IOWA CITY − “Are you ready, Hawkeyyyyyes??? … Put those hands together!”
As the pyrotechnic flames surged and 15,000 fans roared on the precipice of arguably the most anticipated Iowa women’s basketball home game ever last week against Michigan, the voice of Dave Gallagher was already in full action. He was parked in the same scorer’s-table chair – a few seats down from the visitor’s bench – that he’s occupied for 20-plus years and narrating the night’s show before a packed house at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
If you’ve been to a Hawkeye women’s game, Gallagher’s voice is impossible to miss.
He yells with enormous excitement and a pure passion for the team he’s always loved, with a style that is entertaining and a volume that can be jarring to arena newcomers.
“My style isn’t for everybody; I know that,” Gallagher said. “But … (coach) Lisa (Bluder) liked it, and the coaches liked it. They’ve never told me to tone it down.”
And then, with a mic-drop touch of humor that he’s known for among family and friends, he added: “But they’ve never told me to tone it up, either.”
Gallagher’s back story is the classic tale of there’s more than meets the eye. Or, in this case, the ear.
The more digging that’s done into his life path, the clearer it becomes that he is perfectly suited to be Iowa’s public-address announcer in this high-visibility, unforgettable time in Hawkeye women’s basketball.
The ‘Blues Brothers’ fluke and finding his life’s niche
Gallagher, 60, grew up in a large family in Grinnell, the seventh of 10 children. When he was a kid in the 1970s, the family would gather around the radio on Saturdays to listen to Hawkeye football games.
“The Hawkeyes were our thing,” Gallagher said.
His father was a farmer, and one of the traditions during fall harvest season was that one of his aunts would climb on the roof and raise a white flag (to signal to those working in the fields) that the Hawkeyes were winning; or a black flag if they were behind.
Of course, in the 1970s, there weren’t many white-flag wins for Hawkeye football. But Gallagher enjoyed listening to the games on KGRN radio anyway, especially the subsequent musical scoreboard (where the fight song of each winning team would play). Grinnell native Frosty Mitchell was one of the play-by-play announcers for the Hawkeyes then, and inevitably Gallagher – because of his gregarious personality and booming voice – was given the nickname “Frosty” by his friends.
That black-and-gold background permeated in Gallagher’s college years. He was a University of Northern Iowa student at the same time Bluder (now Iowa’s longtime head coach) was a player there. He later was an assistant girls basketball coach at Marshalltown, where his team upset unbeaten North Scott – led by future Iowa assistant coach Jenni Fitzgerald – in the 1986 five-player state championship game. And he closely followed the high school and college careers of Iowa legend Jan Jensen, who starred at Drake and has been Bluder’s top assistant for three-plus decades.
So when Gallagher chose to pursue marketing in graduate school at Iowa, he naturally acclimated to women’s basketball. Then-athletics director Christine Grant tasked Gallagher to help drum up support for Iowa women’s basketball games. He was more than happy to help.
“That’s kind of where I found my niche,” he said.
Finding creative and sometimes unusual or impromptu ways to inspire people was and is Gallagher’s way of life.
Here’s one of those ways: One time, while working as a bartender, “The Blues Brothers” was airing on the nearby TVs. The bar’s owner suggested to Gallagher, because of his charisma, should dress up as the Jake character played by John Belushi. Gallagher followed through, with his cousin dressed as Dan Aykroyd’s Elwood in a matching black suit.
“It started as a joke,” Gallagher said. “It was a huge hit the first time we did it, and it really took off.”
Already a weekend DJ, he and cousin Steve Campbell quickly gained acclaim for their lip-synching act and were booked for parties and weddings and became a staple on RAGBRAI. They even got sponsored by big beer companies to take their show on the road and performed for crowds in the 10,000 range. Gallagher’s charismatic persona had become an income stream.
“We weren’t the best DJs,” Gallagher said, “but we knew how to have fun.”
Their act once even got booked for halftime of a men’s basketball game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Today, Gallagher’s business endeavors include being the owner of Bravo Sports Marketing (which sells Hawkeye apparel), owner of Jam-Time DJ Productions and owner of Wine on Wheels Iowa. He is the emcee for Hawkeye Huddles and Iowa Swarm Collective events, too … in addition to his most visible role as Hawkeye women’s basketball PA guy.
“It’s all evolved,” Gallagher said. “I didn’t want to go to work for anyone. So I created my own little world and started doing things for a lot of different people.”
A prime seat for historical moments, memories
Knowing that Caitlin Clark was going to set the new NCAA Division I women’s scoring record last week, Gallagher wanted to make sure he didn’t overpower the moment. He planned for some intentional silence whenever her winning shot occurred, to let the crowd, player and circumstances shine.
“Caitlin Clark is now the NCAA women’s basketball all-time leading scorer!” Gallagher boomed after Clark’s 33-foot 3-pointer sent her past Washington’s Kelsey Plum in the record books.
Being a part of such an iconic moment for women’s basketball at Carver-Hawkeye was something that Gallagher felt appreciative of, considering he was there for the early stages of the Bluder/Jensen/Fitzgerald era.
Gallagher became the full-time women’s PA announcer for the 2001-02 season, Bluder’s second at the Iowa helm. Gallagher had served as an occasional pinch-hitter on the mic during the Angie Lee era, then took over permanently when women’s PA announcer Mark Kamps moved to the men’s team.
“Dave is a great example of so many people who were there when our staff started,” Jensen said. “He appreciated and enjoyed women’s basketball, always was supportive from Day 1.
“He’s exuberant. He does bring the energy. He just is a real genuine guy that does bring it.”
Gallagher has seen it all, with crowds growing from 3,000 to more than 10,000 … and then down to zero, during the COVID-19 pandemic, before the regularity of 15,000 today. He’ll never forget Clark’s fourth career game, when she willed Iowa back from a 17-point, fourth-quarter deficit to defeat Iowa State … in front of empty seats and cardboard cutouts.
“I’m basically screaming at the top of my lungs,” he recalled. “Because I am the atmosphere.”
He remembered telling someone then that he felt like he had just seen the beginning of something – more accurately someone – special. Clark scored 34 points in that 82-80 Iowa win. The growth of college women’s basketball has exploded in the three years since.
A perfect snapshot of that growth – and Gallagher’s gift of marketing influence – was on display for last April’s Final Four game versus South Carolina in Dallas.
Many years ago, Gallagher’s nephew, Matt Bowman, had graduated from Iowa with a degree in marketing. Gallagher invited Bowman to work and live with him. For about a year, Bowman helped with Hawkeye Huddles and they rebranded old bricks from Kinnick Stadium’s renovation project and sold them as souvenirs.
“David, he could sell igloos to Eskimos,” his older sister and Matt’s mother, Mary Gallagher, said. “He’s funny on RAGBRAI. ‘We’ve got these posters for a dollar, only today!’ He knows when something is going to work. Maybe other people don’t see it, but he has that marketing mind.”
Gallagher’s relentlessly positive outlook and can-do inspiration spilled over to Matt, who then went to work for the Indiana Pacers, selling tickets for $8 an hour. Matt parlayed that into a job with the Dallas Cowboys, then the Oklahoma City Thunder. He has now risen to executive vice president/chief revenue officer of the NHL’s Dallas Stars.
“Matt always credits that David helped him get excited about (marketing),” Mary said.
So when the Hawkeyes punched their tickets to Dallas, Matt had pull for the best tickets. He and his family, mom included, were in the very front row, and Matt is the fan pictured in the iconic photo of Clark jazzing up the crowd after the Hawkeyes’ historic upset of No. 1 South Carolina.
Dave Gallagher and wife Teresa were just a few rows up, soaking in that magical moment as fans and realizing what a wild path his life has taken.
What Gallagher loves about being the PA guy is that he’s always loved the Hawkeyes and women’s basketball. The losses pain him considerably. He knows his voice levels sometimes can climb too high for some, but he also pointed out that the university controls the arena’s volume knob – not him.
“It rolls off me,” Gallagher said of the critics. “You’re never, ever going to please everybody.”
There are some simple pleasures for Gallagher in his audio-centered role. Before every game, during the final warmup, Clark gives him and others at the scorer’s table a fist bump. Some of his favorite in-game moments occur when the Hawkeyes are on a scoring roll.
“When Iowa has gone on a great run, you just look over and you see the frustration in the other coach and you (shout), ‘Timeout, Indianaaaaaa!’” Gallagher said with a laugh. “That’s a fun one to call.”
And did anyone, ever, truly master saying the name “Monika Czinano” like him, with such gusto and flair?
On Sunday, when fourth-ranked Iowa hosts Illinois (Noon CT, Fox Sports 1), Gallagher will arrive well over an hour in advance and cross-check with staff to make sure he has every Illini pronunciation correct.
He approaches his PA role with a passion for the women’s game and a gratefulness for the opportunity.
“Every time I sit down there, I (reflect) that there are so many people that would love to be in that position, that chair,” Gallagher said. “I’m truly blessed. It’s not a job. It’s a labor of love, because I’ve always been a Hawkeye.”
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 29 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.
First appeared on www.hawkcentral.com