ADAM GIARDINO
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ADAM GIARDINO started the Black Play-by-Play Broadcaster Grant and Scholarship Fund in June 2020. He currently is on the UConn Learfield broadcast team following a career in Minor League Baseball that spanned a decade. In addition to his work with UConn, he also broadcasts games in New England for Harvard, Northeastern and Boston College.
From 2018-2020, the Franklin, Ma. native had been the Media Relations Manager/Broadcaster for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Triple-A, New York Yankees). Prior to that he spent five years with the Trenton Thunder (Double-A, New York Yankees), a year with the Lakewood BlueClaws (Single-A, Philadelphia Phillies) and two years as an intern with the Pawtucket Red Sox (Triple-A, Boston Red Sox).
A 2011 graduate of the University of Connecticut who is on-track to receive his Master’s in Communications in May 2026 from UConn, Giardino currently resides with his wife, Megan, in Auburn, Ma.
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DARIUS THIGPEN
BOARD MEMBER
DIRECTOR OF MENTORSHIP
DARIUS THIGPEN has a decade of broadcast experience, having worked in Minor League Baseball, college athletics and sports media. Thigpen is currently a Senior Content Marketing Manager at Socialive, a video editing software company, and resides in Tampa, Fla. with his fiancee.
Thigpen, a graduate of The Ohio State University, spent three years at Longwood University in Farmville, Va., as the Assistant Director of Athletics Communications for New Media. In his time at Longwood, Thigpen was the play-by-play voice of Longwood Athletics on the Longwood Radio Network and Big South Network.
Prior to joining Longwood, Thigpen was the studio host for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Triple-A, Philadelphia Phillies) in 2015 and Columbus Clippers (Triple-A, Cleveland Indians) in 2014.
In 2020 Thigpen partnered with the Big South Conference as host of "Cultural Conversations with the Big South," which highlights students, coaches, and staff across the Big South who have dedicated themselves to fighting for racial justice and equality, as a part of the conference's anti-racism efforts.
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DAVE SIMS
BOARD MEMBER
DAVE SIMS is in his 19th season with the Mariners broadcast team. He has won back-to-back Washington Sportscaster of the Year awards from the National Sports Media Association. Sims, who has play-by-play duties on Mariners television broadcasts, is familiar to sports fans for calling MLB and college basketball games on ESPN, as well as NCAA Basketball and NFL play-by-play on Westwood One.
He co-hosts “Basketball & Beyond with Coach K” for Sirius XM with Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski, is a correspondent for MLB Network and calls Big East college basketball on FS1. The two-time Emmy Award winner also won the American Football Foundation's Outstanding Sportscaster Award in 2003 and the Big East Media Award in 2005. Sims began his career as a sportswriter for the New York Daily News prior to becoming a weekend sports anchor at WCBS-TV. In 1991, he joined ESPN as a play-by-play announcer for college basketball. From 1998-2014, he did NFL play-by-play, including Sunday Night and Monday Night Football, as well as the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, for Westwood One.
Sims grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Bethany College in West Virginia. From 1998-2007, Sims and his wife Abby ran "AthletiSense," an athletes media coaching program that worked with football and basketball teams in the PAC-12, Big East, Big 12, Atlantic 10 and Mountain West. They have two sons, and two granddaughters.
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ROBERT FORD
BOARD MEMBER
ROBERT FORD was named to the Houston Astros radio broadcast team prior to the 2013 season and enters his 13th year with the team in 2024.
Prior to joining the Astros, Ford had served as the radio pre- and postgame host for Kansas City Royals games on 610 AM KCSP, the Royals flagship station, since 2009. He has seven years of experience broadcasting Minor League Baseball, having called more than 800 games during stints with the Binghamton Mets (Double-A, New York Mets) and Yakima Bears (Short Season-A, Arizona Diamondbacks), plus a stint with the Kalamazoo Kings (Independent League). Ford was twice named Frontier League Broadcaster of the Year while with Kalamazoo (2003 and 2004). He also has extensive play-by-play experience in college basketball, including calling games for ESPN the past two seasons.
He is a 2001 graduate of Syracuse University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism. Ford has twice been a finalist for the Esurance MLB Award for “Best Call, TV/Radio,” including in 2017 for his call of Alex Bregman’s walk-off RBI single in Game 5 of the World Series. Ford lives in Houston and has a daughter, Elena.
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ALEX COHEN
BOARD MEMBER
ALEX COHEN, Ballpark Digest’s 2023 Minor League Baseball Broadcaster of the Year, has been the voice of the Iowa Cubs (Triple-A, Chicago Cubs) since 2018, now in Year 7. Cohen has filled-in on Chicago Cubs spring training games over the years, and made his MLB debut in 2024 for Marquee Sports Network.
Before his time in Des Moines, he served as the Play-By-Play Broadcaster/Media Relations Manager for the Bowling Green Hot Rods (Single-A, Tampa Bay Rays), the Idaho Falls Chukars (Rookie, Kansas City Royals) and the Huntsville Stars (Double-A, Milwaukee Brewers).
Overall, Alex has called over 1,000 minor league baseball games and has worked in professional baseball since 2009. Over the past decade, Alex has also broadcasted baseball globally for the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in addition to spending a winter down under as the voice of the Melbourne Aces of the Australian Baseball League.
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JAY BURNHAM
BOARD MEMBER
JAY BURNHAM enters his eigthth season with UMass Athletics as the Voice of the Minutemen in 2024-25. Burnham, a Western Massachusetts native, can be heard over the UMass Sports Network as the primary play-by-play broadcaster for UMass football and men’s basketball. He also helps oversee the production of UMass Athletics on NESN and ESPN+. Prior to UMass, Burnham spent the previous six years in Richmond, Va. calling games for VCU, Virginia Tech, William & Mary and Longwood University.
A 16-year veteran of Minor League Baseball, Burnham has been widely recognized in the baseball broadcasting field. Burnham was the recipient of Ballpark Digest’s 2011 Minor League Baseball Broadcaster of the Year Award as well as Baseball America's Best Broadcaster Award in 2016, and currently is one of the primary voices of the Worcester Red Sox (Triple-A, Boston Red Sox).
The Elon graduate careened his way through America’s Pastime with stints behind the mic for the Hagerstown Suns (Single-A, San Francisco Giants), Pensacola Pelicans (Independent), Asheville Tourists (Single-A, Colorado Rockies), Trenton Thunder (Double-A, New York Yankees), Richmond Flying Squirrels (Double-A, San Francisco Giants) and the Worcester Red Sox (Triple-A, Boston Red Sox).