May 28, 2009
FRESNO. Calif. - When Fresno State fans turn on the television Thursday to ESPN/ABC they will see and hear a familiar voice in Paul Loeffler. Loeffler, the voice of the Bulldogs, has been calling the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. since 2006 and it is an event that not only allows him to relive his youth but it is also an event that allows him to associate with his sister Corrie.
Spelling runs in the Loeffler family. When Loeffler was in the seventh grade he had the opportunity to compete in a regional Bee hosted by the Merced Sun-Star, with the winner earning a right to go to Washington D.C.
Although he didn't win the contest in the seventh grade, Loeffler had one last shot a year later when he was in the eighth grade, the final year spellers are allowed to participate in the national bee. To prepare for the regional bee in Merced, Loeffler's mother said, "For every hour you study, I will buy you a pack of baseball cards."
"That was my motivation," Loeffler said.
That tactic worked as Loeffler won the contest and earned a trip to Washington D.C. in 1990. With the way the event is scored now, Loeffler said he would have finished in 13th place. To this day, Loeffler has never forgotten the word stachyose, the word that eliminated him from the competition.
The definition for the word is, "a sweet crystalline tetrasaccharide sugar that yields glucose, fructose, and galactose on hydrolysis."
"A speller never forgets the word that eliminated him," Loeffler said.
Since participating in the competition, Loeffler watched his younger sister Corrie become even a better speller as she participated in the Scripps National Spelling Bee three straight years, with her best finish being sixth place. Corrie now works for Scripps and is very involved in the production and organization of the annual bee.
Loeffler is grateful for the opportunity he has to work with the folks from ESPN/ABC during the Bee. For the second straight year he will be alongside Tom Bergeron, Erin Andrews and Chris McKendry bringing the action of the spelling bee to people across the country. In his first year he worked with Robin Roberts and McKendry.
"ESPN values versatile announcers and Paul Loeffler is one of those," said Dave Miller senior coordinating producer for ESPN. "A valuable member of our Spelling Bee team for four years now, we are fortunate that our event fits around the WAC Baseball Tournament and the NCAA Regional round. There are even rumors that Paul single-handedly had the Spelling Bee moved back to Thursday so he could make it to Irvine for the Bulldogs first round game on Friday. As I left Washington, D.C. last year I said goodbye to Paul and foolishly said I probably won't see you in Omaha. I won't make that mistake again. Could another magical run be coming this year? Time will tell."
After last year's spelling bee Loeffler gave a speech to the spellers and their families and he was able to share life lessons from spelling. He compared a lot of what the 293 spellers will go through this week to what last year's Fresno State baseball team did in winning the National Championship and what this year's team accomplished in winning its fourth straight WAC tournament championship.
"To be on national television and work with top notch people is a lot of fun," Loeffler said. "It is a great blessing. It is not something I sought out. It fell into my lap. It is fun to see how smart these kids are and what they are capable of."
Last year Loeffler missed calling Fresno State's regional in Long Beach because the Bee extended through Friday. This year the finals return to Thursday night allowing Loeffler to catch a flight Friday morning to get to Irvine to call the `Dogs game against No. 1 UC Irvine at 8 p.m.
"Join the State - Fresno State"- Loeffler's book Underdogs to Wonderdogs is on sale and fans can purchase the book at the Bulldog Shop or at wonderdogsbook.com.
