OGDEN -- When Eric Knighton was offered the job as the voice ofthe Ogden Raptors early this summer, the 20-year-old Weber StateUniversity golfer didn't have to think twice.
'I've wanted to go into sports broadcasting for a long time,' hesaid. 'I grew up a sports fan -- basketball, baseball, football,golf. I'm a sports junkie. I watch SportsCenter in the morning andlisten to sports radio in the car.
'Why not find a career that I liked doing? That's my outlook onthings.'
Knighton, who is studying electronic media, threw his hat into thering to see what could come of it when former Raptor broadcasterBrian Petrada moved on to Vero Beach, Fla. There were dozens anddozens of applicants for the position -- many of whom had far moreexperience behind the mic than Knighton, who had never called abaseball game.
As the pursuit for the position progressed, he kept making eachcut before being offered the job.
'I was absolutely stoked,' he said. 'I was on Cloud 9 for a coupleof weeks until things got started. I'm living a dream. I wasn'texpecting to do this until 25 or 28.'
He called his first baseball game on June 21, when the Raptorsshut out the Orem Owlz, 7-0, in Orem.
'I went to Raptors games over the years, but I never thought Iwould be broadcasting for them,' he said.
Although the decision was easy, he still did have a lot to weigh:Quit playing golf for the Wildcats or get his foot in the door of thedog-eat-dog world of sports broadcasting.
'It's a sacrifice I had to make. When it comes right down to it,it really wasn't that hard of a decision,' he said. 'What am I goingto do? Am I going to turn down the Raptors because I wanted to playin the golf tournaments during the summer?'
Knighton, who graduated from Bonneville High School in 2003, hasbeen interested in golf about as long as he has wanted to be insports broadcasting -- since he was 8.
His father introduced him to the game. He played in several UtahJunior Golf Association tournaments and recorded a handful of top-5finishes.
At 12, he was the Golf City Junior Association club champion.
He made the golf team at Bonneville High as a freshman and missedonly one tournament in four years in earning four varsity letters.
'My sophomore year is when I started kicking it up a notch anddeveloped a routine for practice,' he said.
The Lakers won back-to-back region championships and back-to-backthird-place finishes at state his junior and senior year. He was anall-Region 4 performer two years in a row and was an honorablemention all-stater.
After qualifying for the Utah State Amateur last year, he firedconsecutive 72s at Jeremy Ranch to get into the field of 32.
He beat Robbie Fillmore in his first match, 5 and 4, and then lostto the defending state champion, Tommy Sharp, 5 and 3.
Later in the year, he finished 19th at the Utah Open.
He played in just two secondary tournaments during his freshmanyear at Weber State and redshirted last season to preserve a year ofeligibility.
Technically, he still has a chance to return to Weber to playgolf, but they are remote. He isn't able to play in any tournamentsto prepare him for it and he'll be the sports director of the collegeradio station and will call football and men's and women's basketballgames.
However, he's fine with it if he doesn't play.
'I have no intention of playing golf professionally,' he said.
For that reason, he couldn't pass on the Raptors.
'I can play golf the rest of my life and I have the chance of alifetime to get a broadcasting job,' he said.
E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com
