Xavier Nation Magazine Feature: The Dynamic Duo

Xavier Nation Magazine debuted in November 2014 as a publication produced by Xavier Athletics, designed specifically for its passionate and supportive fans. Xavier Nation aims to bring the alumni, fans and friends of Xavier content that can't be found anywhere else. The magazine goes beyond the statistics and history of a traditional media guide with stories that bring to life the coaches and athletes who represent Xavier.

Read one of the features from the magazine about the voices of Xavier radio, Joe Sunderman and Byron Larkin.

It's 9 a.m. on Saturday, three hours before the Xavier-Marquette game, and Joe Sunderman and Byron Larkin barely speak to each other in the Cintas Center media room.

After 17 seasons on radio—traveling to Xavier games from San Juan to San Francisco, Alabama to Alaska—they don't spend much time comparing notes before 700 WLW-AM's Dave "Yiddy" Armbruster cues them for their courtside pregame show.

"We're like an old married couple," says Larkin, 49. "We've been together 17 years. We eat every meal together on the road. We finish each other's sentences."

"Byron knows basketball so well. We're just talking basketball," says Sunderman, 59, starting his 36th season as a Xavier broadcaster.

Players and coaches come and go, but Byron and Joe remain on the radio—a career neither envisioned while playing for Xavier.

Larkin, XU's all-time leading scorer, says his "dream was playing in the NBA. This just kind of happened." He earned a marketing degree in 1988 while scoring 2,696 points. He finished a master's in finance in 1992—around playing pro ball in Venezuela, Germany, and Hong Kong—and opened Lifetime Financial Planning.

Sunderman, a freshman starter in 1974 from LaSalle High School, grew up in his dad's grocery stores in Westwood, South Fairmount, and Mohawk. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in business in 1979, figuring he'd "work for a company." Sunderman did for a while, then became an independent contractor selling building products to architects around his radio schedule.

So how did he get this gig? He taps on the table. That's how former WCIN-AM sportscaster Bill Meredith taught him to be a high school basketball analyst when Sunderman sat out Xavier's 1976–1977 season with a knee injury.

"I really didn't want to do it, but Bill was kind of insistent," Sunderman says. "I said: 'What do I do?' And he said: 'When I tap on the table, you talk. And when I tap again, you shut up.' Ten minutes into it, I was enjoying it a lot more than I ever thought I would."

Did he do that when Larkin joined him in 1997?

"No! No!" he says with a laugh. "Byron and I got along right from the start. He's a terrific partner."
Sunderman started on Xavier radio in 1980 in Larkin's role as analyst. Coach Bob Staak wanted a former player on radio, so Sunderman did color with Bill Sorrell, Red Pitcher, Dale McMillen, and Andy MacWilliams. When Andy Mac was silenced by spastic larynx muscles, Sunderman did entire broadcasts solo. After MacWilliams left WLW in 1997, Sunderman was summoned by WLW talk host Bill Cunningham, who also was program director. Cunningham gave Sunderman the choice of either job; he chose play-by-play.

Former Musketeer Walt McBride filled in as analyst for the 1997–1998 season. Then WLW-AM called Larkin about the opening, but he "wasn't interested" until Sunderman put on a press.

"I had commented for TV on a UC–Xavier game at halftime, and I just didn't like it," he says. "Joe said, 'Byron, it's a good thing. You'll like it.' At the audition with Joe, I enjoyed the experience. This was one of the best things I've ever done."

It was the first of many times Larkin was boosted by Sunderman's nurturing personality, which earned Sunderman the A-10's 2011 Bob Vetrone Media Award.

"He'll call out of the blue and say, 'You did a good job last night.' He makes you feel like you can do anything," Larkin says. "He's so even-tempered. He is the kindest, most trustworthy person. He's like a saint."

Seventeen years later, they're more than best friends. "Byron is like part of the family," says Joe's daughter Tori Sunderman, who sells commercial real estate for CBRE. Larkin's wife Teri shops with Sunderman's wife Mary Lynn during BIG EAST tournaments in New York. The two couples go to Broadway shows. All the Sundermans attended Larkin's wedding in June. "We're so intertwined," Larkin says. "It transcends basketball now. I've got a friend for life."

Yet the two Xavier University Athletic Hall of Famers can be so different. When lights dim for players' introductions, Larkin uses his cell phone light to read lineups. Sunderman uses a tiny flashlight. Larkin jots notes with a four-color pen; Sunderman uses a wood pencil. Larkin reads stats from a tablet; Sunderman refers to his huge hand-written lineup sheet with phonetic pronunciations: Trevon BLEW-it, J.P. MAH-CURE-uh. Sunderman shows up way early to the arena and spends three hours preparing for each game to master names. "He works at it harder than anyone I know," Armbruster says.

Text Sunderman, and he'll call you. "I'm old school. I'd rather call someone than trade e-mails, which leaves a lot not discussed," Sunderman explains. Otherwise, he's totally embraced the iPhone. Years ago he missed a Xavier–UC game to attend a Cleveland sales meeting. "I can be anywhere doing Xavier games and talk to my customers. That enables me to do [radio]. Otherwise, I'd have to make a choice."

In Cintas Center, Larkin far outshines older brother Barry, the Reds Hall of Fame shortstop. Crowds gather by the broadcast table before games. "It's like maybe we should put up a velvet rope, like at the movies, to keep people back," Armbruster says.

"A lot of Xavier fans really understand basketball, so I love to talk to them," Sunderman says. "You can learn a lot." That impresses Shannon Russell, The Enquirer's Xavier beat writer. "Joe is so humble. He's always asking people about things. He wants to do his job better all the time. We all should do that," she says.

Larkin and Sunderman bleed blue—which isn't always a good thing. Larkin's mom once called and asked her son to "take it easy on the officials," Sunderman says.

"We want Xavier to win, and when they don't win, we get upset," Larkin says. "That's the constant battle I have, to manage my emotions. During commercials, Joe will say, 'Calm down, B! Calm down!' "

Larkin and Sunderman call themselves very lucky. Sunderman thought he'd do radio "for a year or two. And 35 years later I'm still here, and hoping to do it a while longer."

"We've got the best jobs," Larkin says. "We both think Xavier is the best place in the country. We love working together. We love talking basketball. What is there not to like?"

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