IU radio personality named Indiana sportscaster of the year for 19th time

IU radio announcer Don Fischer recently added another award to his long list of accolades. The "voice" of the Hoosiers was named Indiana sportscaster of the year Sunday by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. It marked the 19th time Fischer has won the award.\n"Obviously it's not the first time I won, but it's the first time in quite a few years," Fischer said. "I thought I was too old to get it again. But the nice thing is it came again. I'm very happy about it."\nFischer is in his 34th year as the play-by-play announcer for IU football and men's basketball and also hosts a weekly coaches talk show for both sports. He said that his winning the award could not have been possible without the help of his co-workers.\n"It's an honor that it goes to everybody on our team," Fischer said. "We have great people in broadcast crew, our color commentators do great jobs. ... We have a group of people that work together well."\nThe IU sportscaster has seen plenty of different coaches throughout his career, but he said he has most enjoyed working with the two current football and men's basketball coaches: second-year football coach Terry Hoeppner and first-year basketball coach Kelvin Sampson.\n"From the perspective from what's been happening with both programs, it's terrific," Fischer said of the coaches. "With coach Hep, nobody's made a bigger impact on the football program...That guy's just been phenomenal."\nFischer also said he's seen a sizeable difference between last year's basketball team and this year's, led by Sampson.\n"He's gotten these guys to buy into defensive play with a toughness and intensity that we haven't seen in many moons," he said. "The team has been in every single game they've played. ... There hasn't been a single ballgame that they haven't had a chance to win."\nIn 2004 the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association inducted Fischer into its hall of fame.