Thom Cornelis likes to joke that he's part of a fraternity as a sportscaster in the Quad-Cities.
He wasn't expecting to be a part of it for four decades.
"My pledge period has been pretty long," Cornelis said with a laugh. "I think I'm about ready to go active now."
All jokes aside, Cornelis really couldn't imagine things any other way. The Quad-Cities has been his home from when he was playing baseball and basketball for Rock Island Alleman.
He loves the 3 to 4 minutes he gets on his nightly sportscast for KWQC, Ch. 6, and he admits he still gets goosebumps before the annual Quad-City Times Bix 7 race that he announces every year.
His induction into the Quad-City Sports Hall of Fame on May 4 gives him the privilege of being honored in his home area, a recognition he considers the highlight of his career.
"It doesn't really seem like 40 years, because I still remember certain games and certain players," Cornelis said. "It really is a fraternity. Once you're in it, and you play in it, coach in it and cover it, I think everyone has a bond that doesn't leave.
"I've covered most of the people who are in there, and it's an honor to be included with them. I'm thrilled."
A fortunate illness
Cornelis knew from an early age that he wanted to spend his life involved with sports. In fact, he suspected broadcasting might be for him when he was a boy listening to Vin Scully call Dodgers games on the radio.
"I thought that would be the ultimate job, and he's still doing it," Cornelis said. "You see class acts like him, Dick Enberg and Curt Gowdy and think, ‘Maybe this is the way to go.'"
However, he wasn't completely sure broadcasting was the right choice until attending Western Illinois University to play baseball.
Soon after stepping on the Macomb campus, he had figured out he wasn't good enough to play baseball professionally. His plan was to earn his degree, then find a teaching job that would allow him to coach baseball or basketball.
A bout with mononucleosis during his sophomore year changed that. Since Cornelis couldn't play anymore but was at the baseball field anyway, he was asked to cover games for the school's television station.
Cornelis agreed and found that he loved it. He soon switched his major and began taking broadcasting classes, beginning a career that has spanned four decades.
"It didn't seem like a chore going to broadcast classes," Cornelis said. "It was something I looked forward to. I figured that if it's something you look forward to, you'd better stick with it."
Building events
When Ed Froehlich became the director of the Bix 7 race in 1979, the race was in its infancy and was so insignificant that it was common for interested parties to ask where the race was.
Froehlich set a goal of building the race into a big event, a vision shared by Cornelis.
"In the first year, they told me there were (84) guys, but I never saw (84)," Cornelis said. "Each year, it got a little bigger, and then when Ed Froehlich got involved, there's the straw that stirs the drink.
"We started televising live, and you can see where the race is today."
Cornelis, who was then at WQAD, helped build up what is now the John Deere Classic by inviting golfers onto his sports program for interviews. He started increasing the coverage of the race the same way, while Froehlich built up the race itself.
The race is a staple on the Quad-Cities' sports calendar, and Froehlich is grateful to his friend Cornelis for his help in building the race's prestige - as well as pleased to see him honored.
"There's nobody that has supported sports for the last 35 to 40 years in the Quad-Cities as Thom Cornelis has," Froehlich said. "He does a lot for high school and college sports. He's just as enthusiastic today as he was when he started."
The move to KWQC
By 1984, Cornelis was well-established in the Quad-Cities. He was in his 12th year at the local ABC station and was now as much a part of the Q-C sports scene as the broadcasters who once covered his games.
The area was home for him, and he had no desire to move his wife, Marcia, and four children for the sake of moving.
It was going to take a special set of circumstances to get him to leave WQAD. That was exactly what happened.
The rights to broadcast Iowa's games went up for bid in the early 1980s, and NBC emerged with the rights to cover the Hawkeyes on its affiliates in the state.
That wrinkle caused Cornelis to seriously consider KWQC general manager Ken McQueen's suggestion that he make the move across the river from Moline-based WQAD.
"In order to get the play-by-play job, it would help to be at the Iowa station," Cornelis said. "There was a change in ownership at ABC, I had a nice offer and I didn't have to uproot my family."
Cornelis also didn't have a non-compete clause, because it wasn't routinely included in broadcaster's contracts at that time. With nothing holding him to ABC, he decided his future would be better served by jumping to NBC.
He quickly found acceptance from the station that used to be his competitor.
"It was a little bit (awkward at first) because I was still the guy from across the river," Cornelis said. "But it was not (for) long. The news director, Jack Thompson, and anchor Don Rhyne were glad to have me, which was why they made an offer.
"(The awkwardness) lasted for about a week."
A different time
Through his career, the biggest change is the way Cornelis does his job.
When he started, he wasn't doing live shots at all. Instead, he would shoot video, race back to the studio to edit it before his sportscast.
Those days are long in the past.
"The technology is the greatest thing," Cornelis said. "When I started, it was a film camera, then we phased into videotape and then we were able to go live, so I could do reports from the course or the Rose Bowl.
"Now, we don't even use tape anymore. It's all on a computer with everything in high-definition. It seems like every week, they're adding a new wrinkle. When it works, it's amazing what you can accomplish."
However, Cornelis now sometimes has to accomplish more with less, because in the age of YouTube and camera phones, athletes are far less relaxed than they once were.
"They have to be, and that's unfortunate," Cornelis said. "They like to have a good time, but they get a little paranoid about it because of a person trying to get on a talk show. It's taken away from it because you don't get to know them better. They really have to trust you."
Local boys making good
In 1987, Dan Pearson arrived at KWQC as the assistant sports director, expecting he would stay for about three years and then move to a bigger market.
He never left, because he discovered he and Cornelis shared a passion for local sports that made an ideal partnership.
"We had the same philosophy," Pearson said. "We think that no sport is too small and value each story. That's one thing that we think we've done a pretty good job with. A high school can define a community, and we've done feature stories from Rock Falls or DeWitt that people have remembered."
When Cornelis looks back on his four decades of broadcasting, the big events aren't what stick out in his mind.
He's covered events as far away as Innsbruck, Austria, when he went to the 1976 Winter Olympics. But his favorite stories involve people such as fellow Hall of Fame inductee Acie Earl, who came out of the Quad-Cities.
"I remember covering his games, both at Moline and Iowa," he said. "I remember being excited and running up to interview him, and it was the same when he was drafted by the Celtics.
"There was a local boy making good, and we haven't had many that have gone on to that level. It is (a source of pride). To get to that level is few and far between, because you've really got to be special."
Through his longevity in the market, Cornelis has had the pleasure of seeing almost every special athlete the Quad-Cities has produced.
He claims longevity is the reason for his induction, but Pearson, who once saw Cornelis through a viewer's eyes while growing up, disagrees.
"The better word is enduring," he said. "He could have gone somewhere else and gone to a better market. But he's a familiar face who's been in people's living rooms more than their best friends.
"A lot of people equate those broadcasts with the happiest times of their lives. TC has been the face of that for all these years."
Why did he stay when he could have left? Family was a big reason, but it's also true that Cornelis genuinely loves his job and plans to keep doing it as long as that remains true.
"I enjoy the great people I get to mingle with on a daily basis," Cornelis said. "The coaches and athletes are just great. A lot are retired now, and there's always a story."
TIMELINE
1948 - Thom Cornelis is born in Moline
1966 - Cornelis graduates from Rock Island Alleman High School, having played basketball and baseball for the Pioneers.
1968 - Cornelis, a sophomore at Western Illinois, begins working with the campus television station covering baseball.
1972 - Cornelis accepts a job at WQAD in Moline, beginning his long career in the Quad-Cities.
1976 - Cornelis first invites golfers from the PGA Tour's Quad-City stop to come onto his sportscast, helping the event become entrenched.
1980 - Cornelis begins his association with the Bix 7 race as play-by-play announcer.
1984 - Cornelis leaves WQAD for KWQC, where he remains today.
1987 - Cornelis hires Dan Pearson as his assistant sports director, beginning a partnership that still is active.
2008 - Cornelis, then in his 25th year at KWQC, is inducted into Alleman's hall of fame.
2010 - KWQC becomes the first Q-C station to broadcast in high definition.
2011 - Cornelis celebrates 40 years of broadcasting in the Quad Cities with induction into the Quad-City Sports Hall of Fame.
He wasn't expecting to be a part of it for four decades.
"My pledge period has been pretty long," Cornelis said with a laugh. "I think I'm about ready to go active now."
All jokes aside, Cornelis really couldn't imagine things any other way. The Quad-Cities has been his home from when he was playing baseball and basketball for Rock Island Alleman.
He loves the 3 to 4 minutes he gets on his nightly sportscast for KWQC, Ch. 6, and he admits he still gets goosebumps before the annual Quad-City Times Bix 7 race that he announces every year.
His induction into the Quad-City Sports Hall of Fame on May 4 gives him the privilege of being honored in his home area, a recognition he considers the highlight of his career.
"It doesn't really seem like 40 years, because I still remember certain games and certain players," Cornelis said. "It really is a fraternity. Once you're in it, and you play in it, coach in it and cover it, I think everyone has a bond that doesn't leave.
"I've covered most of the people who are in there, and it's an honor to be included with them. I'm thrilled."
A fortunate illness
Cornelis knew from an early age that he wanted to spend his life involved with sports. In fact, he suspected broadcasting might be for him when he was a boy listening to Vin Scully call Dodgers games on the radio.
"I thought that would be the ultimate job, and he's still doing it," Cornelis said. "You see class acts like him, Dick Enberg and Curt Gowdy and think, ‘Maybe this is the way to go.'"
However, he wasn't completely sure broadcasting was the right choice until attending Western Illinois University to play baseball.
Soon after stepping on the Macomb campus, he had figured out he wasn't good enough to play baseball professionally. His plan was to earn his degree, then find a teaching job that would allow him to coach baseball or basketball.
A bout with mononucleosis during his sophomore year changed that. Since Cornelis couldn't play anymore but was at the baseball field anyway, he was asked to cover games for the school's television station.
Cornelis agreed and found that he loved it. He soon switched his major and began taking broadcasting classes, beginning a career that has spanned four decades.
"It didn't seem like a chore going to broadcast classes," Cornelis said. "It was something I looked forward to. I figured that if it's something you look forward to, you'd better stick with it."
Building events
When Ed Froehlich became the director of the Bix 7 race in 1979, the race was in its infancy and was so insignificant that it was common for interested parties to ask where the race was.
Froehlich set a goal of building the race into a big event, a vision shared by Cornelis.
"In the first year, they told me there were (84) guys, but I never saw (84)," Cornelis said. "Each year, it got a little bigger, and then when Ed Froehlich got involved, there's the straw that stirs the drink.
"We started televising live, and you can see where the race is today."
Cornelis, who was then at WQAD, helped build up what is now the John Deere Classic by inviting golfers onto his sports program for interviews. He started increasing the coverage of the race the same way, while Froehlich built up the race itself.
The race is a staple on the Quad-Cities' sports calendar, and Froehlich is grateful to his friend Cornelis for his help in building the race's prestige - as well as pleased to see him honored.
"There's nobody that has supported sports for the last 35 to 40 years in the Quad-Cities as Thom Cornelis has," Froehlich said. "He does a lot for high school and college sports. He's just as enthusiastic today as he was when he started."
The move to KWQC
By 1984, Cornelis was well-established in the Quad-Cities. He was in his 12th year at the local ABC station and was now as much a part of the Q-C sports scene as the broadcasters who once covered his games.
The area was home for him, and he had no desire to move his wife, Marcia, and four children for the sake of moving.
It was going to take a special set of circumstances to get him to leave WQAD. That was exactly what happened.
The rights to broadcast Iowa's games went up for bid in the early 1980s, and NBC emerged with the rights to cover the Hawkeyes on its affiliates in the state.
That wrinkle caused Cornelis to seriously consider KWQC general manager Ken McQueen's suggestion that he make the move across the river from Moline-based WQAD.
"In order to get the play-by-play job, it would help to be at the Iowa station," Cornelis said. "There was a change in ownership at ABC, I had a nice offer and I didn't have to uproot my family."
Cornelis also didn't have a non-compete clause, because it wasn't routinely included in broadcaster's contracts at that time. With nothing holding him to ABC, he decided his future would be better served by jumping to NBC.
He quickly found acceptance from the station that used to be his competitor.
"It was a little bit (awkward at first) because I was still the guy from across the river," Cornelis said. "But it was not (for) long. The news director, Jack Thompson, and anchor Don Rhyne were glad to have me, which was why they made an offer.
"(The awkwardness) lasted for about a week."
A different time
Through his career, the biggest change is the way Cornelis does his job.
When he started, he wasn't doing live shots at all. Instead, he would shoot video, race back to the studio to edit it before his sportscast.
Those days are long in the past.
"The technology is the greatest thing," Cornelis said. "When I started, it was a film camera, then we phased into videotape and then we were able to go live, so I could do reports from the course or the Rose Bowl.
"Now, we don't even use tape anymore. It's all on a computer with everything in high-definition. It seems like every week, they're adding a new wrinkle. When it works, it's amazing what you can accomplish."
However, Cornelis now sometimes has to accomplish more with less, because in the age of YouTube and camera phones, athletes are far less relaxed than they once were.
"They have to be, and that's unfortunate," Cornelis said. "They like to have a good time, but they get a little paranoid about it because of a person trying to get on a talk show. It's taken away from it because you don't get to know them better. They really have to trust you."
Local boys making good
In 1987, Dan Pearson arrived at KWQC as the assistant sports director, expecting he would stay for about three years and then move to a bigger market.
He never left, because he discovered he and Cornelis shared a passion for local sports that made an ideal partnership.
"We had the same philosophy," Pearson said. "We think that no sport is too small and value each story. That's one thing that we think we've done a pretty good job with. A high school can define a community, and we've done feature stories from Rock Falls or DeWitt that people have remembered."
When Cornelis looks back on his four decades of broadcasting, the big events aren't what stick out in his mind.
He's covered events as far away as Innsbruck, Austria, when he went to the 1976 Winter Olympics. But his favorite stories involve people such as fellow Hall of Fame inductee Acie Earl, who came out of the Quad-Cities.
"I remember covering his games, both at Moline and Iowa," he said. "I remember being excited and running up to interview him, and it was the same when he was drafted by the Celtics.
"There was a local boy making good, and we haven't had many that have gone on to that level. It is (a source of pride). To get to that level is few and far between, because you've really got to be special."
Through his longevity in the market, Cornelis has had the pleasure of seeing almost every special athlete the Quad-Cities has produced.
He claims longevity is the reason for his induction, but Pearson, who once saw Cornelis through a viewer's eyes while growing up, disagrees.
"The better word is enduring," he said. "He could have gone somewhere else and gone to a better market. But he's a familiar face who's been in people's living rooms more than their best friends.
"A lot of people equate those broadcasts with the happiest times of their lives. TC has been the face of that for all these years."
Why did he stay when he could have left? Family was a big reason, but it's also true that Cornelis genuinely loves his job and plans to keep doing it as long as that remains true.
"I enjoy the great people I get to mingle with on a daily basis," Cornelis said. "The coaches and athletes are just great. A lot are retired now, and there's always a story."
TIMELINE
1948 - Thom Cornelis is born in Moline
1966 - Cornelis graduates from Rock Island Alleman High School, having played basketball and baseball for the Pioneers.
1968 - Cornelis, a sophomore at Western Illinois, begins working with the campus television station covering baseball.
1972 - Cornelis accepts a job at WQAD in Moline, beginning his long career in the Quad-Cities.
1976 - Cornelis first invites golfers from the PGA Tour's Quad-City stop to come onto his sportscast, helping the event become entrenched.
1980 - Cornelis begins his association with the Bix 7 race as play-by-play announcer.
1984 - Cornelis leaves WQAD for KWQC, where he remains today.
1987 - Cornelis hires Dan Pearson as his assistant sports director, beginning a partnership that still is active.
2008 - Cornelis, then in his 25th year at KWQC, is inducted into Alleman's hall of fame.
2010 - KWQC becomes the first Q-C station to broadcast in high definition.
2011 - Cornelis celebrates 40 years of broadcasting in the Quad Cities with induction into the Quad-City Sports Hall of Fame.
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