Don Blasingame receives his Ed Aliverti Golden Microphone Award from Sandy Stevens, who received the award last year. John Sachs photo

USA Wrestling has presented Don Blasingame with the 2011 Ed Aliverti Golden Microphone Award, an award which is given annually to honor a public address announcer who has excelled in the craft and made a major positive impact on the wrestling community. He received the award during the 2011 World Team Trials in Oklahoma City.

The award is named in honor of the late Ed Aliverti, the Hall of Fame public address announcer, who set the standard for how to announce wrestling competitions.

“Ed and Shirley Aliverti and I were so close. To receive an award in his name is awesome, but that doesn’t even come close to expressing how I feel about this honor,” said Blasingame.

Blasingame has announced the sport of wrestling at all levels for almost three decades. With a strong and clear voice, and an amazing grasp of how to explain the sport to the masses, Don Blasingame raised the sport to a new level.

He also helped develop the position of producer for wrestling events to a new level, serving as the behind-the-scenes leader who helped stage important wrestling events to maximize their entertainment value.

Blasingame, who started doing PA announcing for baseball games in the early 1980’s, was mentored early in his career by the late Bob Dellinger, a Hall of Fame journalist and communicator who was also an excellent public address announcer.

Blasingame had begun doing wrestling announcing on the YMCA level in Oklahoma, and worked his first event for Charlie Bates in Putnam City. It was with Dellinger’s encouragement that Blasingame started to work larger and more important competitions.

“I hooked up with Bob Dellinger, who got me to announce a Kids Western Regional in Del City, Okla. in 1984,” said Blasingame. “After that event, he said to me that I had a talent and ought to use it.”

He worked the Oklahoma Junior High School tournament, which led to many other opportunities. He has announced the Oklahoma High School State Wrestling championships for 24 years and counting. Blasingame became a PA announcer for Oklahoma State wrestling matches, a position he has held for 23 years. He also began working USA Wrestling events on the state, national and international levels, something he has done for more than 25 years.

His first international event was a Freestyle World Cup competition held in Chattanooga, Tenn. He went on to serve as the English announcer for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Blasingame was a PA announcer for the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Dallas, Texas, as well as the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Indianapolis, Ind. He also was an announcer for the USA Wrestling ASICS/Vaughan Junior and Cadet Nationals for more than two decades.

Blasingame served as a PA announcer for the NCAA Div. I Championships two times, working the 1996 NCAA Championships in Minneapolis, Minn. and the 2002 NCAA Championships in Albany, N.Y. Blasingame was on the microphone when Cael Sanderson won his fourth NCAA title without losing a match in his college career in Albany.

He continues his relationship with the NCAA by serving the last five years as the public address announcer for the FanFest at the NCAA Div. I Wrestling Championships.

It was in 2005 when Blasingame was asked to serve as the producer for the 2005 World Freestyle Wrestling Championships in Atlanta, Ga., which was the test event for the 2006 Olympic Games. Blasingame was charged with handling all of the presentation aspects of the event, which included the music and other production elements. His success in that role led to him serving in the same capacity at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga.

The Atlanta Olympic Games had special meaning for Blasingame, who was there when fellow Oklahoman Kendall Cross won a freestyle gold medal and Bruce Baumgartner claimed his fourth Olympic medal. Blasingame was also excited when ACOG leaders came and filmed the production of the wrestling venue as a guide for other sports on how to present an Olympic competition.

Blasingame was invited back to serve in the producer role by the Olympic organizers in Sydney, Australia. He worked the Olympic test event there in 1999, then served as producer of the 2000 Olympic Games wrestling competition in Sydney.

“The production side had even more highlights for me than the announcing,” said Blasingame. “I recall when we used the William Tell Overture at the 1996 Olympics for all of Alexander Karelin’s matches. After the tournament, we went to the press area and heard his interview. A reporter asked him what he thought of the music. He said the music made it special and important. To have a great athlete say that was more of an affirmation than I could ever hope for,” said Blasingame.

Blasingame has received many other awards for his contributions to wrestling, including the FILA bronze star from the international wrestling federation, as well as induction to the Oklahoma Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. However, receiving the Ed Aliverti Golden Microphone is an honor which truly has special meaning to him.

“It is absolutely humbling,” said Blasingame. “I am not sure if I, or my efforts, deserve this, but it is certainly an indescribable feeling that somebody else feels I deserve this. To have this recognition in front of my hometown crowd in Oklahoma is truly awesome,” he said.

USA Wrestling is proud to celebrate the life of Ed Aliverti with this award program. Aliverti made a tremendous impact on USA Wrestling and the entire sport for many decades, setting the standard for those who handling public announcing at competitions. He worked all of the major events in our sport, from the youth level through the Olympic Games. He was inducted as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1994.

ED ALIVERTI GOLDEN MICROPHONE AWARD WINNERS
2010 – Sandy Stevens, Glen Ellyn, Ill.
2011 – Don Blasingame, Midwest City, Okla.