Gavlick’s broadcasting career began out of obligation—and just a hint of spite.

Bern Gavlick '01 and his father, former assistant football coach, Bern GavlickIt was the fall of 1999, and Gavlick, the voice of Ursinus football for the last nine years, was a junior at the college. His father, an assistant football coach at Ursinus, told Bern it was time to get a job. The elder Gavlick figured his son, an exercise and sports science major, would want to work in a gym.

Not so fast. “I was always interested in broadcasting,” Bern says. “I thought, ‘OK, you want me to get a job, I’ll show you.’”

Armed with a drive to veer from expectations, Gavlick wrote to WBCB-AM, a radio station serving Bucks County and other areas of suburban Philadelphia, hoping to join its coverage of high school hockey. A few months later, he got a call from sports director Jeff Nolan, asking if Gavlick would like to host an in-game segment. The intermission report, called “Bern Behind the Bench,” was such a hit that Gavlick was soon doing a postgame show.

He never played a sport, not because he wasn’t interested, but because he couldn’t. Unable to compete, he instead emulated his broadcast heroes at home with a microphone plugged into a boom box.

“Kids think of themselves as Joe Montana,” Gavlick said. “I thought of myself as Barry Melrose and Bill Clement.” 

“I thought, ‘OK, you want me to get a job, 
I’ll show you.’”

Despite his success at WBCB, Gavlick struggled to find a home for his passion. He approached Ursinus about calling football games, but gained little traction. So, like everything else in his life, he kept trying. And when James Wagner took over as sports information director, Bern got his chance.

“I reached out to James, and he said, ‘It’s funny you called, because I had the same thing in mind,’” Gavlick recalls.

Bern Gavlick '01 broadcasts from Patterson Field.With Internet broadcasts becoming more prevalent in Division III, Gavlick started doing play-by-play for the Bears in 2009. Ursinus finished 6-2 in Centennial Conference play that year, competed in a bowl game, and Gavlick was hooked. He had grown up around football, seen his father devote his life to working with kids as a teacher and coach, and Bern saw broadcasting as an extension of that.

Still, given his physical limitations, a permanent position was far from certain.

“I was always well-schooled by my parents about life and barriers I would need to overcome,” he says. “You can try your best, but it was possible that James would say to me, ‘You gave it a shot, but let’s just have you do a halftime spot.’ I would know that it was probably because of my speech, and over a medium like the phone or Internet, I may not be that audible. I wondered if I could keep up with the game. I didn’t know how far I would get, but I’m grateful to James for giving me the chance.”

Gavlick took that opportunity and ran with it. Almost a decade later, he’s still a fixture of Ursinus football. He sits in the same chair in the press box, sometimes with a partner, sometimes by himself, his parents always behind him. He pores over team rosters and his own meticulous notes, armed with a cache of fascinating tidbits to inject into his broadcast.

Gavlick still takes certain cues from his idols. “We now welcome you into the broadcast booth” is from Joe Buck. His signature line, “to the goal,” is a nod to his hockey background, homage to a time when his path was in its infancy.

He is a “homer” (and how not, given his background?), but Gavlick is fair and honest in the booth, and averse to sugarcoating. He questions officiating calls and coaching decisions—whether they benefit the Bears or not. He wants to create a personal, emotional experience for the viewer, and his passion bleeds through the airwaves.

Broadcasting is not Gavlick’s only passion. He earned a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy from La Salle University and works as a guidance counselor at Harry S. Truman High School in Levittown, Pa., where he has been a hockey coach since 2008. He loves to converse with people, about sports and other topics, and has done motivational speaking engagements as far away as Canada, sharing  his story and optimism with others.

It’s not about what I did to get here, it’s about what everyone else has done to give me the opportunity.

“I always open with, ‘I’d like to thank you for letting me tell my story—but it’s not about what I did to get here, it’s about what everyone else has done to give me the opportunity,’” he says.

“They’ll say it’s great that I have cerebral palsy and I’m doing this, but if it weren’t for people willing to take that leap for me, I wouldn’t be able to,” Gavlick notes. “The story of how I got to where I am is half me at best. It’s what my parents and everyone else have done.”

Gavlick certainly pays the good will forward in spades, impacting everyone he meets.

“From the moment I met Bern as a student here at Ursinus I instantly recognized his passion for life,” says Ursinus football coach Pete Gallagher. “It is this passion that has guided Bern to outstanding accomplishments both academically and professionally.”

It is this passion that has guided Bern to outstanding accomplishments both academically and  professionally.

Gavlick has broadcasted from every Centennial Conference stadium. He is so synonymous with Ursinus football that other sports information directors automatically save him a spot in their press boxes.

“In this day, it’s hard to find someone dedicated to be the voice of a football program,” says Wagner, now the assistant commissioner of the Colonial States Athletic Conference. “He’s one of the best broadcasters in Division III, and his help to the program is immeasurable. It’s an example for those who may have a handicap, that they can overcome it and be successful.”

Bern Gavlick working the football game at Patterson Field.Each game presents an opportunity to witness history. Even now, Gavlick is learning new lessons. His all-time favorite game took place this year, when the Bears shocked nationally ranked Johns Hopkins University. Dreaming of the perfect call, Gavlick was forced to scrap his script and go off the cuff as the euphoria that followed quarterback Thomas Garlick’s last-second touchdown run overtook him. (Watch the video and listen to Bern’s call below.)

“Even now, I have no idea what I said,” Gavlick says. “I was thinking that Friday night how I wanted to do it. The way it unfolded, I learned the hard way that there’s no way to plan what you’re going to say in a situation like that.”

Gavlick hopes for many more moments like that. His parents are now in their seventies, so the logistics of getting to campus from their home an hour away will only get more difficult. As long as he can find a ride, he’ll continue to do it—and judging by the glowing reviews he receives from fans of the Bears and opponents alike, no one relishes the thought of his era coming to an end.

“It’s nice to hear those things, because you’re always trying to do a better job,” Gavlick says. “I consider myself friends with everyone I’ve worked with, and that’s what makes me come back every year. When my dad retired last year I wondered, would it be easier for my parents if I stopped doing it? But I have such a good time that I didn’t want to walk away.”

“You know that you’re doing it for good people, and for people who are invested and willing to give you a chance.”