Maplewood Richmond Heights 2012 graduate, Scott Lunte, got into calling Blue Devils games his sophomore year. He called his last MRH game at 2016 homecoming — Monday was his first day in the office at radio station KRES in Moberly, MO.
After studying sports journalism at Webster University he called play-by-play for Prepcasts. Moving to Moberly, about 25 miles north of Columbia, is a big deal.
“It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made, leaving home,” he said Friday night between periods in the homecoming soccer game against Brentwood. “It was hard on my parents, hard on my sister, kind of hard on some of my friends. It was hard on me too. It’s just weird that I’m actually moving to a small town.”
He said then-MRH superintendent Linda Henke got him started. “I remember sitting at a game at Mehlville when Blue Devils football was going — I was (calling plays to myself). She said, Scott you need to be in the booth with Jayne Jackson. I thought it was awesome, I didn’t really think about journalism, I just enjoyed being the announcer.”
Football snowballed into other sports. He took journalism his senior year with Otto Schultejans. “I fell in love with it ever since,” he said.
Lunte said high school football in a small town gives him “the chills.”
“Going to some of these atmospheres whenever (MRH) traveled down to Valley or St. Vincent, or Gen (Ste. Genevieve) — the atmosphere is unreal,” he said. “It makes it so much fun to cover. It’s like, why don’t you want to be a part of it? I’m really excited.”
He said a play-by-play person should tell a story. For instance, he said: “Player X, he’s been struggling all season long with 3-point shooting, and boom, he comes up with the biggest point of the game. Just putting stuff in context is what I enjoy about it. You can have fun with it. For high school, you have to have a little bit of a filter, but you can go all out with criticism the higher up you go.”
Lunte follows everything from NASCAR to golf to football and basketball. “I have a high passion for sports,” he said. “You have to be passionate about a sport you’re calling if you want to really get into it, regardless of what it is.”
Lunte will call the plays across mid and northern Missouri for KRES (104.7 FM), which covers about 40 high schools. He said during football season he’ll be calling two or three games a week, also hosting a coaches show, announcing news and weather, and doing some web work (centralmoinfo.com). Follow Lunte on Twitter at @Scott_Lunte.
