Dave Armstrong (born May 10, 1957, inDetroit,Michigan) is a former American televisionsports announcer for professional and college sports. He spent nine years as the play-by-play announcer for twoMajor League Baseball teams (Kansas City Royals andColorado Rockies), in theNFL he has worked with both theSeattle Seahawks and theKansas City Chiefs broadcasting regular and pre-season games and also announced several games for theNBA'sDenver Nuggets. He also broadcastBig 12 college basketball games forESPN Regional Television andBig 12 Now and called games in this conference from 1988 up until his retirement in 2022. His signature “Wow!” is known as the exclamation mark on exceptional plays.[1]
Armstrong graduated with a B.A. in Broadcasting fromJohn Brown University and began his career working inradio andtelevision in theMidwest. He served as the program director forKKOY (AM)/FM inChanute, KS before moving to KAYS-TV inHays, KS then on toKSNW-TV inWichita as the Sports Director. During his time with KSNW-TV, he began doing play-by-play for professionalsoccer and many collegiate sports. In 1988, Armstrong's sports broadcasting career took off when he joinedRaycom Sports to do play-by-play forBig 8 (now theBig 12)college basketball. He eventually added nearly every college sport to his list of professional credits:Football,Baseball,Wrestling,Volleyball,Tennis andTrack and Field. Armstrong also called the televised games on theJayhawk Network for theKansas Jayhawks from 1993 until 2022. He has done play-by-play forESPN,Prime Network,Fox Sports and theAmerican Sports Network calling games in the Big 12, theBig East, theBig Ten and theACC.
His professional sports credentials included spending three seasons as the television voice of Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals (1993–1995) followed by six seasons with the Colorado Rockies (1996–2001). In addition, Armstrong did play-by-play in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks in 1992 and the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009, as well as in the NBA, when he was a fill-in announcer during the 1996 - 2001 seasons with the Denver Nuggets. Armstrong is a member of theNational Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.
Armstrong retired from broadcasting on November 28, 2022; the last event he called was an 87–55 victory byKansas overTexas Southern in men's college basketball.[2]
In addition to his sports announcing work, Armstrong is also anauthor andspeaker. His book,“Driving From Here to Wow: Looking at Life Through the Windshield” (2008), is an inspirational and humorous account of many of his life experiences – both personal and professional. Armstrong also frequently emcees for corporate and charitable events throughout the country, speaks at youthsports camps, does commercial voice work for documentaries and provides the voice forpromotional videos developed forcorporations andtrade associations.
In 2013, Armstrong was charged with assault after getting into a fight atFred Arbanas Golf Course.[3]