Brian Hanni Named Radio Voice of the Jayhawks

After months of searching for a Bob Davis replacement, the Jayhawks have brought back a familiar face.

Brian Hanni has been named the play-by-play voice of Kansas Jayhawk football and men’s basketball on the Jayhawk/IMG Radio Network, Kansas Athletics announced on Tuesday.

Hanni did radio broadcasts of KU baseball games for over a decade, and spent eight years on the radio broadcast team for KU women’s basketball. He also served occasionally on KU men’s basketball and football broadcasts for eight years per KU Athletics.

According to KU Athletics, Hanni will also host “Hawk Talk,” the weekly radio shows of David Beaty and Bill Self and other duties assigned by Kansas Athletics.

Hanni was most recently the voice of the Texas Tech men’s basketball and baseball team on the Texas Tech Sports Radio Network and hosted a weekday radio show, “The Bottom Line.”

However, before that he was a Jayhawk.

The Topeka native graduated from the University of Kansas in 2002. He created the daily show “Rock Chalk Sports Talk” on KLWN Radio in Lawrence in the summer of 2002 and hosted it until 2012 per KU Athletics. The Jayhawk network has aired that show since 2008.

“Naming a replacement for an institution like Bob Davis was a very difficult proposition,” Kansas Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger said in a press release. “We view this position as not only a radio voice, but as an ambassador for Kansas Athletics and our university. We received interest from many well-established broadcasters; ultimately we felt that Brian’s talent as a broadcaster, his positive outlook and his proven connection with the community separated him from the other outstanding candidates.”

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Hanni is well-known in the Lawrence community, not only for his broadcasting talent but also for his charity work. In 2009 he founded (and still organizes) an annual celebrity basketball game, “The Rock Chalk Roundball Classic,” which raises money for local families fighting cancer. He is an active participant in other youth-related organizations within the community as well.