Gridiron Glory 25: Where are they now? Season 21 Host Joe Hennessy

Even though Joe Hennessy only graduated from Ohio University four and a half years ago, he still can’t believe how far Gridiron Glory has come.

“It’s so awesome that it continues to thrive,” said Hennessy. “It’s so important for those communities. Without Gridiron, high school football players in that region don’t really get coverage. It’s about the high school kids trying their best, and for many of them high school is it because there is a big chance they won’t play football at next level.”

Hennessy knows about that firsthand. Growing up, he wanted to play football in college. But that didn’t work out the way he had planned.

“I knew I wanted to do sports starting in middle school,” said Hennessy. “I wanted to be a football player in a journalism program. But the football part didn’t work out. However, journalism did. I wanted to be a sports broadcaster.”

As soon as he arrived on campus at Ohio University, Hennessy got involved with Gridiron Glory. He covered a Game of the Week with the host at the time, Dani Dean.

“After that, I realized that Gridiron was what I wanted to do,” Hennessy said.

Hennessy spent Friday nights helping wherever needed, which included editing video and learning the WOUB newsroom computer program, ENPS.

After high school football season was over, Hennessy started working on WOUB’s high school basketball show, Hardwood Heroes, and became an on-air reporter for the show during his freshman year. By his sophomore year, Hennessy was ready to be more involved on-air for Gridiron.

“I became a reporter for the MVL that year,” said Hennessy.

He continued reporting for his junior year and then, for his senior year, Hennessy decided to put his name in the hat to be considered for Gridiron host.

“I knew starting freshman year that I wanted to be the host,” said Hennessy. “I thought I could do it. I had a lot of experience with both Gridiron and Hardwood. When I found out that I had been selected, it was a dream come true.”

Hennessy says he is particularly proud of a segment he helped to create for the show during his season as host.

“I don’t think they do it anymore,” said Hennessy with a laugh. “But it was a segment called Lineman Love. We found clips of long run plays or exciting touchdowns and then talked about the lineman, what happened and how they opened up the hole. It’s one of those things where sports broadcasters always talk about the touchdowns, but never give the lineman any love. I was really proud of that.”

But Lineman Love wasn’t the only part of Gridiron Glory that Hennessy remembers and enjoyed.

“Some of my favorite days were the preseason media day with the players and the coaches roundtable, presenting the GG Player of the Year live, and all of the mid-week recaps and previews for upcoming games,” said Hennessy. “Those were a blast with my fellow WOUBers!”

After graduation, Hennessy got a job in Topeka, Kansas as a multimedia journalist. After about two years, he moved to KCTV 5 in Kansas City where he works as a multimedia news journalist who can cover sports when needed.

“There are plenty of news angles on sports stories in this big sports market,” said Hennessy. “I am able to do business and money angles on the Chiefs and Royals.”

Hennessy says he credits the success he has had in his career to Ohio University, WOUB and Gridiron Glory.

“It was so awesome to be a host on a live show in college. It’s unique. Being on TV starting my freshman year and hosting a live football show every Friday night, that’s an opportunity unique to OHIO and WOUB that I don’t think people really know about. I’m so proud of the experience I had with it.”