From First Broadcast to Forever Home: Mitch Strohman's Celebrated Legacy as Voice of the Lumberjacks

For 30 years, Mitch Strohman brought the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks to fans in the Phoenix Valley, around the country and even the world. Whether they were watching games from their living rooms, sitting in their cars on a commute or working out in gyms or outdoors, fans were able to experience the Lumberjacks as if they were among the thousands cheering in the Walkup Skydome or a part of their traveling entourage at one of their Big Sky rivals.

Families who were unable to see their children or relatives compete in person relied on him, as did alumni seeking to maintain a connection with their alma mater.

Strohman, who acknowledged the responsibility he held as Voice of the Lumberjacks, approached every broadcast with precise preparation and of course, an incomparable zest for Northern Arizona University.

“Being the connection between the athletes that I see and describe what they’re doing, and their parents, families, friends…nothing is more gratifying,” Strohman said. “When I hear from the parents of a player and they say thank you for bringing my son or daughter home to me when I can’t be there…that’s the best part of what I’ve been able to do.”

Strohman announced his retirement on Jan. 14, ending a memorable and fulfilling tenure. Strohman called his last game in Flagstaff on Monday during the men’s basketball team’s regular season finale and will continue calling games until the conclusion of the basketball season.

Strohman made his first call for the Lumberjack football team in 1991, and outside of a hiatus from 1998-2004, he has served as Voice of the Lumberjacks for 30 years. To date, he has called an astonishing 1,180 NAU games and hosted more than 100 various NAU Athletics related shows.

Although he has worn the headset for dozens of nationally ranked wins, a few FBS upsets, his share of buzzer-beaters and a couple of NCAA Tournament games, what Strohman cherishes most is the life he has lived in Flagstaff. It’s a life – a home – that Strohman craved his entire life. 

Realizing a Dream

Strohman lived a nomadic life as child. Due to his father’s job, Strohman’s childhood spanned the West Coast to the East Coast without ever going to the same school for more than a year until his final two years of high school.

This left Strohman without stability in his formative years, but more importantly, in search of a place he could call home.

“I never had a homebase and I used to envy people, friends that grew up in one place like my beautiful wife, who grew up in Tucson and went to one elementary school and one junior high school and one high school,” Strohman said. “People who had friends who they’ve known since they were in kindergarten. I never knew what that was like.”

A self-proclaimed baseball fanatic, Strohman is proud to say he grew up a total “Earth science nerd.” When he initially enrolled at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, Strohman was a meteorology major who dreamt about being on television talking about severe storms or forecasting the latest tornadoes to hit the Midwest.

One lower-level calculus class quickly changed his own forecast, and it wasn’t until his freshman year roommate asked if Strohman would be interested in filling in as play-by-play announcer for a St. Cloud State baseball game on the campus radio station that he knew how he would pivot. One game became another, and soon, Strohman had a new dream – to be a sportscaster.

As a kid living in the Los Angeles area, Strohman recalled going to sleep while listening to Vin Scully calling a Dodgers game on his analog clock radio. Little did Strohman know that he would be as synonymous to the Lumberjacks as Scully is to the Dodgers or Chick Hearn is to the Lakers, another Hall of Fame broadcaster he grew up listening to.

Move Out West

After college, Strohman got his start in the industry in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Sioux City, Iowa, as a sports anchor and reporter. Not long after, in 1985, he was on a job hunt that led him to Lake Havasu, Arizona, as news and sports director at KFWJ-KBBC Radio.

Turns out, the move West to Lake Havasu – a place he found on an atlas – would change his life forever.

“I came up to Flagstaff on a couple of Saturdays to see a football game. It was a three-hour drive, and I thought this is kind of cool,” Strohman said. “The Skydome was incredible. I had never been in an indoor stadium like that before. Pine trees, 7,000 feet and it’s not 122 degrees in the summertime? I dreamed about Flagstaff and then a job opened at KAFF Radio in 1988.”

Strohman arrived in Flagstaff that year after accepting a job at KAFF Radio as news and sports director. Three years later, he received the opportunity he long awaited – an invitation to call his first NAU Football game for CNAU (later known as NAU-TV) on local cable, officially beginning his run as Voice of the Lumberjacks.

Even after briefly moving to Phoenix in 1992 to take a job at KFYI Radio, Strohman continued to call Lumberjack football and men’s basketball, making the drive north on I-17. It wasn’t until he returned to KAFF in 1994 when the station secured the rights to Lumberjack games on radio – and the origins of the simulcast broadcasts that exist today – that Flagstaff became his permanent home.

“Soul Crushing” Hiatus

With Strohman finally able to call Flagstaff home, his lifelong dream finally materialized, until it vanished. In 1998, KAFF lost the broadcasting rights to the university, which effectively ended his run as Voice of the Lumberjacks – temporarily.

“I missed it every single day,” Strohman said. “It was soul crushing. When KAFF Radio lost those rights, it really impacted me on a personal level, and quite frankly a professional level. It gnawed at me that I wasn’t calling games for Northern Arizona University any longer and I thought my dream of being the Voice of the Lumberjacks for my entire career until retirement was over.”

During a six-year hiatus, Strohman bounced between a few professional roles. After departing from KAFF, he served as news director at the now-defunct KNAZ-TV Channel 2 (NBC affiliate), public information office at Flagstaff Unified School District and government affairs director with Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce.

Through it all, Strohman ached to get back to doing what he loved most. The opportunity presented itself ahead of the 2005 football season.

Returning with a Support System

With the backing of former NAU Associate Athletic Director and current Montana Athletic Director Kent Haslam, Strohman returned to his true passion as an independent contractor. He has served as Voice of the Lumberjacks since.

Even though Haslam negotiated to bring Strohman back, his return would not have been possible without the most influential person in his life.

Strohman and his wife, Ana, were married in 2001. He said if it wasn’t for her blessing, his life would have been very different in the last two decades.

“Ana fully supported my returning to the role of Voice of the Lumberjacks in 2004,” Strohman said. “She wanted me to chase my dream. I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do with us being recently married, blending our two families together and trying to build a life as one family. I will forever be grateful to her for letting me pursue my dream and for being there for our kids when I couldn’t be.”

Being a Division I play-by-play broadcaster has its perks, but it also has its share of long and frequent stretches away from home. Since taking over the reins for good, Strohman has missed his children’s athletic games, concerts and birthdays. His wedding anniversary in late November is often a conflict between the overlapping month where both basketball and football compete.

Ana has been by his side every step of the way and has been an important part of a support system, which includes his two children, Zach and Catalina. Strohman credits his family with allowing him to follow his dream.

From Fox Sports Arizona to Pluto TV to CW Phoenix to ESPN+, Strohman has had the pleasure of sharing a broadcast with many talented announcers from Mike Patrick to Dave Brown to James Malamas for basketball. He’s done volleyball and soccer broadcasts with Kelley Sliva McKee and Cee Cee Odorfer. In the football booth, he stood shoulder to shoulder with NAU Hall of Fame quarterbacks Greg Wyatt and Travis Brown.

But when a Lumberjack thinks of Strohman, it is almost impossible to not think of his broadcast partner Kevin Stephens. For the last 21 football seasons, Strohman has spent each game alongside Stephens, who is also one of his best friends.

“I have been privileged to know Kevin since he was an NAU Lumberjack quarterback and from the first year we were together, we hit it off immediately, and that relationship grew quickly to one where he became very important to me as a friend and a person,” Strohman said. “His family has become very important to me. I’ve watched his children grow up from incredible kids to young adults.

“Kevin is someone that I value and treasure at a level beyond professionally. His friendship and his love and support for me is a big reason why I have done this for as long as I have. To know him and his family, it’s one of the greatest privileges of my life.”

Leaving a Legacy

Strohman’s tenure as Voice of the Lumberjacks has taken him to bucket list arenas such as Allen Fieldhouse and Pauley Pavilion to walking the Grove prior to a football game at Ole Miss.

When asked about his most memorable games, Strohman points out Archie Amerson’s seven-touchdown performance against Weber State (1996), NCAA Tournament clashes for NAU men’s and women’s basketball against Cincinnati (1998) and Baylor (2006) respectively, volleyball’s landmark upset of No. 8 Florida (2018) and football’s historic win at Arizona (2021).

But as rich as those memories were, Strohman takes pride in helping the next generation. Strohman has impacted the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of students through his years as a part-time instructor in NAU’s School of Communication in the ‘90s and more recently as General Manager of NAU-TV – a “life-changing” role he assumed in 2016.

“A lot of my former students are big time in the biz and it’s cool to know that I may have had just a tiny bit of influence on them and their careers leaving NAU,” Strohman said. “That’s the legacy. The legacy is passing it on to the next generation because my shelf life is about to reach its expiration and we have to give back so doing what we all love can continue.”

Forever Home

As Strohman nears the sunset of his career, he finds solace. He spent his life searching for a home and discovering his true passion.

Flagstaff – and specifically Northern Arizona University – has filled Strohman’s heart with love, brought him lifelong friends, and given him the opportunity of a lifetime.

“From the very first moment I put on a headset to call an NAU football game in 1991, I was smitten by being the Voice of Northern Arizona University Lumberjack football and basketball,” Strohman said. “It captured me in a way that nothing else I’ve ever done in my professional career has. I chose to make Flagstaff my home and it welcomed me and my family with open arms. There’s no way to articulate in words what that love has meant to me.”

Without Flagstaff, Strohman wouldn’t have met his wife. Without the Lumberjacks, he wouldn’t have confidants in Stephens or his colleagues across the Big Sky Conference including Larry Weir, Riley Corcoran, Keaton Gillogly and Chris King.

This symbiotic relationship goes both ways, though. Without Strohman, Lumberjack fans wouldn’t have had the opportunity to share experiences with someone who dedicated his life to Northern Arizona University. 

When Strohman signs off for the last time and his final “3-shot, BANG” has been delivered, it’ll mark the end of a defining career. The Lumberjacks will continue with a new voice, but those connections Strohman and fans share – those will last forever.