WRSW’s Rita Price Goes Into Indiana Sportscasters Hall Of Fame
April 9, 2019 at 3:14 a.m.
WRSW’s Rita Price Goes Into Indiana Sportscasters Hall Of Fame
By Steve Krah-
When she started doing sports 13 years later, she was very much a rarity.
Price, who has spent that entire time at WRSW in Warsaw, became the second woman inducted into the Indiana Sportswriters & Sportscasters Hall of Fame during a banquet Sunday at Valle Vista Golf Club.
Price, who grew up in Bourbon, had wanted to be a singer and did pursue that parallel path for awhile until she decided to focus on broadcasting.
She broadcasts 65 basketball games and 10 football games each year for WRSW. She began her career in 1959, selling ads for the station’s radio sports programs.
She later began doing on-air interviews and play-by-play. Price called the action as Warsaw won the first IHSAA girls basketball state championship in 1976 and has covered each girls and boys basketball state tournament since — the only one to broadcast all 44 girls basketball State Finals.
“Over the course of years, I became that token woman, then that woman from Warsaw, and then I became just Rita,” said Price. “In the early days people put up with me because I was a little bit of an oddity and they didn’t quite know what to do with me except, ‘Glad to see ya,’” Price said. “I took that as a vote of confidence.”
Price credits Dick Frid for teaching her the basics like not over-modulating into the microphone, keep track of the time and do the fundamentals.
One game, Frid left at halftime and let Price handle the broadcast solo.
“‘I thought you could do a pretty good job,’” Price recalled Frid saying that day. “That’s the kind of encouragement I got from all the men.”
Price said if station owner Reub Williams had not supported her from the beginning she might not have ever gone into radio as an on-air person.
Husband Jack Simpson was at home taking care of their three daughters while Rita was out doing her radio thing. The couple now have five grandchildren.
She also thanked the many coaches she’s encountered over the years, including NorthWood’s Steven Neff and Columbia City’s Wayne Kreiger.
“Each one of my daughters thought it was special and they made basketball friends,” Price said.
In 2009, she was honored with the ISSA’s Marv Bates Award as Sportscaster of the Year and is also a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, Indiana Broadcasters Hall of Fame and Kosciusko County Basketball Hall of Fame.
Price was recognized by the Indiana Commission for Women as an Indiana Torchbearer Award recipient in 2008.
She has also received the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Adminstrators Association service award.
In 2017, on her 75th birthday, the WRSW studio was named in Price’s honor.
She was introduced by long-time broadcast partner Tim Keaffaber.
“I have three daughters and I’ve said for many, many years I have a son, too,” said Price of Keaffaber. “If I didn’t have Tim I might have retired before. He carries the equipment, he sets it up. He makes sure everything’s OK before we start the game. He checks on the phone lines. He also makes sure the coaches are aware we’re coming.
“He’s more than a broadcast partner, he’s my family.”
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When she started doing sports 13 years later, she was very much a rarity.
Price, who has spent that entire time at WRSW in Warsaw, became the second woman inducted into the Indiana Sportswriters & Sportscasters Hall of Fame during a banquet Sunday at Valle Vista Golf Club.
Price, who grew up in Bourbon, had wanted to be a singer and did pursue that parallel path for awhile until she decided to focus on broadcasting.
She broadcasts 65 basketball games and 10 football games each year for WRSW. She began her career in 1959, selling ads for the station’s radio sports programs.
She later began doing on-air interviews and play-by-play. Price called the action as Warsaw won the first IHSAA girls basketball state championship in 1976 and has covered each girls and boys basketball state tournament since — the only one to broadcast all 44 girls basketball State Finals.
“Over the course of years, I became that token woman, then that woman from Warsaw, and then I became just Rita,” said Price. “In the early days people put up with me because I was a little bit of an oddity and they didn’t quite know what to do with me except, ‘Glad to see ya,’” Price said. “I took that as a vote of confidence.”
Price credits Dick Frid for teaching her the basics like not over-modulating into the microphone, keep track of the time and do the fundamentals.
One game, Frid left at halftime and let Price handle the broadcast solo.
“‘I thought you could do a pretty good job,’” Price recalled Frid saying that day. “That’s the kind of encouragement I got from all the men.”
Price said if station owner Reub Williams had not supported her from the beginning she might not have ever gone into radio as an on-air person.
Husband Jack Simpson was at home taking care of their three daughters while Rita was out doing her radio thing. The couple now have five grandchildren.
She also thanked the many coaches she’s encountered over the years, including NorthWood’s Steven Neff and Columbia City’s Wayne Kreiger.
“Each one of my daughters thought it was special and they made basketball friends,” Price said.
In 2009, she was honored with the ISSA’s Marv Bates Award as Sportscaster of the Year and is also a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, Indiana Broadcasters Hall of Fame and Kosciusko County Basketball Hall of Fame.
Price was recognized by the Indiana Commission for Women as an Indiana Torchbearer Award recipient in 2008.
She has also received the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Adminstrators Association service award.
In 2017, on her 75th birthday, the WRSW studio was named in Price’s honor.
She was introduced by long-time broadcast partner Tim Keaffaber.
“I have three daughters and I’ve said for many, many years I have a son, too,” said Price of Keaffaber. “If I didn’t have Tim I might have retired before. He carries the equipment, he sets it up. He makes sure everything’s OK before we start the game. He checks on the phone lines. He also makes sure the coaches are aware we’re coming.
“He’s more than a broadcast partner, he’s my family.”
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