From the Ridgeway Gym to The Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Suffolk University broadcast journalism alumni Jacob Tobey’s journey to becoming a National Basketball Association commentator started off with a humble beginning and led to him achieving his childhood dream.
Now the play-by-play announcer for the San Antonio Spurs’ local broadcast, Tobey got his start on TV working with Jerry Glendye, the director of broadcast facilities, at Studio 73 on campus.
Tobey said he remembers being almost starstruck at first seeing the studio where he’d eventually spend countless hours putting the work in.
“I was so mesmerized by the whole studio when I visited the school, so I just wanted to be in there everyday,” said Tobey.
Tobey’s work at Suffolk would quickly become trailblazing, doing things that had never been done on campus before and helping build Suffolk Free Radio into what it is today. Tobey took a radio station that was in a very rough spot, with the general manager quitting during his freshman year, and helped revive it, utilizing WSFR to sharpen his skills on the microphone and enhance what he had learned at Studio 73.
“I was calling Suffolk soccer games, basketball games and it was fun. That’s how I got my play-by-play reps in, just going to all the home soccer games. We actually did a couple road basketball games at UMass Boston, which was never done before. That was super, super cool and it enhanced what I was doing in the studio. The studio taught me how to be on-air, and I was just doubling down on that on the radio side using all those skills. They worked hand-in-hand,” said Tobey.
Everything Tobey was doing at Suffolk was in pursuit of a childhood dream of a career in sports As he built his path through hard work and dedication, combining the skills learned from a humble college TV studio and a student-run radio station, he turned these experiences into a professional career.
“I grew up wanting to be a part of the game as best as I could. I wasn’t going to the NBA as a player, so I was like ‘how can I get to the NBA and be around the game,’” said Tobey. “I fell in love with broadcasting at a young age watching the Celtics’ broadcast with Mike Gorman and Tommy Heinsohn.”
Frank Irizarry, a public relations professor at Suffolk, had Jacob Tobey in a couple classes while Tobey was a student. Irizarry remembered Tobey as a focused and dedicated hard worker who made the most out of the opportunities presented to him.
Irizarry said he believes that Tobey’s success shows how there’s a path, even for people who attend smaller universities, to make it big so long as they have the dedication to their craft.
“There’s opportunities on campus,” said Irizarry. “Sometimes those are the first opportunities that students get which you can parlay into an internship, which he did. Everybody has to start somewhere. This goes to show you, within 10 years he went from calling Suffolk games in the Ridgeway Gym to calling Victor Wembanyama’s games in San Antonio.”
With stops in Tulsa, Okla. and Denver Tobey would eventually find himself sitting next to NBA champion Sean Elliott, commentating NBA games for the San Antonio Spurs.
The journey to the NBA wasn’t exactly an easy one though. Tobey noted the sacrifices he had to make to help build his career around the country. Though he had to make sacrifices, to him it was all worth it to accomplish this dream and spend his life doing something that he genuinely enjoys and feels grateful for.
“You have to absolutely love it,” said Tobey. “It’s a lot of sacrifice. We work nights, weekends, holidays, you’re away from your family a lot, you’re on the road a lot. But if you love it, it doesn’t feel like work. I’ve never once felt like ‘this is so taxing, oh my gosh I have to go to work.’ It’s not a ‘have-to’ job, it’s a ‘get-to’ job. I get to go to work, I get to announce Spurs games, I get to talk to the players, I get to sit next to Sean Elliott, I got to do Suffolk Radio, I got to do Studio 73. Those were all super cool things, just having that mindset is key.”
Now in the NBA, Tobey was given the task of filling in for legendary Spurs play-by-play announcer Bill Land, who retired after a 21-year career with the team.
For Tobey, the support of Land and the years of hard work and practice he put into his craft made him confident that he’d be able to do a good job at the commentary table carrying on the legacy and tradition Land left behind.
“There’s pressure, but I also remind myself that I’m here for a reason and they chose me for a reason. I know I can do this, I’ve been following this my whole life,” said Tobey. “Bill and I do games totally differently, our styles are way different, but at the end of the day I respect what he did for 21 years and he’s been great to me.”
Tobey also credited the Spurs fanbase for how welcoming they’ve been towards him in his first year at the booth, noting that he feels that he’s been accepted with open arms.
“Once you’re in the Spurs’ family, you’re there forever, so it’s just been awesome to be a part of their family, their fanbase and the rise they’re on right now. I’m a young guy in the business, they’re a young team, and we’re all kind of just figuring it out together and growing,” said Tobey.
Just as San Antonio has embraced him, Tobey has embraced them the same way. Despite never having lived in Texas before landing this job, Tobey feels that he’s found a home out in San Antonio alongside the Spurs’ faithful.
“In San Antonio, the southern hospitality is real. They’ve just loved what I’ve done so far, the passion that I bring, they’re seeing that I want to be here, that I want to be the voice of the Spurs, that I want to learn about their history and their culture,” said Tobey. “That’s all you want, to feel welcome.”
By making it this far, Tobey showed that you don’t have to go to a Division I college to make it to the pros. Irizarry believes that Tobey is the type of alumni who current students at Suffolk should really look up to.
“They should take inspiration because he’s the blueprint. He was a trailblazer but he showed that it could be done. That with hard work, dedication, focus on the big things and the little things, if you have a goal in mind that you can achieve it,” said Irizarry.
In the end, Tobey advised college students looking to follow the path he did to challenge themselves and put in the work, showing that the hard work he put in while at Suffolk was what prepared him to seize the moment when luck came his way.
“Be the hardest worker in the room,” said Tobey.
