‘The best there ever was’: Mike Kennedy soaks up the Wichita State love
He’s spent most of his life in that seat with his eyes on the court, but on Saturday night, Mike Kennedy couldn’t help but look up.
Above Section 117, a banner began to unfurl. Not a tournament title. Not a retired number for a player he once described with the cadence only he has as the voice of the Shockers.
This one had him on it.
Kennedy’s eyes moved across the rafters and landed on the names that have lived there for generations — Cleo Littleton, Dave Stallworth, Antoine Carr, Cliff Levingston, Xavier McDaniel, Ralph Miller — and then, impossibly, there was a new permanent piece of Roundhouse history among them.
He couldn’t help but shake his head and negotiate with the tears.
“It was beyond anything that I would ever have dreamed in a best-case scenario,” Kennedy said later. “It was so gratifying. I don’t even know if I can put it into words the kind of feelings it gave me to have that much done for me.”
For Kennedy, the emotional mechanics of the night were a little uncomfortable, not because they weren’t meaningful, but because they were unfamiliar. He’s never been wired to make it about himself. His gift, the thing WSU fans have trusted for nearly a half century, has been the opposite: shining the spotlight on the athletes, coaches and moments that belong to the program.
Saturday, for once, the spotlight was fixed on him.
How Wichita State basketball honored Mike Kennedy
The tone for “Mike Kennedy Night” was set well before Saturday’s tipoff. Every Shocker team member wore black long-sleeved shirts dedicated to Kennedy for the game. After pregame introductions, each player made a small detour toward his radio-row perch to give him a fist bump, a simple gesture that Kennedy appreciated.
During two separate first-half timeouts, WSU presented Kennedy with gifts. There was a sideline decal in front of his broadcast position, a commemorative microphone and customized jersey bearing his name and No. 46 — the number now synonymous with the years he’s devoted to Wichita State athletics.
At halftime, a two-minute video tribute rolled across the jumbotron. It included iconic calls and the familiar cadence that has narrated so many important moments in Shocker history, including his 2013 line after WSU beat Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament: “Say it slowly and savor it, Wichita State is going to the Final Four.”
His longtime partner Dave Dahl said what so many in the building already believed: “Mike was born to be a broadcaster.” Fans continued to nod along when legendary baseball coach Gene Stephenson continued, “He’s everything to everybody who works here at Wichita State.”
And then came the surprise that knocked Kennedy off his internal script.
The banner.
It was an emotional moment when the realization struck that his voice now has a place in the building that will remain long after his final broadcast.
“All of the people up there are the very best and I believe Mike is also,” Dahl said. “For generations and decades to come, kids will ask their parents, ‘Who’s that announcer?’ And people will fondly recall all of the good things about Mike Kennedy.”
Wichita State took care of business by handling Temple
Kennedy’s voice never faltered, even while his world was being interrupted every few minutes by another handshake, another hug, another person wanting to show their appreciation.
He never flubbed a line. Never lost rhythm. Even on a night filled with distractions, Kennedy stayed locked in. If anything, the farewell tour this season has elevated his performance.
“I’ve never gone into a game that I wasn’t prepared to do or I wasn’t locked in or I didn’t have the concentration,” Kennedy said. “This last year it almost seems like I’m at a higher level knowing that this is my last time. It’s important to me that it’s good and I go out on a high note as far as my performance.”
On the court, WSU matched the energy in the building with an emphatic 69-57 win over Temple to win for the eighth time in its last 10 games.
The Shockers pulled away behind Kenyon Giles, who poured in 27 points with five 3s, and Emmanuel Okorafor, who delivered the first double-double of his career with 13 points and 10 rebounds. WSU defended with edge, holding Temple to 36% shooting and controlled the glass with a 39-28 rebounding advantage.
The win was WSU’s third straight and pushed it to 18-10 overall and 10-5 in the American Conference, marking the first time the Shockers have secured a winning conference record since their championship season in 2021. It also kept WSU in pole position for second place in the league standings with three games to go.
With a crowd of 8,094 on hand Saturday, WSU has exceeded its previous season-high attendance in three straight games.
“Really, this night was all about Mike,” Giles said. “We came out and made sure we played hard for him.”
The surprising moment that Mike Kennedy cherished the most
Kennedy has spoken before about how the transfer portal and constant roster turnover have eroded the kind of long-term relationships that used to form when players stayed for four years.
It’s harder now, he says, to truly know a team. But this group has been different.
The most unexpected part of the night wasn’t the banner or the video or the gifts. It was how the players, many of whom are in their first year with the Shockers, showed their affection for him.
“That was maybe the single most unexpected and special thing out of everything that happened,” Kennedy said. “With how college athletics are now, you just don’t have the opportunity to get to know them the way that you used to when they were here for four years. But this team is just different. I’ve gotten to know these guys better than what I thought was possible anymore. I’ve had some special teams over the years, but this one is going to end up being really high up.”
After delivering his 14th 20-point game of the season, Giles made a point to come over in the closing seconds to salute Kennedy and shake his hand. Wichita native T.J. Williams did the same. After the final horn, players and coaches streamed toward Kennedy’s broadcast spot to shake his hand again, then posed for a picture.
Before they left, WSU’s players broke down its huddle with a new call: “Mike on three.”
The entire group shouted his name in unison, grinning as if they’d just won something bigger than a Saturday night game.
A legacy built to last at Wichita State
Kennedy is in his 46th and final season as the voice of WSU men’s basketball. The 77-year-old began calling games full time during the 1980-81 Elite Eight season and broadcasted more than 1,400 games in a row at one point. His partnership with Dahl, now in its 45th year, is the longest-tenured play-by-play and analyst duo in Division I college basketball.
Dahl has watched in admiration for all of it.
“When you’re a professional baseball player, there are going to be days where you’re not at your best,” Dahl said. “But in 46 years, Mike has always been on his game. He’s never taken a play off, never taken a moment off, a consummate professional. He’s the best maybe there ever was at his level at his profession.”
Dahl admitted the emotion finally hit him this weekend, with the realization that the final chapter is almost here.
“I shed a few tears yesterday and today because all of a sudden, it’s here,” Dahl said. “When I see how people are reacting to him and how kind and joyous they are to him, it just makes me so happy that he invokes those kinds of feelings in people.”
Kennedy will still call one more home men’s basketball game, March 7 against Florida Atlantic, and will also call Shocker baseball games the rest of the spring.
He says the nostalgia hasn’t fully arrived yet. The emotions, he believes, will come when the very last broadcast finally finishes.
Until then, he’ll keep doing what he’s always done: showing up prepared, locked in, precise.
And now, when he looks up from his seat in the Roundhouse, he’ll see the truth Wichita State made permanent on Saturday night.
For 46 years, he’s been telling the story of Shocker basketball.
Now, he’s part of it.
This story was originally published February 22, 2026 at 7:01 AM with the headline "‘The best there ever was’: Mike Kennedy soaks up the Wichita State love."
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