas games. His sidekicks in the broadcast booth included Jerry Barker, Al Correll and Bob Fromme.

"Jerry Barker was my first color commentator on games starting in 1947," Falkenstien said. " 'Bark' still lives in Topeka --- he's 90 years old now."

Correll, a former Kansas basketball standout, was human relations director for the City of Topeka, then moved to Des Moines, Iowa, and later to Tacoma, Wash.

"He was and is one of the most successful public speakers in the country," Falkenstien said of Correll. "Very articulate, very funny, and he and I remain in close touch."

Fromme succeeded Falkenstien as manager of WREN radio. Later, Fromme became general manager of the Kansas City Royals radio network. Falkenstien said Fromme now resides in Fort Collins, Colo.

Said Falkenstien: "He and I were awfully good friends."

Keeping perspective

Falkenstien, who has called football and men's basketball games with Bob Davis since 1983 on the Jayhawk Radio Network, said he tries to take an even-handed approach on broadcasts.

"No game is the end of the world," said Falkenstien, who has called about 1,500 KU basketball and 600 KU football games through the years. "I have always prided myself on giving ample credit to opposing players and coaches for their accomplishments."

While not hiding his affinity for the Jayhawks, Falkenstien said, "I've tried not to be a bona-fide 'homer.' "

Falkenstien started announcing Jayhawk games in the 1940s for the old WREN-AM radio station, 1250 on the dial. WREN was owned by Alf Landon, a Kansas political legend and former Republican presidential nominee. The station was in Lawrence before it moved to Topeka.

In those days, before multimillion-dollar rights packages were negotiated by universities, radio stations could pretty much broadcast any game they pleased.

As a result, Falkenstien would announce a fair share of Kansas State University games, as well, and made a number of friends in Manhattan.

This arrangement at WREN continued until 1968, when Wayne Duke, commissioner of the Big 8 Conference, approached Falkenstien about doing play-by-play for the league's basketball "Game of the Week," which aired on Saturday afternoons during the hoops season.

In order to take that post, Falkenstien said, he had to leave WREN for WIBW in Topeka.

"It was a hard decision," Falkenstien said, "but it was a career opportunity that I really wanted to take."

Falkenstien left WREN to become an executive at WIBW, but Landon, his old boss, wasn't very happy with his decision.

"He never forgave me, and he wouldn't speak to me after that," Falkenstien said. "But I don't regret having done it."

In 1971, Falkenstien and his wife moved to Lawrence, where they continue to live. Falkenstien worked first for the fledgling Lawrence cable television service. He later became senior vice president at Douglas County Bank.

In 1971, when Chuck Neinas replaced Wayne Duke as Big 8 Conference commissioner, the league wanted a more high-profile name doing its play-by-play on TV broadcasts. Merle Harmon was in and Falkenstien was out.

None of the changes could take the wind out of Falkenstien's sails as an announcer, however.

Through it all, he continued calling Kansas football and basketball games, year in and year out.

A recognized voice

For many people, Falkenstien remains one of the most recognizable voices in sports broadcasting.

In addition to his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame earlier this year, he was named the 1998 Chris Schenkel Award winner for his broadcast work.

Falkenstien started the KU Sports Network in 1949, made up of stations across Kansas that would carry his call of games.

But when WREN sponsors began to object to the proliferation of stations on the network, Falkenstien said he gave up rights to the network: "One of the big mistakes of my broadcasting career, of which I've made many," he said.

In 1983, KU established a single network to carry its games. Davis was brought in to do play-by-play, and for the first time in his career, Falkenstien moved over to do color commentary.

The arrangement has worked for both, who are in their 21st year of calling Jayhawk games.

Falkenstien said he has been told by many fans that they turn down the sound on television to listen to "Bob and Max" while watching games on TV.

Looking back, ahead

Falkenstien does post-game interviews with basketball coach Self after each game, home and away.

Over the years, Falkenstien has worked with a number of the university's basketball coaches.

The list of coaches includes Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, Dick Harp, Ted Owens, Larry Brown, Roy Williams and now Self.

Falkenstien said he was good friends with all of them, "and the football coaches too --- and there have been more of them than there have basketball coaches."

He also has made many friends among opposing coaches, including Missouri's Norm Stewart and Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton.

Falkenstien fondly remembers the game in 2003 when Sutton raced down to the Kansas bench toward the end of a game in Allen Fieldhouse to shake hands with Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison, who were winding up their careers as Jayhawks.

Even game officials know Falkenstien. Before basketball contests, it isn't unusual for a referee to come by and shake Falkenstien's hand while he is sitting courtside at his broadcast table.

"I've tried not to second-guess the officials," Falkenstien said. "I know they make mistakes. I make mistakes, too.

"I'm convinced they do the very best they can."

If Falkenstien is planning to call it quits, no official announcement has been made yet.

"I still enjoy being around the people who are involved," Falkenstien said. "I still like to be around the kids. They seem to like me and we have fun together."

Falkenstien recalled a time last season when the basketball team was stranded at the Denver airport because of an equipment malfunction on its airplane.

"We were all trying to figure out ways to kill time," Falkenstien said. "I lured Keith Langford into a game of blackjack and taught him how to play a game of blackjack.

"We had a good time that night and became very good friends --- and still are."

Among the highlights of his long career were calling both the 1952 and 1988 NCAA basketball championship games won by Kansas.