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Buffalo Grove grad Dickerson takes vocal role in Bears coverage

Locker rooms were almost a second home for Jeff Dickerson during his days as a three-sport athlete at Buffalo Grove High School.

But there was something different for the Bears beat reporter for ESPN Radio's Chicago affiliate when he made his initial trips into the locker room at Soldier Field nearly 15 years ago.

"I got a taste of it my first year at the Score, where they would send me to Soldier Field to book guests for all of their shows," said Dickerson, who played football, basketball and baseball for all four years at BG before graduating in 1996. "I thought, 'Wow,' because I never went to Bears games when I was growing up.

"It was exhilarating. There was so much excitement and so much action."

Spending the last decade on the Bears beat hasn't changed those feelings for Dickerson. He still gets a thrill out of going to Halas Hall, Soldier Field, Bourbonnais and on road trips to provide a rabid fan base of listeners with the information they crave and need.

"I really did think when I was growing up that this would be something I wanted to do," Dickerson said, and then he laughed. "I'm one of the few people I know using my college degree."

Dickerson certainly has fond memories of the sports education he received at BG from coaches like Doug Millstone, Dave Sczepanski and Steve Messer in basketball, Rich Roberts and Mike Staudt in football and John Wendell and Ross Giusti in baseball. Dickerson also loved writing and originally thought that would be his direction toward a career in sports.

"Then the weirdest thing happened," Dickerson said. "The older I got ... I was always selected to do the readings at church. Whenever there was a public speaking requirement I was chosen for it.

"I learned at a pretty young age to not have any fear about speaking in front of big crowds, so that helped."

Dickerson went to Illinois and as a senior got the opportunity to do radio broadcasts of East Central Illinois high school football and basketball games. A summer internship in 1999 at the Score for Dan McNeil and Terry Boers started opening doors and he was offered a part-time producer's job after graduating from Illinois.

"I was making 6 dollars an hour with no benefits and I was in heaven," Dickerson said.

When McNeil left the Score for what was then WMVP-AM, he brought Dickerson with him to produce the Mac, Jurko and Harry show. He also started getting opportunities to do on-air updates and help cover the Bears and other Chicago pro teams.

After two years as the Bears backup reporter, Peggy Kusinski left to work for Channel 5 and Dickerson got his big break. Learning how to cover a pro beat wasn't easy, but Dickerson said he was fortunate to learn from people like veteran radio baseball reporter Bruce Levine as part of a great support system.

"I owe Dan McNeil so much for how he supported me," Dickerson said. "Jurko (John Jurkovic), Harry (Teinowitz), Silvy (Marc Silverman), (Tom) Waddle, Carmen (DeFalco) and Jonathan Hood ... if you work with good people, usually good things happen."

That also describes Dickerson's approach to his job. Reporting the negatives are part of it, but he avoids a slash-and-burn approach in order to maintain as positive of a relationship as possible with the people he works with on the beat.

"I like most people and I'm a people person," Dickerson said. "I've really enjoyed getting to know the players and the GMs and the coaches. If you don't like people I don't know why you would get into this business.

"It takes a long time for people to trust you and to develop those relationships. It's a fine line you walk as a reporter. You can criticize but you don't have to make it a personal attack."

Maintaining a personal life has also been important to Dickerson even as his role expands. He has also been helping with Bears TV coverage for ABC-7 since 2009 and expects to be used even more with Rafer Weigel leaving for a TV news job in St. Louis in early October. He has also been doing more national ESPN shows when it fits his schedule.

That means making sure he finds the right balance with his wife Caitlin and 3-year-old son Parker. Despite the recent whirlwind of a Sunday night game in San Francisco, a Monday night game in New York and diving right in to Packer week, Dickerson squeezed in a family bowling outing Tuesday evening after he returned home.

There were no complaints about a lack of sleep or travel fatigue.

"I'm working in my hometown and my parents and family are close by," Dickerson said. "I'm so fortunate to be able to do what I want and to do it in a place where I want to live. How many people can say that?"

• Marty Maciaszek is a freelance columnist for the Daily Herald who can be reached at marty.maciaszek@gmail.com.

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