Indiana and Don Fischer Credit: Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images, Indiana University
By Michael Grant on

It’s not hyperbole to say Don Fischer has broadcast the most significant moments in Indiana Hoosiers history.

He was behind the microphone for the last Division I college basketball team to go undefeated, the 1976 Hoosiers. More recently, he called Indiana’s national championship football season, which culminated this week in a 27-21 victory over Miami.

This unprecedented success on the football field has been something extraordinary to celebrate for fans and Fischer, the voice of the Hoosiers for 53 years.

We recently caught up with Fischer to discuss a monumental night in his radio career.

Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Awful Announcing: Were you nervous before the game?

Don Fischer: “I wasn’t nervous about who was going to win. I’ve felt this way for a long time now with Curt Cignetti as our coach. And the reason I haven’t felt any differently is that I’ve watched this guy do the things he said he was going to do. He hasn’t backed off on anything he’s ever talked about, and the way he goes about his business. I have the ultimate confidence in what he does.”

Did you have an idea of what you were going to say at the end of the game?

“That’s the other thing I don’t do. I’ve been doing this for almost 60 years now, at least from a play-by-play standpoint. 53 of those have come at Indiana. I’ve never once tried to orchestrate what I was going to say before I said it. Spontaneous is the way you do play-by-play. If you don’t do it that way, I think it comes off as a ploy, so to speak, or as if you’re trying to be cute with what you say. I just don’t believe you can do it any other way.”

Where does that moment rank for you?

“It is right there at the top. Obviously, the 1976 national championship was when Indiana was unbeaten that season and became the last team to do that in college basketball. That, to me, was always my favorite time and my favorite game that I was ever a part of, even though it wasn’t the most exciting, because Indiana was up pretty big on Michigan in that contest. But it was very emotional for me to be a part of it the first time. I was very emotional. I had tears at the end of that contest when those players started celebrating on the floor. It was just so much fun to be a part of something like that. So that’s probably the most emotional I’ve ever been. I was certainly emotional in this championship game at this time, but I was very confident that Indiana was going to win, and I really didn’t shed a tear.”

How does broadcasting a football championship season compare to the three basketball championship seasons?

“Well, it was different for me this time because of the amount of work I had to do. Indiana had never gotten past Jan. 1 in football, so there was a tremendous amount of work because I was doing both sports, football and basketball. I had a lot of anxiety because there was so much to do, along with travel and all the other things we had to do. As an old man, you get slower as the years go on. I was afraid I wasn’t going to get some of this stuff done because there was just so much involved from a prep standpoint and travel. On top of that, my wife got to go with me to two of these trips. And so you’re always trying to please everybody with what you’ve got to do and make sure you’re getting everything done.”

What time did you finally get to your hotel?

“We got back to the hotel about 1:45 in the morning. I came back on one of the team buses, and when we got back, there was no way to get through the crowd without taking pictures, slapping high fives, and doing those kinds of things with all the fans who were there. I tried to slide past a little bit of that because there was a hospitality room in the hotel for all the staff who came down from Bloomington. So my wife and I finally got to the hotel because it took about 30 minutes to get through the crowd. And then once we got in there, the place was a madhouse as well. I needed to get up that morning, the next morning, or, I should say, that morning, to go to Ann Arbor for a basketball game.”

Were there any people you were surprised to run into?

“There were so many people there that I didn’t expect to be there, simply because a lot of people I know didn’t have the money, or you wouldn’t think they would have had the money to make these trips, especially with how much tickets and hotels cost. I was stunned by that. There were so many people who came from all over the country, including alumni who had been there for years, basketball players like Jared Jeffries and Randy Wittman, and people like that, guys who had played at Indiana, and you really didn’t think they were big football fans, yet they were there with their families. It was stunning in that context.”

Do you have a favorite moment from this season?

“Those games that were decided in the last couple of minutes were all special. The very first game that they had a real struggle in was the Iowa game. Indiana found a way to win that contest. Part of that was because Iowa lost its quarterback in the last five minutes of that game. That was the closest I thought Indiana came to losing any game this season. The Penn State game, I guess you could argue, was just about the same way. But in the sense of knowing that Indiana was going to win, I never doubted Indiana was going to win any of those games, with the exception of the Iowa game.”

How many people in the broadcasting business have you heard from since Monday night?

“I’ve had a million texts, let’s put it that way. It’s stunning. I’ve been in this business for so long, but I’ve met so many great broadcasters and people who are knowledgeable about Indiana. We’ve had 13 winning seasons in my 53 years, and the last two are part of those 13. The Bill Mallory era was great for Indiana at that time, and probably the greatest until Curt Cignetti got to IU for me. They went to six bowl games during Bill’s time as the head coach in the 80s and early 90s. But nobody’s done what Curt Cignetti has done at Indiana.”

After the football game, you were supposed to call the Indiana-Michigan basketball game. What happened on your connecting flight?

“I looked up at the screen to tell you what gate you’re supposed to go to and the time. It said, ‘Flight such and such is on time.’ Well, I went to that gate. I sat there for about an hour, ready to get on the plane. I looked up. I was on Southwest. I was sitting at a Delta gate. So I went up to the counter and said, ‘Can you contact Southwest?’ The time frame was almost identical. That’s why I was confused by it. I went up to the gate and said, ‘Has the plane left for Detroit on Southwest?’ They said, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s backing out right now.’ I said, ‘Thank you,’ and called Southwest. And then, of course, I called every airline in the building or went to it. The terminal in Baltimore was not busy that day. But I literally had to walk five miles trying to find an airline that might ship me to Detroit. It didn’t happen. There were no flights after that flight that I had missed.”

When’s the last time you missed a game you were supposed to broadcast?

“That’s the only time in my 53 years. I’ve missed basketball games because of conflicts with the football schedule. I’ve missed one football game in my 53 years at Indiana, and that was the Holiday Bowl back in 1979. I missed it because Mutual Broadcasting had the national broadcast. They had purchased the rights to the game, and that company would not allow our broadcasts because they had exclusivity. I didn’t get to go to San Diego for it. I sat in my living room that night and threw a little rubber brick at the television screen when I got upset.”

About Michael Grant

Born in Jamaica. Grew up in New York City. Lives in Louisville, Ky. Sports writer. Not related to Ulysses S. Grant.

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