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If you've been involved with Texas Tech or high school sports in Lubbock over the past 45 years, you've bumped into Steve Dale.

Steve Dale is a longtime Lubbock sportscaster who caught the broadcast bug early in life, being the eldest son of legendary Texas Tech broadcaster Jack Dale.

Steve, along with his father Jack, Ryan Hyatt and Don Williams, were the hosts that helped create Lubbock's first all-sports radio station, SportsRadio 1340 KKAM in November 1996.

Jack and Steve originally hosted Jack Dale's Sportsline on News/Talk 790, KFYO before moving to 1340 KKAM in 1994. Then, Sportsline became the morning show for KKAM's all-sports format in November 1996. Jack and Steve also created the first extended pre-game show covering Texas Tech Football, Countdown to Kickoff, which started in the late 1990s and aired for almost 20 years on KKAM-AM.

After Jack passed away in July 2011, Steve kept Sportsline going, hosting the show as a part of KKAM's all-sports format through the end of 2017, then moving it to an online platform at JackDaleSportsline.com in January 2018.

During his career, Steve has also called the play-by-play for thousands of high school games with teams from Lubbock ISD, Frenship, Idalou, Lubbock Christian, and El Paso ISD. He also worked with his father on Texas Tech sports broadcasts for over 20 years, and was the play-by-play voice for Texas Tech Red Raider Basketball for the 2006-07 season.

Recently, Steve was diagnosed with liver cancer. His family set up a GoFundMe page seeking help with expenses.

Steve's daughter, Lauren, described her father's diagnosis: "He was diagnosed with liver cancer, five spots ranging from a few millimeters to several centimeters which led to cirrhosis of his liver. The doctors say they can't do surgery and decided to bypass his liver (to) help it heal with chemo treatments," she said. "With the bypass, ammonia began building in his blood. His mind became weaker and weaker. The medicine doctors gave us works for small amounts of time but he cannot remember passwords or take care of the finances like normal."

The GoFundMe page has been online for just a few days as of the writing of this article.

Zack Kennedy, Townsquare Media
(L-R) Jack Dale, Billy Gillispie & Steve Dale in 2011. (Photo: Zack Kennedy, Townsquare Media)
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As a part of Sportsline, Jack and Steve would interview numerous coaches from Texas Tech and the local high schools. Pictured above is a moment after one of those interviews in 2011 (left to right): Jack Dale, then-Texas Tech Red Raider Basketball coach Billy Gillespie, and Steve Dale.

Steve also loved calling play-by-play, particularly high school football and basketball games. When the Sports Express Radio Network held the rights for Lubbock ISD's four high schools, plus Frenship, Lubbock-Cooper, Idalou, New Deal and Roosevelt in the 1990s and 2000s, it wasn't unusual for Steve to call two or even three football games in a week.

Steve Dale has been a major part of sports radio in Lubbock over the decades, and all of us here at News/Talk KFYO and Talk 1340 KKAM wish Steve, and his family, all the best as he continues his fight against cancer.

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