From the elevated confines of the press box to the press row down below, radio broadcast legend Bill Baker’s 44-year legacy will be succeeded by another Huskie luminary: NIU volleyball, gymnastics, basketball and football radio and television sportscaster Andy Garcia. 

Emerging from humble beginnings marked by trials, setbacks and life-changing events, Garcia’s narrative cannot go untold. This is the journey of the new “Voice of the Huskies.”

EARLY CHILDHOOD 

Garcia, who had family in the Chicagoland area and visited frequently, spent the majority of his youth in Central Florida. 

Just north of Orlando in Longwood, Florida, Garcia’s fervor and commitment to sports sprouted at an early age. The majority of his youth sports experiences took place in an untraditional setting: neighborhood friends’ backyards. 

“As early as I could remember, just being outside playing baseball — even with my grandmother — at a very young age,” Garcia said. “I liked sports, I felt like I was good at them. I didn’t play a lot of organized sports, but I did play with the neighborhood kids.”

Garcia’s enthusiasm for journalism sprouted from the same root as his passion for sports. From attending live events, to closely observing the conduct of sportscasters and even emulating radio journalism using a conspicuous yellow boombox, Garcia knew who he wanted to be at an early age. 

“When I was a little kid, I’d talk into a boombox. Yeah, I had a nice one, a nice yellow boombox, making recordings on cassette tapes of me pretending to be on the radio,” Garcia said via the 2023 NIU Winter Sports Media Day. “Doing different sports or weather, and yes, I still have those cassettes. I haven’t listened to them in a while, but from a very young age, I knew what I wanted to do.” 

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS 

Garcia briefly interned at 740-AM in Orlando upon graduation from the University of Central Florida in 1999.

When moving to Chicago in 2003, Garcia didn’t have a job secured, prompting him to persistently reach out to prominent radio stations like 670 The Score and ESPN 1000. His efforts were met with disappointment.

“They (670 The Score) didn’t have anything,” Garcia said. “I went to the radio station as soon as I went up there. They were like, ‘Andy, we don’t have anything right now, we’ll keep in touch.’ To me at that point I felt ‘Wow, I may have to find something else to do because I may not make it. There may not be any roads that let me get into that spot.’”

To make ends meet, Garcia secured a position at a lumber company through his aunt, helping him navigate through this challenging period.

Determined not to give up on his career aspirations, Garcia habitually checked in with the same local radio stations once a month to gauge opportunities and build relationships.

“Maybe it was blind faith, but it opened up and I jumped at the opportunity, and I was so glad that I was able to just keep my feet in it and make sure that I was able to just know someone was reaching out that I can say ‘Hey, anything yet?’” Garcia said.

A year went by before a career-transforming phone call buzzed in Garcia’s pocket.

“About a year later, they called me back and said ‘Hey, I have a job for you. It’s a morning show producer for 670 The Score’ — a Chicago sports radio station — and I took it, and it kind of went from there,” Garcia said.

From that point onward, Garcia’s broadcasting career blossomed. 

In 2005, 670 The Score aired NIU football, and Mitch Rosen, the program director at The Score, facilitated the connection between Garcia and NIU brass. 

From filing in on the sidelines for NIU to earning the ultimate chair as the “Voice of the Huskies,” every promotion he received was a testament to Garcia’s unwavering dedication and sedulousness. 

Arriving at a career crossroads was just one of several setbacks and challenges presented to Garcia in his career and life.

In May 2018, Garcia experienced the heartbreaking loss of his wife to a year-long battle with cancer just a year after welcoming his twin daughters into the world.

“My wife was diagnosed with cancer right after the twins were born in 2017,” Garcia said. “In January, Meredith wasn’t feeling good. She wasn’t — she didn’t feel good. Something was going on, and long story short, she went to the doctor, they did the bloodwork, and it comes to find out that she had stage four cancer. So my wife had been diagnosed with cancer in March of 2017. She survived for a year, and then she passed away in May of 2018.”

Compelled to navigate the responsibilities of widowed parenthood for three children, juggling dual roles at Westwood One and NIU presented challenges for the sportscaster.

Garcia has a strong support system to help care for his family when he’s away. 

“I have a great system with my grandmother. My family and I also have a live-in nanny to help because I travel so much,” Garcia said. “I’m on the road for nights in hotels, I need somebody there with them.”

CAREER INFLUENCES

In Baker’s view, Garcia was not just a member of his broadcasting radio crew; he was a coworker and friend whom Baker believed was deserving and qualified to occupy his chair behind the mic. 

“In my mind, there is one individual who is uniquely qualified, more so than anybody else I think on this planet, to slide into this chair,” Baker said via the 2023 NIU Winter Sports Media Day. “I found myself wanting this position — not again for myself — but I found myself wanting this position for him, almost as much, probably as much, as I did for myself back in 1980.”

Garcia echoed a similar sentiment, acknowledging the invaluable contributions of Baker. Not only did Baker teach him the intricacies of broadcast setups, but he also enhanced Garcia’s commentary with his distinctive style.

“I got to see how Bill set up a broadcast,” Garcia said. “Bill did all that, so I was able to see how you set that up, the cables, wiring, everything. And then it’s his distinctive voice of just calling plays, like he had his own way of calling like ‘goodbye Toledo’ – he had his own phrases.”

Garcia, who began his men’s basketball radio play-by-play career on Nov. 11 against Marquette University, is set to embark on his football radio broadcasting career fall 2024.