As the Siena men's basketball team celebrated its title in Atlantic City, Joe Lemery '26 was living out his own dream from the sideline.
Joe Lemery '26 vividly remembers his first ever sports broadcast. It was an NBA game, Oklahoma City against Chicago. Lemery was doing the play-by-play and he was 12 years old.
"I was shy about it, so I went into my little Joe cave. It used to be an in-law apartment for my grandparents. I didn't sit on the couch because I didn't want to be too comfortable. So I pulled up a chair in front of the TV, grabbed the rosters that I had printed out, flipped on the game and hit mute. I then just started calling the action out loud to myself."
In middle school, while his friends paid attention to the sports stars on TV, Lemery was transfixed by the announcers. He'd get goose bumps when Jim Nantz would open a broadcast with, "Hello friends." He could see himself in the "everyman" approach Brian Anderson brings to the booth. Joe was awed by Mike Tirico's ability to nail the big moments, and Joe Buck always sounded like the smartest man in the room. Lemery wanted in. And by high school, the booth was the bigger draw than the field.
"I played football at Shenendehowa my first two years of high school, but then I gave it up and asked the athletic director if I could call the games instead. He gave me a chance to do some reporting from the sidelines. Then my senior year, I got to call our varsity basketball games. At that point, though, I didn't have any training. I was just trying to emulate the announcers I admired on TV."
The sports broadcasting program at Syracuse is nationally renowned for its illustrious network of sports announcers. Lemery was accepted to Syracuse, and would have committed, until he took a tour of Siena.
"I met with the sports communications faculty here, and I just felt that even though the program was relatively new, I would get mentorship here and opportunities that weren't guaranteed at Syracuse."
Three years later, after taking a play-by-play course, Lemery was the first Siena student broadcaster to announce a Saints game on ESPN+. A year later, Steve Jones '27 became the second. Lemery was also the first student to report from the sidelines during a men's basketball broadcast, above.
"I remember getting the email that I was assigned to my first game. I still have that email saved. It's such a privilege to be the first person to do anything. I'm really not afraid to step into the unknown. My parents did give me great advice before the game. They said, 'You better prep for weeks for this.' So I did. I wasn't going to blow that opportunity. I made sure to have the best broadcast of my life."
Lemery has called dozens of Siena games on MAAC All-Access and ESPN+ over the past year and a half. He's currently in a communications Demo Reel course, which focuses on developing his broadcasting portfolio (as well as his resume and cover letter) for the job hunt. Lemery has aspirations of calling the biggest games, the ones assigned to the likes of Nantz and Tirico. And who knows, maybe he'll get an Oklahoma City vs. Chicago game someday. If so he'll be prepared. That's a game he started prepping for 10 years ago.
This past week, Lemery served as MAAC correspondent for the conference basketball tournaments.
"I produced and hosted game previews that were posted to social media. I also got to interview the tournament MVPs after the men's and women's title games."
That produced a full-circle moment. The MVP of the women's tournament was Fairfield's Jillian Huerter, a classmate of Lemery's at Shenendehowa. Four years prior, they were high school students figuring out their craft. Now one's a MAAC champion and tournament MVP and the other was living his dream... holding the microphone on a major sports stage.
"That was such a surreal moment on the court asking Jillian questions. It was just really special that we started together and we were realizing this dream moment together.
I learned so much during my week in Atlantic City. It was really an invaluable experience and in many ways expanded my horizons.
Plus, there was this moment of completeness. I'm close to finishing my Siena education, and I'm on the court with the men's basketball team after they won the championship. There were times I had to be an impartial broadcaster. But there was also a moment to just have fun and soak in all the Siena pride."
