Kevin Eschenfelder is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

sportscaster who currently serves as the primary host of

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

and

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

pregame and postgame on Space City Home Network. Eschenfelder also works in radio as the play-by-play announcer for

Houston Cougars football The Houston Cougars football program is an NCAA Division I FBS football team that represents the University of Houston. The team is commonly referred to as "Houston" or "UH." The UH football program is a member of the Big 12 Conference. Since th ...

games since their start in the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

and current in-studio host and fill-in television play-by-play announcer for the

Early career

When Eschenfelder was in elementary school, his father worked as a

statistician A statistician is a person who works with Theory, theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private sector, private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, a ...

and spotter for the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1960 Houston Oilers season, 1960 to 1996 Houston Oilers season, 1996. The Houston Oilers began play as a charter member of the Ame ...

, giving him access to the radio

press box The press box is a special section of a sports stadium or arena that is set up for the media to report about a given event. It is typically located in the section of the stadium holding the luxury box and can be either enclosed or open to the ...

at the

Astrodome The NRG Astrodome, formerly and also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, was the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas, United States. It seated around 50,000 fans, with a record atte ...

. At the age of 15, he began helping his dad keep statistics for the

and Houston Oilers. Eschenfelder graduated from

Dulles High School John Foster Dulles High School, more commonly known as Dulles High School, is a high school in Sugar Land, Texas. It was the first site purchase and new build, in the 1950s, of the newly formed Fort Bend Independent School District, which held i ...

Sugar Land, Texas Sugar Land (sometimes incorrectly spelled as Sugarland) is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a po ...

. During his senior year at Dulles, he began working as a statistician for the

Home Sports Entertainment FanDuel Sports Network Southwest is a Texas-based regional sports network owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group) and operated as an affiliate of FanDuel Sports Network. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of prof ...

(HSE) network and interned at Newsradio 740 KTRH. Eschenfelder attended

Alvin Community College Alvin Community College (ACC) is a public community college in Alvin, Texas. Alvin Community College provides educational opportunities in workforce training, academics, technical fields, adult basic education, and personal development. As defi ...

, where he served as the voice announcer for

Alvin High School Alvin High School is a public high school located in the city of Alvin, Texas and classified as a 6A school by the University Interscholastic League (UIL). It is a part of the Alvin Independent School District located in central Brazoria County ...

sporting events on KACC (the on-campus radio station for ACC). Just before he graduated from Alvin Community College, Eschenfelder got hired as a play-by-play announcer for

Houston Baptist University Houston Christian University (HCU), formerly Houston Baptist University (HBU), is a private Baptist university in Houston, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Its Cultural Arts Center houses three museums: the ...

(an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

team at the time) at HSE. Eschenfelder's first event for Home Sports Entertainment was a Houston Baptist University basketball game with Greg Lucas in 1987. In 1990, Eschenfelder graduated with a bachelor's degree from the .

Fox Sports Net

Eschenfelder joined Home Sports Entertainment (later known as

Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by the Walt Disney Company on Mar ...

) full-time in June 1991 and worked pre- and postgame shows for 17 seasons, with stints in Dallas–Fort Worth and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. His pre- and postgame commitments included coverage of the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

and

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

teams as well as the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. The Stars compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The Stars ...

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

team. During baseball season, he anchored shows for the

and Texas Rangers and has said his favorite memory with HSE/Prime Sports/FSN was

Game 6 ''Game 6'' (stylized as Game6) is a 2005 American comedy drama film directed by Michael Hoffman. It stars Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Bebe Neuwirth, Griffin Dunne, and Catherine O'Hara. The plot follows fictional playwright Nicky Rog ...

of the

2005 National League Championship Series The 2005 National League Championship Series (NLCS), the second round of the National League (baseball), National League side in Major League Baseball’s 2005 Major League Baseball postseason, 2005 postseason. It matched the Central Division cha ...

when the Astros clinched their first pennant. Eschenfelder became known to Houston viewers during Rockets and Astros games as the in-studio host for "Club House," a pre-game show that later evolved "Southwest Sports Tonight." Southwest Sports Tonight was a half-hour program on FSN Southwest and its Houston-area feed, FSN Houston, but also complemented its regional news program, the "Southwest Sports Report" on non-event nights. Eschenfelder's additional contributions includes calling

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

play-by-play for the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference (SLC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in ...

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

, and WAC. Eschenfelder has also served as a fill-in analyst during Astros telecasts and fill-in play-by-play voice for Dallas Mavericks games with Fox Sports Southwest. Eschenfelder bid farewell to viewers over an Astros telecast on September 20, 2012. His final day with the station was September 21, 2012.

Space City Home Network

Eschenfelder joined CSN Houston when it began broadcasting in October 2012, continuing as the face that fans of the Rockets and Astros have seen before and after games. He was the host of "SportsTalk Live," the network's one-hour live show each weekday. Once a month, SportsTalk Live aired a special Friday edition called "SportsTalk Live Friday Tailgate Edition," which was taped in front of a live audience outside CSN Houston's downtown studio next to the

House of Blues House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers (film), The Blues Brothers''. The ...

. The October 2013 edition featured Eschefelder interviewing Rockets players

James Harden James Edward Harden Jr. (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is regarded by some as one of the greatest shooting guards in NBA hist ...

, Chandler Parsons,

Patrick Beverley Patrick Beverley (born July 12, 1988) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Ligat HaAl and the EuroCup. Originally from Chicago's West Side, Beverley played college basketball for the Arkansa ...

Isaiah Canaan Isaiah Canaan (pronounced Cannon; born May 21, 1991) is an American professional basketball player who plays for Crvena zvezda of the ABA League and the EuroLeague. He was an All-American college player at Murray State University. College caree ...

, and Rockets great

Calvin Murphy Calvin Jerome Murphy (born May 9, 1948) is an American former professional basketball player who after a prolific collegiate career at Niagara, where he averaged 33.1 points per game over his three years, played in the National Basketball Associ ...

. Besides his role on STL, Eschenfelder participated on other specialty programing on CSN Houston. As part of the "A Conversation With..." series, Eschenfelder had an exclusive interview with longtime Astros broadcaster and Ford Frick Award recipient, Milo Hamilton. The interview aired throughout September 2013.

References

External links

Kevin Eschenfelder
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eschenfelder, Kevin College basketball announcers in the United States Major League Baseball broadcasters College football announcers Houston Cougars football announcers NBA broadcasters American sports announcers Dulles High School (Sugar Land, Texas) alumni University of Houston–Clear Lake alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) High school basketball announcers in the United States High school football announcers in the United States National Hockey League broadcasters Dallas Mavericks announcers Houston Rockets announcers San Antonio Spurs announcers Houston Astros announcers Dallas Stars announcers Alvin Community College alumni