Tulsa Beacon sportwriter Jeff Brucculeri was spotlight in Golden Eagles in Focus by Oral Roberts University. Here is that report.      

With a familiar voice to all ORU Athletics fans, Jeff Brucculeri has spent more than 30 years helping the department in a variety of ways to enhance the game day experience at every venue.

He transferred to the Golden Eagles and helped lay the foundation for the men’s soccer team to return to full competition in the mid-1980’s. Brucculeri also assisted the sports information office as a student finding a way to channel his passion for sports.

After graduating from ORU in 1986, he found a way to remain active within the department being hired to be a play-by-play broadcaster and public address announcer working at soccer, volleyball and baseball.

Brucculeri also is a staple in the ORU Pep Band playing the trumpet for home basketball games and performing the national anthem at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

Describe your favorite athletic memory during your time as a student-athlete at ORU. What made it special?

“I transferred to ORU from Jamestown Community College in New York, where I played on a semi-pro soccer team in the Interstate Soccer League. When I got to ORU we didn’t have a soccer team. It had been disbanded a few years earlier. So, myself and a few other guys put a team together and found someone to coach us. We were not a scholarship sport when I was here (1984-86), but set the ground work for the team to return to full status.

“We were proud of the fact that in my senior season, we did get HPE and 3-mile run credit for being on the soccer team. That was a huge step toward the team being recognized by the decision makers on campus. Instead of a soccer scholarship, I was offered an athletic scholarship to be the student assistant in the SID office, under Don Ott and Tony Brubaker, and that was a great experience, because I was a communications major and wanted to go into broadcast media.”

You’ve been able to broadcast some incredible moments of ORU Athletics over the last 30 years. How did you get started announcing on campus?

“My first opportunity came when I was working for a local radio station in 1990 that secured the broadcasts rights for ORU basketball and baseball. I did the basketball and baseball play-by-play from 1990-92, and continued to do the baseball broadcasts through 1995. I later came back to do basketball and baseball broadcasts in 1998-99.

“From my relationship with ORU athletics in the early 1990s, I began filling in on the P.A. announcing whenever (the late) Doc Blevins or Mike Canada weren’t available, and eventually worked into doing all the sports except basketball.”

What has been the most exciting moment for you to announce at an event on campus?

“One of my favorite moments in broadcasting basketball came in 1990 when ORU played Oklahoma City University and Greg Sutton scored 68 points. That was an unbelievable individual performance as well as an exciting game.

“It was thanks to Sutton that I came up with my signature ‘Count it good!’ He would throw up those long three-pointers and in anticipation I would say, ‘Greg Sutton from the top of the arc for threeeeeeee – count it good!’

“In regard to the P.A. announcing, I try to make every run, point or goal that is scored, exciting. There have been so many great moments, and so many games over the years, it’s really difficult to pick one. Plus, my memory isn’t all that good.”

You and the ORU Pep Band are a highlight at The Summit League Basketball Championships in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. How much do you enjoy the chance to perform there and at ORU home games inside the Mabee Center?

“I love playing my trumpet every chance I get, whether with the Pep Band, the Tulsa Praise Orchestra, or solo in churches across the country. But, playing with the Pep Band the past 12 years has been a whole lot of fun.“We love the fans at the Mabee Center and they are very appreciative of what we do, but when we go to Sioux Falls, it gets even more electric. The crowds are usually quite large which adds to the excitement and the applause we get, but there have been numerous times that people have come to us and have said, ‘We are rooting for ORU because we want to hear your band some more.’”

What will be your biggest takeaway from this current pandemic that you hope can better yourself and those around you?

“I’m so glad I work in the insurance business and have residual income. Being set up with other forms of income and not relying solely on my sports work, is a huge help right now. The pandemic, I can’t control, but I can control how I deal with it, or should I say, how prepared I am in the future for anything like this. I’ve certainly enjoyed my down time.

“In a time of the year that I would normally be quite busy, it has given me the opportunity to do things around the house, and other work that just wouldn’t get done. That being said, I’m not one to just sit still for long. I miss sports immensely and was sad that the ORU baseball season was cut short.”