Tom Kremer (left) receives a plaque and a handshake from broadcast partner Kevin Kelly during a ceremony prior to Tuesday night's Crusaders-Jays game at Fleming Fieldhouse. Kremer is retiring after this basketball season, ending the run for the broadcast team that's done more than 800 of our local sporting events the past 21 years.

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Jan. 18, 2018

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --- You don't think these guys are good?

Try listening to some other radio broadcasts of high school sports on other stations in the area. Enjoy ...

No. 12 passes it to No. 24, and he throws it back out to, ugh ... I can't see that number, can you, Bill?

It makes you appreciate our KWOS radio team of Kevin Kelly (play-by-play) and Tom Kremer (color) even more, for what they've meant to our area athletes, parents, friends and fans the last two decades.

You not only know No. 12 and No. 24 by name --- on both teams, not just the hometown team --- but they do the game in a seamless, exciting, professional manner. And always have.

Here's hoping you've appreciated them, because the end of this basketball season will mark the end of the run for this dynamic duo, as Kremer is calling it quits.

The end of an era.

"I've thought about this for a dozen years," Kremer, 66, said. "I've always enjoyed doing it with Kevin, I enjoy basketball and I enjoy football. But it gets to the point where there are other things you want to do. The last couple of years, I've told him I couldn't make it to some games because I had other family issues, and that's not fair to him, either.

"It's just time to move on."

Last fall was Kremer's 21st season doing football, this is his 18th doing basketball. In that time, they've done more than 800 games together.

Impressive.

But then there's the irrepressible Kevin Kelly. 800 games? Hah! Try the more than 1,800 games Kelly's done in his 40 years of covering the Jefferson City Jays, Helias Crusaders and Blair Oaks Falcons football and basketball teams. You can even throw in some baseball and state wrestling updates, as well.

Here's some good news, folks --- Kelly has no plans to retire. And nobody is a bigger fan of Kelly's than his partner.

"I don't think people realize and appreciate how good Kevin is," Kremer said, "because unless you listen to some of these other people and these other games, you would never know. He's such a professional and a perfectionist ... working with him is so easy. If I have something to say, he'll let me say it. If I'm struggling and I don't have anything to say, then he'll carry the broadcast.

"The first few years, I was like: 'What do I say next?' I'm there to add just a little bit to the game, Kevin does the rest."

Kremer continued on his Hall of Fame partner.

"I don't think people know how many hours Kevin puts in, preparing for games and The Coaches Show, things like that. All I do is go to the games and it's a time crunch, for me.

"That's the big thing, the time commitment. And it doesn't get any easier, walking up all those steps in 20 degree weather during football season and then getting home at 1 o'clock in the morning. That gets kind of old."

As accomplished as Kelly is, he knows there will be a big hole to fill in the broadcast booth.

"Tom does a great job, he always brings his 'A' game," Kelly, 62, said. "He's always prepared and he always provides some great insight when we're doing the games. And he's quick on his feet. The reason I say that is we don't script any of the broadcasts. We do not write anything down, as far as the lead-in at the beginning, or halftime, or the end of the game. I kind of like it that way ... there's the station intro, and they pitch it to us and we go.

"So he's got to be ready to go, and he's always done a great job with that."

Kremer does more than just color commentary.

"Another thing I really appreciate about Tom," Kelly said, "is that he keeps great statistics --- and keeping those statistics is not easy to do when you're also trying to provide color commentary. Especially in high school football when you're looking at no-huddle offenses."

To that end, Kremer said: "I told Kevin I'd do football next season, if you guarantee the games will last less than 2 1/2 hours and nobody runs the hurry-up offense, so I can catch my breath."

Kelly said the duo had no growing pains in the early days.

"I think we clicked the first time we did a game," Kelly said. "There's always been that good chemistry on the air. I think we both love doing the games and to be honest with you, I can't remember a time we disagreed on the air."

Kremer --- who, like Kelly, has loved sports broadcasting since an early age --- said he seriously considered quitting five years ago. Kelly would have none of it.

"Basically," Kelly said, "I went over his head and talked to his wife (Kay), and she told him he can't retire yet --- so he decided that it wasn't the time to do it.

"Tom talks to the players, he talks to the coaches, he talks to the fans, he talks to people in the community ... he's been a great ambassador, he really has."

And he's enjoyed every minute of it.

"Why have I kept doing? As much as anything, it's the people I've met and the relationships," Kremer said. "And before I started doing the games, I coached some fifth- and sixth-graders, and it was always fun to see those kids grow up and start playing the game (in high school), guys like Patrick Staub and Scotty Miller.

"But even better than that is when they come back afterwards. A year or two ago, Trevor Koelling walked right up to where we do the games, just to say hi and give me a big hug."

Obviously, the team of Kelly and Kremer is appreciated by some fans. Actually, a lot of them, as it turns out --- Kremer was honored in a ceremony prior to Tuesday night's Helias-Jefferson City game at Fleming Fieldhouse.

"They're special together," Helias coach Josh Buffington said. "Tom's a great guy --- they're both great guys --- and he does an excellent job assisting Kevin. It's going to be quite different next year.

"I think sometimes we take it for granted just how talented they are, and how good of people they are."

At the end of the brief ceremony --- in which he received a basketball autographed by the Crusaders and Jays from Buffington, and plaques from Kelly and Jays coach Mark Anderson --- Kremer received a standing ovation.

Appreciation.

"The fact that somebody recognized me like that, it was humbling," Kremer said. "I've never looked at myself as a guy who's really that good at doing this. I just sit up there and do the stats and try to throw some things in, now and then."

Kremer is the sixth full-time partner in the booth with Kelly, a tenure that's been "the longest, by far," Kelly said. His replacement?

"I haven't thought about it, I really haven't," Kelly said. "I may get to about April and call Tom back up.

"He probably thought he was going to do this one or two years," Kelly concluded, "but it's been 21. And it's been a great ride."

It certainly has. Thanks for letting us ride along.