Thomas Lee, Founder and President

The founder and president of Champion Sports Radio, Thomas D. Lee has had the pleasure to be on camera for UIL state championship football and volleyball broadcasts as well as many playoff football, basketball and baseball games. In addition to his TV work, Thomas has been behind the mic for several perfect games in baseball and softball, multiple NCAA, UIL and TAPPS playoff contests, the Hebron Hawks football state championship victory in 2005, the DeSoto Eagles basketball state championship in 2009, the Lake Highlands Wildcats basketball state championship run in 2023, and both of the Flower Mound Jaguars baseball state championship titles in 2014 and 2023.

After spending time in Austin broadcasting Westlake High School sports and University of Texas Volleyball and Softball, Thomas returned back home to the Metroplex in 2005 to start Champion Sports Radio. A graduate of Plano Senior High School, Thomas also holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism with minors in business and computer science from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Business Administration from SMU.

Thomas lives in Plano with his wife Amy, their son Hamilton, their daughter Eleanor, their dog Glenda and cat Éponine.

Ryan Mueller, Play-by-Play and Analyst

Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Ryan, without argument, is the biggest Cardinal baseball fan in the great state of Texas. In the winter of 1997, he moved to San Antonio and began attending Central Catholic High School. Graduating with a senior class of 98 students, Ryan opted for a drastic change in size attending The University of Texas at Austin where he earned his bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism.

Ryan’s experience in sports broadcasting has been diverse including spending two years under the tutelage of Roger Wallace at KXAN-TV in Austin. Ryan’s biggest highlight came when he called the final pitch of the Coppell Copperheads 2007 Texas Collegiate League Championship. He serves as color analyst for the Plano ISD football Game of the Week broadcasts as well as the play-by-play voice for various basketball and baseball games on CSR when he is not working tirelessly for AT&T in their communications department.

Cody Barfknecht, Lewisville Football Analyst and Hebron Baseball Analyst

Born and raised in Lewisville, TX, Cody got his first taste of high school football with the Ronnie Gage Fighting Farmer teams of the 1990s and has been hooked ever since. Cody’s first experience in radio was with the Norm Hitzges Show at Sportsradio 96.7 FM “The Ticket” as a summer intern in 2014, which led to his hosting a sports talk show on KANM Radio at Texas A&M University for two years, while a member of the Corps of Cadets.

After graduation, he started with Champion Sports Radio in 2015 as a color commentator for Flower Mound Jaguar football. Cody has since covered Little Elm Lobo football, Carroll Dragon baseball, Hebron Hawk baseball, and Lewisville Fighting Farmer football.

Cody has been in the finance sector for the last nine years and his hobbies include hunting, fishing, and being a fan of the Dallas Cowboys and Texas A&M Aggies. His favorite and most important job is being a husband to his wife Megan, and father to his son, Knox.

Ryan Bascue, The Colony Football Analyst

Ryan Bascue hails from the Flower Mound Area and holds the honor as the first person to both play in games broadcast on Champion Sports Radio and become a broadcaster for the network. A graduate of Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene where he earned his Master’s in Business Administration Sports Management, Ryan also earned his undergraduate degree in Communications from Hardin-Simmons. During his undergrad years, he played football for the Cowboys on both the defensive and offensive lines. During graduate school, Ryan worked for the sports information department at HSU where he was the game-day manager and official statistician and broadcaster for over 225 individual games across eighteen sports including football, baseball, softball, basketball, and soccer.

This is his 7 year calling games. This year he will be exclusively with The Colony High School.

Ryan got into coaching and teaching at the high school level in 2020 he coached varsity quarterbacks and running backs at a school in Carrollton-Farmers Branch. After his hiatus from broadcasting, he returned to the booth in 2021.

Ryan is the current head boys wrestling coach at The Colony High School, also a member of LISD. He is in his 4th year at the helm.

Bart Castle, Play-by-Play and Analyst

Bart enters his 15th year with Champion Sports Radio. With Champion Sports Radio, he has broadcast football, basketball, baseball, soccer and wrestling. Bart was also the play-by-play voice of the Euless/Colleyville Lone Stars in the Texas Collegiate League. While working in the TCL Bart was part of the Champion Sports Radio team that broadcast the TCL Championship series, which featured, San Francisco Giant, Brandon Belt – then of the league champion Coppell Copperheads – as the series MVP. In addition to his work with Champion Sports Radio, he was part of a three-person broadcast crew for the webcast of the USATF’s Youth Division’s Outdoor Junior Olympics and National Championships, which each featured over 5000 of the nation’s finest young track and field athletes from around the nation. Those broadcasts included working with a over dozen US Olympic Champions who had represented the USA from 1976-2012. Besides working with USATF, beginning with work as a Public Address assistant at the 2005, NCAA, Division II Outdoor Championships, Bart continues to do Public Address work in high school and college Track and Field.

Bart has been for 10 years the PA voice of the UTA Mavericks, TCU, TCU Horned Frogs, Baylor Bears, and together with partner Don Garrett, the Texas Tech Red Raiders. That work has included Big 12 Outoor and Indoor Championships, as well as Outdoor Championships for the Sun Belt and Southland Conferences and Indoor and Outdoor Championships for the nation’s largest DII conference the Lone Star Conference. Bart worked for several seasons as a stronger for both the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. In addition to his print, broadcast and public address work, Bart officiated high school basketball for 17 seasons out of the Fort Worth Chapter of TASO. For 13 of the 16 seasons Bart received playoff assignments at least 3 rounds deep in the playoffs (up through 5A both boys and girls), including the TAPPS 1 and 2A state championships one season. Besides his work on the court, he served as Vice President of the Chapter.

A graduate for both Abilene Christian and Texas Tech, he enjoys any sporting event with his wife Linda and kids, Ashton, Alexys and Andrew. All five love the NHL and cheering for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Alex Deuerling, Analyst, Producer, and Camera Operator

Nicknamed the Doctor, Alex was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, explaining the fact that he is a rabid Razorback fan. Alex has been part of Champion Sports Radio since 2009, and the “Doctor” brings statistical analysis each week for the Plano ISD Game of the Week as well as serving as the lead camera operator during baseball season. Alex is a 2005 graduate of Birdville High in North Richland Hills and was a starter on the first football playoff team in school history.  Alex is nearing completion of an Associates in Radio and Television Broadcasting at Tarrant County College, and he has also worked as a production intern at the Irving Community Television Network.

Tom Duerr, Coppell Football and Baseball Play-by-Play

Tom Duerr is a veteran broadcaster whose career spans three decades and whose work has been honored with four Emmy Awards and an Edward R. Murrow Award for Journalism Excellence.

Tom began his play-by-play career more than 20 years ago, as the voice of American University athletics in Washington, DC. While with AU, he called men’s and women’s basketball games along with men’s soccer and women’s volleyball matches. Following a 17-year career in television news in Buffalo, NY, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, PA and Dallas-Fort Worth, Tom moved back into the broadcast booth as the play-by-play broadcaster for the “Big Game Friday Night Feature Game” on KBTX-TV in Bryan-College Station. He’s also broadcast games for UT-Dallas, Hockey TV, Texan Live and the NFHS Network.

Tom joined the Champion Sports Radio team in 2018 as the play-by-play voice of Coppell Cowboys baseball. After one season as the voice of Marcus Marauders football, Tom is thrilled to be broadcasting Coppell Cowboys football on Champion Sports Radio. Tom resides in Richardson, TV with his wife and two sons. He is a native of Buffalo, NY and Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada and is a big Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres fan. He also loves to cook and travel.

Rick Faletti, Analyst

Rick Faletti is a native Texan who has a passion for sports and music. Since a young age football was life and everything else came second. Rick graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 2004 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Occupational Safety and Health, and has been a Safety Professional for the last ten years.

In recent years, Rick has been cultivating his craft for broadcasting by hosting a radio show on Deepellumonair.com, working with Larry Brown’s Pee Wee Football league as an announcer, and now as a color analyst for Champion Sports Radio. His goal is to one day be a full time broadcaster. Rick spends his off time with his Wife Shawn, Son Tyler, newborn Daughter Charli and his furry friends Asia, Leila, and Dillon.

Stephen Francis, Play-by-Play and Analyst

Stephen returns as a Champion Sports Radio veteran after taking time away for his family, and returns with great excitement. Basically born with a microphone in his hand and a baseball in the other, Stephen enjoys playing sports, watching sports and talking about sports.

He grew up in Euless, Texas as a product of Trinity High School, playing freshman football as a defensive back and wide receiver. He studied sportscasting at the University of North Texas under the great Hank Dickenson and is a lifelong, often heartbroken UNT football fan.

When Stephen’s not talking sports or producing live television programs for Daystar Television, he can be found spending quality time with his wife, Heather, his daughter, Reghan, his son Caden and their goofy little dog, Sammi.

Mike Garland, Play-by-Play and Analyst

Born and raised in East Texas, Mike was all-state in two sports (football and baseball), and Mike went on to play JUCO baseball. Mike has worked as play-by-play and analyst for QXFM 100.3 and KGAS 104.3 in addition to doing play-by-play and analyst work for InCommand Broadcasting. In addition to his broadcasting resume, Mike has also worked as a content and recruiting contributor for TheOldCoach.com and 247Sports.

When not playing or calling games, Mike enjoys fishing and golfing in his free time in addition to being with his wife Tiffany and two children, Brayden and Elaine. Mike’s goals for the airwaves include having his own sports talk show and doing play-by-play or analyst work for a professional sports or college team.

James Grove, Play-by-Play and Analyst

James was born and raised in Coppell, Texas. In high school, he served as the PA announcer for Coppell’s JV baseball team. James then went to the University of North Texas where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Integrative Studies focusing on Journalism, Communications, and Kinesiology with a minor in Marketing.

James now works full time at a ministry called RightNow Media and has been there for over 2 years. Sports broadcasting has been a passion for James since he was a kid. He got his start broadcasting sitting in front of the computer where he would mute his video games and announce the game as he was playing it. Now he is heading into his 4th season with Champion Sports Radio and 3rd with Little Elm football.

Bill Howard, Cedar Hill Football Play-by-Play

For the 18th consecutive year, Bill again is the play-by-play voice of Cedar Hill Longhorn football. During his almost two decades of calling Longhorn games, Bill has become affectionately known in and around Dallas County as the VOCH (Voice of Cedar Hill), having broadcast 50 Longhorn playoff games, including four State Championships. Bill has also served as the in-game PA announcer for SMU college football and was formerly the Public Address voice for Canterbury Episcopal College Prep varsity basketball and baseball.

He and wife Lisa lived in Cedar Hill for 23 years until moving to Plano, Texas in 2016. Bill is a Senior Manager for the PepsiCo/Frito-Lay Legal Department at the Company’s Headquarters in Plano. Bill and Lisa have three children, son Jay Michael, a University of Texas graduate, daughter Madison, a Texas State University Graduate and son Trevor, a University of Texas-Arlington graduate.

Bill continues as a long-time Select-level and College Showcase division baseball coach in the DFW area, having managed various nationally ranked and state championship teams, and currently coaches the 15u NIT Champion North Texas Hurricanes.

Eli Jordan, Play-by-Play and Analyst

Born and raised in Arlington, Eli Jordan is a graduate of The Oakridge School where he played varsity football and baseball. After high school, Eli attended the University of Texas at Arlington where he covered volleyball, basketball, and baseball for the Mavericks.

After his graduation, Eli has been lucky enough to work for several radio stations in the metroplex, including his current position as an anchor, host, and reporter for Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket. Eli is also an assistant editor at AVIDGOLFER Magazine. In his free time, Eli enjoys playing golf, attending sporting events, and traveling.

Phillip Kern, Lake Highlands Football and Baseball Play-by-Play

Phillip was born and raised in San Jose, California before making his way to the DFW Metroplex. During his time in San Jose, Phillip took part in numerous broadcasts for high school and junior college sports since 2012. While calling games for the NFHS Network and NorCal Sports TV, Phillip has called a wide variety of sports and has even done play-by-play for regional and state championship games for football and basketball throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Now that he has settled in to his new home in Texas, he is grateful to have joined Champion Sports in 2022 and all the broadcasting opportunities that have come his way since.

Away from the press box, Phillip lives in Arlington with his wife Meggan (who is also quite the avid sports fan herself). Phillip still holds true to his Bay Area roots with his sports fandom, but has gravitated to the Texas Longhorns for college sports. Additionally, conference realignment has provided him with his new Big 12 team in the Baylor Bears. When he is not watching the big games, he is enjoying all sorts of new food experiences (whether it be restaurants or trying new recipes at home), spending time with family and friends, attending any live sporting event possible, and trying to find new research to add to his growing number of fantasy football championships.

Mitch Mason, Play-by-Play and Analyst

Mitch is in his 5th season calling football on Champion Sports Radio. A graduate of Texas A&M in 2019, Mitch covered Aggie Athletics, including three years spent serving as the play-by-play voice of A&M Hockey. After his time spent broadcasting and writing for the Aggies, Mitch joined the athletic Department at Dallas Baptist University, where he also received a Masters in Sports Management. Mitch was the voice of Patriot Soccer and the third member of the broadcast team for Baseball and Basketball. He covered DBU’s first national championship (Women’s Golf) in program history in 2021. After a year in San Antonio as the Assistant Athletic Director, Mitch returned to Dallas where he works as a Senior Project Manager for The Courtside Group.

Pete Nielsen, Hebron Football Analyst and Hebron Baseball Play-by-Play

An adopted Texan, Pete has called the Metroplex home since 1988. Pete has worked in the Telecommunication Field for the past 32 years dealing mostly with the design and installation of fiber optic networks. A certified sports nut, Pete spent many years coaching his two now grown boys Matt and Andrew in youth baseball and football. Pete was also a certified umpire at one point before starting his tenure at Champion Sports Radio.

This will be his 18th year with CSR and this season he will serve as the Color Analyst for the Hebron Hawks for the 17th straight year. Pete and his wife Julie reside in McKinney and besides spending time with her, he loves to spend any free time he can on the golf course.

Grayson Nolette, Lewisville Football Play-by-Play and Other Play-by-Play Assignments

Born and raised in the DFW, Grayson has been a sports-loving Texan at heart for almost his entire life. Even though he just graduated from college earlier this year, Grayson has already been play-by-play calling both high school football and basketball games for four consecutive seasons throughout North Texas on KNTU 88.1 FM. His style on-the-air is both professional while bringing an undeniable level of energy to every broadcast.

This year will be Grayson’s first year as a member of the Champion Sports Radio team, as he will be play-by-play broadcasting the Lewisville Fighting Farmer’s varsity football team.

Barry Propes, Play-by-Play and Analyst

Born in west Texas (Abilene), raised in east Texas (Tyler) and having lived in the valley as well as the South Plains, Barry has covered high school football in almost as many parts of the state in which he has lived! Barry has done two stints calling play-by-play for Granbury HS, as well as Aled0 from 1996-1999, including Aledo’s state championship game as a 3A school against Cuero in the 1998 season. Barry has done play-by-play across the north Texas region calling football, basketball and baseball games for over 18 years.

In addition to play-by-play, Barry has handled color analyst and sideline duties for Game Winning Productions and Champion Sports Radio. Barry has been with CSR since 2009. Barry has also served as the play-by-play voice for Stephenville boys and girls basketball on KSTV-FM and done high school baseball as well. A mass communications graduate of Texas Tech University, Barry is married to his wife, Danette, of 18 years and has an eight-year-old daughter, Alexandra (Alex).

Reagan Ratcliff, Grapevine Football Play-by-Play

Reagan Ratcliff enters his tenth season on Champion Sports Radio and his first year back as the voice of the Grapevine Mustangs. Prior to calling Duncanville football, Ratcliff spent the previous five seasons as the play-by-play voice for the Grapevine Mustangs and two years covering the Plano West Wolves.

Currently, Ratcliff serves as the Sports Information Director at Dallas Baptist University, where he begins his 11th year calling DBU Baseball and Basketball on the Patriot Broadcasting Network. Over the past 10 years, he’s been on the call for DBU Baseball’s run to eight trips to the NCAA postseason including a pair of appearance in the Super Regionals.

A graduate of Baylor University in 1998, Ratcliff began his sports broadcasting career in college, studying under the legendary Frank Fallon, the voice of the Baylor Bears for 42 years. During his time at Baylor, Ratcliff was the Sports Director at the campus radio station, calling football and baseball for the Bears on KWBU. Following graduation, Ratcliff accepted the play-by-play position for the Southern Oregon Timeberjacks, a Short-Season Class A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. In addition to working in Minor League Baseball, Ratcliff spent two seasons on the Baylor Radio Network announcing baseball from 2000-2001.

Brendan Smith, Grapevine Analyst and Coaches Show Host and Other Play-by-Play Assignments

Brendan Smith currently works at Dallas Baptist University where he has called baseball and basketball games on the Patriot Broadcasting Network for the past 10 years. After graduating from Dallas Baptist in 2009, he began his career in sports broadcasting at ESPN Dallas in August of 2009. During his time at ESPN, Smith hosted several shows and covered the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, Dallas Mavericks, and Dallas Stars. Brendan also produced radio broadcasts for the Rangers and Mavericks before becoming the producer of the Ben & Skin Show with Ben Rogers and Jeff “Skin” Wade. In May of 2013, Brendan made the transition to 105.3 the Fan to continue producing the Ben & Skin Show, a role that he held until December of 2014 when he transitioned full time to DBU. Brendan also co-hosted a High School Preview and High School Scoreboard Show on the Texas State Network. Brendan currently lives in Arlington, Texas with his wife Ashley and their two dogs, Oliver and Duke.

Scott Spangler, Cedar Hill Football Analyst

This fall will mark the first season for Scott as the color commentator for Cedar Hill football, joining Bill Howard in the booth. A native Dallasite, Scott attended North Dallas High School, lettering in two sports before playing small college football in Missouri and eventually ending at the University of North Texas.

Scott currently resides in the North Dallas area. He is a dedicated fan of the area sports teams, most especially the Cowboys and Mavericks, not to mention a lifelong fan of the Texas Longhorns. Additionally, he is an overall sports enthusiast and looks forward to his first season of broadcasting with Champion Sports Radio.

Jonathan Stafford,

Born in Ada, OK and raised in Littlefield, TX (just outside Lubbock). Jon played football in high school for the Littlefield Wildcats before having to stop due to injuries. Afterwards he attended South Plains College and took time off to work various jobs around the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma before going back to finish school at West Texas A&M in Canyon. After college he taught and coached before going back to get his Masters in Engineering Technology. He now works as an Environmental Engineer at Coserv in Corinth.

Jon’s career in sports journalism has included various stints assisting radio networks around the Texas Panhandle in football including Amarillo, Dimmitt, and Hereford. He also has dj-ed and done public address work for the Amarillo/Grand Prairie Airhogs baseball club and youth sports in Amarillo as well as volunteer coaching youth sports when time has allowed.

Austin Taylor, Analyst

Austin Taylor enters his second season on Champion Sports Radio calling baseball and football games.

Currently, Taylor serves as a Varsity baseball and basketball coach at Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, TX, where he also teaches Sports Reporting and Multimedia Journalism.

A graduate of Oklahoma State University in 2017, Taylor began his sports broadcasting career in college, studying under the legendary Ray Murray and Dave Hunziker, the voice of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. During his time at Oklahoma State, Taylor was a student assistant with men’s basketball under head coaches Travis Ford and Brad Underwood.

After a breif post-graduate stint at the University of Texas at Austin working with men’s basketball, Taylor attended Dallas Baptist University where he earned his M.A. in Sport Management. While at DBU, Taylor was a Graduate Assistant Sports Information Director for 6 varsity sports, under Associate AD Reagan Ratcliff.

C.B. Williams, Analyst

Born and raised in Jacksonville, TX, C.B. was an All District and All East Texas Offensive Lineman in high school. He received a scholarship to play football at SMU and then coached for Phil Bennett in his first two years as head coach for the Mustangs. After SMU, C.B. continued his collegiate coaching career as the Tackle and Tight Ends coach at Northwestern State University winning the Southland Conference Championship in 2004.

C.B. now is the President of NetZero Holdings and owns a local aggregate trucking company, R&H Transportation. A resident of Frisco, TX for the last 19 years, C.B. enjoys spending time with his wife Kristen of 17 years and their two children Reagan and Hudson.

Tyler Williams, Analyst and Camera Operator

Tyler Williams was raised 55 miles south of Dallas in Corsicana, TX where he had a baseball or a bat in his hands since before he could walk. He played baseball at Corsicana High School and developed a love for football and basketball as well. Tyler is entering his first year with CSR as a color analyst for Coppell varsity baseball broadcasts and a sideline reporter for Hebron varsity football broadcasts. Tyler is currently working toward a Bachelor of Science degree in Counseling at The King’s University in Southlake, TX. He currently lives in Euless, TX and is thrilled to have his first opportunity broadcasting with CSR.

David Zimmerman, Lake Highlands Football Analyst and Other Analyst Assignments

Coach David Zimmerman is currently the Athletic Director, Dean of Students, Director of Co-Curricular Activities, and Head Boys Varsity Basketball Coach at Akiba Yavneh Academy of Dallas, Texas.

Coach Zimmerman has lead the Bulldogs Basketball team to their best records in school history including six district titles, 4 consecutive State Final Four appearances, and Two Texas State Championships in 2020 & 2018 undefeated season. He Coached the Team USA 16u Boys basketball team to a gold medal at the Pan American games in Mexico City in 2019. He has been named TAPPS Coach of the Year five times. In 2020 the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches named him Coach of the Year. He was previously an Assistant Coach at Southern Methodist University, St. Marks School of Texas, and Episcopal School of Dallas.

As Director of Co-Curricular Activities, Coach Zimmerman works with many of Yavneh’s community service organizations, including Students Against Terrorism, the Points for Peace Basketball Tournament, Students4Students, and Helping Hands for the Homeless.

A New York native, Coach Zimmerman moved to Dallas at the age of five when his father, Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman, a former Grand Aleph Gadol arrived as Senior Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El. He has grown up in the Dallas Jewish community: at the JCC, at Temple Emanu-El, as a student at Solomon Schechter Academy (now the Levine Academy). A graduate of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and Southern Methodist University, Dallas is where Zimmerman’s heart remains, and where he and his wife Bethany, intend to always call home. He has a Jack-Chi named BOBBY who loves attending AKIBA YAVNEH athletic events!