A great broadcaster, an even better person: Remembering Bob Barrickman

BEAVER – Any listener who heard Bob Barrickman on the radio for the first time, primarily with WBVP but also the MSA/TribLive network, remembered the voice, first heard on WMBA in 1980.

Blessed with a unique, unforgettable voice, that quickly became secondary as Barrickman drew listeners in with his unmistakable, undeniable passion for Beaver County high school sports.

Now, that voice is silent. Barrickman, 67, passed away suddenly Tuesday. Recent health problems had kept Bob off the air since the end of September but he was still planning WBVP’s coverage of high school basketball and coordinating press credentials for the PIAA football championships on Monday.

Obit:Beaver County Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Barrickman dead at 67

“It’s been a bad day,” said WBVP program director Frank Sparks on Tuesday. “I just talked to him (Monday) and he was picking the basketball games to cover and the announcers.

“Every person has their own Bob Barrickman impersonation but everyone knew that, if Bob was at a game, it was a big game. Fans of every team thought they were his favorite, too. He had the ability to do that.

“I never met a man as unique as Bob and it is an honor to have worked with him.”

Nobody worked with Bob as much as Tom Hayes. They were a broadcast team from 1981 through Tom’s retirement in 2020 and had worked together in the circulation department at The Times before that. For Tom, broadcasting wasn’t a full-time job but, for Bob, it was even more than that.

“No one put more effort into a job than Bob Barrickman,” said Hayes. “No one had more passion for high school sports than Bob. I always thought I prepared well but Bob would come to a game with notebooks full of stuff. It was his life.

“He would make every fan feel that theirs was his favorite team and we would joke about that. The only time that Bob showed any partiality ever was when it was a Beaver County team against a team from somewhere else but, even then, he wouldn’t say anything bad about the other team ― he’d always say they were trying hard, too.

“The first game I ever worked with Bob was a Farrell at Ambridge basketball game in 1980 and I’m just crushed that he passed. As great a broadcaster as he was ― and he really was ― he was a better person. He cared about people and I don’t think he ever looked to go anywhere else ― he was where he wanted to be.”

It definitely showed that he was where he wanted to be. He’s been in the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame since 2008 and has emceed their banquet. While at WBVP, he started the wrap-up show and The Coach’s Corner ― held at Robert’s Roadside for over 25 years before COVID changed everyone’s plans. For a while, he was a correspondent for The Times, writing “Another Look,” a weekly feature looking back.

Legend on the airwaves:Local 'legend' Bob Barrickman shows his love for Beaver County every time he's on air

Now, we’ll all be forced to look back and remember Bob and it won’t be easy for any of us. As for this writer, whose career overlapped Bob’s for 33 years, it will be a big change. Neither of us knew it at the time, but I got to work with Bob at his last high school football game ― Sept. 23 when Freedom visited Riverside.

I don’t remember details because it didn’t seem significant at the time, but I probably made some remark about old warhorses because the steps at Riverside’s Memorial Stadium make lots of people feel like old warhorses. I’ll never look at those steps the same way.

Things may not seem the same for high school coaches and athletes, either.

“Bob was such a positive person,” said Freedom football coach John Rosa, who coached in that final game. He also coached wrestling and baseball at Freedom during Barrickman’s tenure. “Every player thought their team was his team, even if both teams were from Beaver County.

“He was Mr. Beaver County and he’ll definitely be missed ― this was a sad day for Beaver County. I remember we took him along on our bus trip to Canton when Jimbo (Covert) was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“He never stopped smiling and it was good to see. Now, he has the best seat in the house ― he can see everything.”

Bob will probably be memorialized by any number of schools and groups as news of his passing sinks in. This writer, though, will remember him every time someone mentions those call letters. There was a time in the station’s history when the initials were used for the slogan “We’re Beaver Valley People.”

That, folks, was Bob.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: A great broadcaster, an even better person: Remembering Bob Barrickman