Jerry Schemmel, American sportscaster
Gerard H. Schemmel (born November 26, 1959) is an American sportscaster in Denver, Colorado working for Sports Radio 104.3 The Fan and for KFKA Radio in Greeley, CO, as the radio voice of the University of Northern Colorado Bears. He is the creator and host of "Amazing Americans," a weekly national radio show. Schemmel spent a decade as the radio play-by-play voice of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies. Prior to that, Schemmel served as play-by-play announcer for the NBA's Denver Nuggets, calling their games from 1992 to 2010. Earlier in his career, he was a play by play announcer for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Schemmel is also a survivor of the crash-landing of United Airlines Flight 232 on July 19, 1989. After escaping the plane, he returned to the wreckage to rescue an 11-month-old baby. His book, Chosen to Live describes the experience.
In June 2015, Schemmel competed in the Race Across America, a 3,000-mile bicycle race from Oceanside, California, to Annapolis, Maryland, as part of a two-person relay team. He and Brad Cooper won the two-person relay division, finishing in 7 days, 14 hours. In 2021, he attempted RAAM as a solo racer but was forced to withdraw from the race when he encountered 120 degree temps in the Mojave Desert and suffered from Heat Stroke. In 2016, he was a member of a four-person relay that set the a record for the "Colorado Crossing," a 468-mile cycling race from the Utah/Colorado border to the Kansas/Colorado border. In 2017, he set the solo age group record in the same event, finishing in 33 hours, 3 minutes, just 54 minutes from the all-time speed record for the event, set in 1992. Schemmel has also completed nine triathlons and three marathons.
Schemmel is a 1982 graduate of Washburn University; he earned a law degree from the same school in 1985. He played baseball at Washburn and coached there for three years. He spent a year with the Continental Basketball Association, serving as both Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner.
He is the younger brother of Jeff Schemmel, a former college track and field All-American, long-time college athletic administrator and former athletic director at San Diego State. They are natives of Madison, SD.