Growing up, I wanted to be an athlete, but not your usual football or basketball player, I wanted to do something different – rowing, soccer or volleyball. I was always a small kid, however and I came to the realization that my avenue into the sports world would be behind the microphone.
After graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in History and Communications, I moved to Washington, D.C. and got a job with National Public Radio. I turned my experience there into a job at the fledgling internet startup America Online.
Seven years later, after producing feature packages on everything from the Olympics to 9/11 to How To Be An Air Guitar God, I decided it was time for a change of scenery and a change of pace, so I packed up my things and my new bride, and we moved to Park City, Utah so that I could return to my childhood dream, and try to make the U.S. National Skeleton team.
In preparation for AOL’s coverage of the 2002 Olympics, I went to Lake Placid for a 5-day skeleton camp. I did so well, that at the conclusion, I was ranked in the top-30 in the nation, and the coaches said I had a chance to make the national team with a little more practice.
To make a long story short, I didn’t make the team, but fell in love with Park City, and my new job working as a reporter and host at the local radio station. It had been over 10 years since I had been behind the mic, but it was like an old friend, and I picked up a number of awards (Utah Broadcasters Association and Society for Professional Journalists) for my work.
In 2005, Park City Television came calling, and that’s when I really found my stride. I helped write and record the narration for an Emmy-award winning show on the Endurance 100 mountain bike race. As host and producer of a daily one-hour news & entertainment show, I interviewed everyone from Sen. Orrin Hatch and Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. to Olympians Ted Ligety, Apollo Ohno, Shaun White and Picabo Street to film stars Anthony Hopkins, Patton Oswalt and Wim Wenders (“Wings of Desire”).
I won another Emmy for the documentary “Blessid Union of Souls: I Still Believe” which I wrote and produced, a silver Telly award for our daily Sundance Film Festival news show IN THE CAN, and brought in national music acts like Sara Bareilles, The Civil Wars, and dozens more.
But after 9 years in the mountains, it was time to return to the East Coast, and now I’m in a whole new arena – working for the federal government at the General Services Administration.
What does this all make me? A pretty happy guy. I’ve lived in amazing places, had incredible jobs, have a wonderful wife, an amazing daughter, and a beautiful dog. I still get to play soccer, and have finally made it onto Team USA in something – I’ll be going to Santiago, Chile in December for the Maccabi Pan Am Games as part of the Masters +45 soccer team.
Stay tuned, because I’m going to be posting some new updates, and some stories from my past here on the site, get ready for a fun ride.
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For more on me, read this great interview I did with Gavin’s Underground blog for the Salt Lake City Weekly.
Ori Hoffer: Creative Communications 