Broadcasting sports playoffs, analyzing championship moments and interviewing top athletes are all in a day’s work for alumnus Dave Revsine (‘87), lead studio host of the Big Ten Network. But Revsine would not be where he is today if he had not helped launch the network 18 years ago.
“I was just really proud to be the one that was chosen to sit behind that desk,” said Revsine. “To me, that is an awesome responsibility, and, you know, being with that original group and launching the network [when] a lot of people wondered whether [the Big Ten network] could succeed at the time.”
Revsine currently hosts pregame, halftime, postgame and talk shows for the Big Ten Network.
“[The Big Ten Network] has a daily talk show that I … host,” said Revsine. “I do some play-by-play for basketball, I’ll be at the game and announce the game, but I’d say that’s a smaller portion of my job. Then we have specialty shows like ‘B1G Trailblazers’ where I do long form interviews … where we find prominent alums from our Big Ten schools and interview them about their time [at the school].”
One of the basketball games Revsine particularly enjoyed announcing at was in 2023 when Northwestern beat Purdue, its first win against a No. 1 team in program history, he said.
After Northwestern’s win, Revsine announced, “The improbable season takes an impossible turn,” which was later used as inspiration for the title of Northwestern’s documentary covering the 2023 season and is featured in the team’s hype video played in Northwestern’s basketball arena, he said.
Prior to the Big Ten Network’s launch, Revsine hosted shows like “ESPNews” and “SportsCenter.” Revsine got rejected from multiple jobs before he received offers from major programs like ESPN and CNN.
“I went from being a guy who was the No. 2 sports anchor at the worst station in the market in the United States to hosting SportsCenter in a span of four months,” Revsine said.
A fan of famous Chicago sportscasters Harry Caray, Jack Brickhouse and Pat Foley, Revsine first pursued his interest in sportscasting at Glenbrook North when he joined the broadcasting program, he said.
“When I got to GBN, they really were on the cutting edge of a lot of stuff like broadcasting,” said Revsine. “Even back in the ‘80s, I mean, we had newscasting and sportscasting classes. We had a kind of rudimentary TV station, and we had a radio station, so there were lots of outlets where I could pursue that.”
Revsine did play-by-play for GBN football and basketball, which directly correlates to his career now, he said.
Beyond broadcasting, Revsine read the morning announcements and was a member of the Speech Team and the theater program. He also served as the vice president of Senior Class Board and founded The Boys of Spartan Spirit, which predated Shield.
When his proposal for a farm-themed Homecoming was shot down during his time as vice president, Revsine learned a lesson about leadership that has stuck with him throughout his career, he said.
“[The former assistant principal of student affairs] looked at me after about three or four minutes of me arguing my case and said, ‘Is this what it’s going to be like dealing with you all year?’” Revsine said.
Revsine felt humiliated but learned that leadership is not about having the best ideas and rather is about listening, sparking a discussion and recognizing that leading is not about having the answers, he said.
“I feel really fortunate where my career has taken me,” said Revsine. “A lot of it started at GBN. I learned a lot of lessons there that I’ve been able to adapt throughout my life.”