It’ll be the “Bob and David” show on Kansas University football broadcasts next season.
Play-by-play announcer Bob Davis, who worked next to KU legend Max Falkenstien for the past 22 seasons, will have a new color announcer: former KU offensive lineman David Lawrence, who worked as sideline reporter on Jayhawk radio network broadcasts the past 12 years.
“It is an honor to be replacing a legend. I think it’s still ‘Bob and Max’ until I earn my stripes,” Lawrence said Wednesday. “I do think ‘Bob and Max’ will go down as one of the radio teams that people will talk about a long time. It’s an honor to be a part of that.”
As far as the future :
“Who wouldn’t want a chance to work with Bob Davis?” Lawrence added of his new job.
Lawrence’s sideline spot will be taken by Nate Bukaty, a 1998 KU graduate who has been play-by-play announcer for KU women’s basketball the past five years. Bukaty has worked in radio and television in Kansas City for the past seven years, where his current responsibilities include pregame and postgame coverage of the Royals.
“No one can ‘replace’ Max,” KU athletic director Lew Perkins said Wednesday, “but in David and Nate we have two experienced professionals who know our program and who will contribute color and insight into our football broadcasts.”
Perkins is not ready to name a color announcer for basketball. Ex-Jayhawks Chris Piper and Greg Gurley have been mentioned as possibilities.
A four-year letter-winner playing tight end and offensive guard, Lawrence was voted team captain, offensive player of the year and all-Big Eight in 1981. After his playing days, he worked as a graduate assistant under KU coaches Don Fambrough and Mike Gottfried. Since 1985 he has been a health teacher at South Junior High, where he also was football coach for 17 years.
Lawrence also worked as a TV analyst for KU football telecasts on Sunflower Broadband Channel 6 from 1988 to 1994.
“I’ll miss the sideline. You feel the energy down there,” Lawrence said. “I still get goosebumps down there like my playing days. But you don’t see down there like you can up top.”
