In and around the sports scene in the Tidewater area, there is a tremendous

passion for athletics, especially at the high school level.  Players,

coaches, announcers and fans come together weekly to share stories about

Ronald Curry, Allen Iverson, and Michael Vick among the hundreds of other

outstanding players that grew up in the Hampton Roads area.  One of

the more active participants in the high school scene is Newport News

resident Greg Bicouvaris who works as the play-by-play announcer for football games and hosts

a monthly interview

show on NNPS-TV Channel 47, the home of Newport News Public Schools Digital

Television Education Center.

I recently sat with Bicouvaris to discuss the games, the show, his career

and sports in general and found him to be passionate about his life and his

role in the community, not only for sports, but also for the people in the

Hampton Roads area.

Greg grew up in this area and was a graduate of

Ferguson High School in 1985 before attending college at George Mason University

where he majored in sociology and communications.  He currently owns GJB

Productions and Marketing, a company that specializes in electronic media by

producing television and radio commercials, programs, and sporting events. 

His passion is to "help local businesses grow" by placing clients advertisements

on Channel LNC5 where he also does voiceover work. 

Two years into college Greg did his first broadcasting

gig as he called a Herndon versus South Lakes football game in 1987 for Warner cable. 

Four years later, Greg landed the play-by-play position for Channel 47 when they began covering high school

football under Producer Paul Cummings and, just four years after that, in 1995,

the channel began broadcasting games live.  "We were

really ahead of our time, at that time," said Bicouvaris, "but the

game that really put us on the map was the 2000 state championship game with

Heritage beating Dinwiddie."  That was a big year for the station as

they showed seven

live games including two Heritage versus Hampton games, the second of which

decided the regional championship.

When I asked him which games in his sixteen years of

coverage were the most memorable, Greg quickly names three favorites:  the aforementioned 2000 State Championship

game and two battles between Hampton's Ronald Curry and Ferguson / Warwick's

Michael Vick -- the first when both were sophomores in 1995 and the second when

they were seniors in 1997.  Days later, Greg emailed to ask me to add the

2004 playoff game between Phoebus and Woodside because he "still find

myself talking about that game."  

Not surprisingly, he lists the best players that he's

seen as Allen Iverson, Ronald Curry and Michael Vick which is essentially the

same group detailed by most long time Hampton Roads football fans.  He also

named Heritage running back Michael Johnson because he "was a joy to watch". 

The best play that he's ever seen?  A Ronald Curry punt return against Denbigh in

1996 in which he said the

Crabber legend "was like Houdini" escaping from tacklers.

In total, the NNPS-TV has covered ten different sports with Bicouvaris

calling the action in all of them, but he is quick to credit the people around

him for the channel's success.  Color guy Nate Milton has been at his side for

eight straight years

("we have good chemistry"), executive producer Ray Price,

producer Dave Underwood, director Bill Barlow and engineer Greg Swann round out

a team that Greg says "is the one thing that separates us (from other

channels).  They are a

great core group of guys."

The goal of the station is not ratings,

but rather education.  "The station is a vehicle to help students

grow into production and broadcasting jobs.  We have a great combination of

staff and students providing good, quality programming," noted Bicouvaris.

To aspiring broadcasters, Greg advises,

"Keep it simple.  Preparation is the the key."  To that

point, Greg will attend practices to talk to the coaches, especially the week of

the game, so that he can "make a game plan" for coverage.  

Greg also serves as the host of an interview show which

began in 1992 and airs monthly (except July) on NNPS-TV covering

any number of topics.  "We're doing shows about people in the

community," he explained, "we want to find stories emphasizing

academics, athletics and activities."

Greg views the goal of the show to be to find

out "all about the

guest and learn who they are."  It's a straight interview show with

no phone calls that includes an impressive list of past guests including big

names like Lefty Dreisell, Terry Holland, and Mats Wilander as well as local coaches

Mike

Smith, Bill Dee and Dennis Kozlowski, though Greg counts his November 2000 show,

featuring his father Jim Bicouvaris as his guest, as his favorite.

Like many sports fanatics, Bicouvaris came to love sports, especially

football, through his father, a fan of the Ohio State

Buckeyes who passed his love of the team to his son.  Want

proof?  Ask Greg to name the Ohio State quarterback for any season from 1973 to present day. 

He can do it.  Greg's father introduced him to the game by taking him to Ohio State's 60-0 win over

Northwestern in 1973 which was Greg's first game.  He later attended

numerous other sporting events with his dad including University of Virginia games.

Because of their mutual love of sports and the

guiding influence that his dad provided, Greg counts his father as the biggest influence

on his life.  Not only because he "was both my biggest fan and my

biggest critic," but also because it was his father who advised him to "be versatile" in

both broadcasting and sales ventures.  "Plan your work and work your

plan, he'd say," noted Greg.  That advice has served him well as along with

his production company and Channel 47 work, Greg has also served as a stage

manager for CBS and ESPN in the mid-Atlantic area since college covering

a variety of sports including Redskins and Ravens football and NCAA basketball

tournaments.   

With the games now being webcast live on the internet

and past interview shows appearing in archival form, Channel 47 and Greg have

found new and exciting ways to continue giving to the community.

To watch the station at any time live, click

here to go to the website and click on the Channel 47 logo on the site's

front page.  Games will be webcast live on Friday nights, beginning this

week, and replayed on

Sunday mornings at 7:00 am.  To see past interview shows, go to this

page of the site.