(Midland, PA) – The Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters (PAB) will induct RMU Men’s Basketball & Football Play-by-Play Announcer and Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center Chief Executive Officer Chris Shovlin into its Hall of Fame in a ceremony on Friday, April 26th at the Harrisburg Hilton.
In addition to serving as CEO of Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center, Shovlin is a member of and spokesperson for the Organizing Committee of the Midland Innovation and Technology Charter School. He is a past President and former member of the Board of Directors of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School. But Shovlin’s broadcasting accomplishments are also well-documented and continue to receive accolades throughout the state and sports industry.
Chris has served for over 37 seasons as the play-by-play “Voice” of the Robert Morris University Colonials Basketball team, calling more than 1,100 NCAA Division-I games. Shovlin also hosts RMU’s talk shows on various platforms, including ESPN+. He is the only sportscaster to have won three Pittsburgh March of Dimes Achievement In Radio (A.I.R) Awards for Best Sports Play-By-Play in three different sports: football, basketball and soccer.
When asked how he balances his schedules, Shovlin said, “throughout my entire career, I’ve never had just one job, so it’s natural for me to do several things simultaneously. In fact, Bill Cardille used to call me the “hat man” when we worked together in Pittsburgh because, as he put it, I wore so many hats and had so many responsibilities. Some people play golf or have a hobby. I guess play-by-play is what I do as a release of sorts. Really, what I do at RMU is similar to what occurs at Lincoln Park since broadcasting is a performance art.”
Shovlin has been a news and sports anchor, show host, and DJ at numerous stations, including: WISH 99.7 FM and 1320 WJAS-AM, WBGN-TV, WBVP-AM, WWKS-FM, WBZY-AM, WKST-AM, WMBA-AM, and Comcast among others. He also served as the Vice President and General Manager at WBVP-AM and WWKS-FM, while also contributing to a variety of on-air roles. He previously served as the TV and radio “voice” of both the Pittsburgh Passion (women’s professional football) and Pittsburgh Riverhounds (professional soccer), as well as filling in for Bill Hillgrove on play-by-play for Pitt Panthers Basketball broadcasts. He has called nearly every RMU Football game since that sport’s inception in 1994.
Chris called his upcoming induction into the PAB Hall of Fame a “humbling career-defining honor”. “To join Ray Goss, who has been with Duquesne University Basketball for 56 years and Hillgrove who has called Pitt hoops for 55 years in the city where both radio and sports play-by-play were born is an honor in itself”. Goss and Hillgrove rank numbers 1 and 2 respectively in NCAA Basketball radio play-by-play tenure. At RMU, Shovlin is currently the 19th most tenured announcer in the nation. “This isn’t just an honor for me, but it’s also a tribute to Robert Morris University and its longstanding broadcasting tradition”.
Chris has been inducted into the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Hall of Fame, the Robert Morris University Athletics Hall of Fame, and the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame. Currently, he serves on the Executive Committee of the WPIAL Hall of Fame and is the emcee of its annual induction dinner.
Chris is a graduate of Midland’s Lincoln High School and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Drama from Westminster College. Shovlin is the first Beaver County native and the second Westminster alumnus (the late Dow Carnahan was the first) to be inducted into the PAB Hall of Fame. He and his wife, Odette, reside in Brighton Township (Beaver), Pennsylvania. They have two adult daughters, Kylie and Krista.
Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center congratulates Chris on his well-deserved induction into the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and for all his tremendous contributions to Lincoln Park and the Midland community.