Dean College Senior Brett Chaves quit playing baseball in high school but found an opportunity to stay around sports and has run with it.
Brett Chaves is a native of Taunton, Massachusetts. (Photo Courtesy: Brett Chaves)
Love sports but not super athletic? Many professional sports broadcasters end up in broadcasting due to their passion for sports. Dean College Senior Brett Chaves is following that same path.
Chaves called several games at Taunton High School and interned for the Newport Gulls (NECBL Summer League Team) as a production assistant before entering college. When it came time for the college search process, Chaves chose Dean College due to the small campus size and the opportunity to get on the air right away. In addition, Chaves attended Professor John Rooke’s summer sports broadcasting camp two summers before starting college.
The Taunton, Massachusetts native never thought of broadcasting hockey when he first arrived at Dean College. “Coming into college, I had no desire to do hockey. I always thought I was going to do football or baseball, and I had always liked Doc Emerick. But I never thought I'd be capable of doing hockey,” Chaves explained. “I fell in love with it because I realized that I could be fast, but once I learned how to pick it up and find a cadence, that's where I really fell in love with it,” Chaves continued.
Through former Dean students Andrew Bluestein and Jake Baskin, Chaves started calling hockey for the Northeast Generals. Now calling hockey for the Providence Bruins, Chaves continues to go back and listen to Emerick to gain motivation on how to improve his hockey play-by-play.
Chaves has also interned for the Brockton Rox (Summer League Baseball team in the Futures League) as a broadcaster while at Dean. Through his determined work ethic, he was given the go-ahead by the general manager to build the broadcast production and even hire some of his own interns. Chaves will return to Brockton after he graduates in May, as they will combine with a new team in the Frontier League. He will be the Director of Media Relations for both teams and will get to travel with the new team as their broadcaster.
Working in baseball and hockey are two very different animals for Chaves. In baseball, he arrives at the ballpark at 10 AM for a 7PM. game. He starts by making sure all of his prep, game graphics, and emails to the press are taken care of as he takes on a lot more responsibilities. He finally goes live on the air at 6:45 PM. and does not leave the ballpark until sometimes as late as midnight.
With the Providence Bruins, it is a little more laid back, as he has an entire production team to lean on. He sometimes arrives at the arena at 1 PM. for a 7 PM game. Depending on the schedule for the day, he does PA Announcing for youth hockey. Once that is over, he exchanges rosters and information with the visiting team broadcasters. When the game ends, he either leaves right away at 9:30 PM. or has to stay for another youth hockey game, which means he leaves by 11 PM.