‘Voice of the Bees’ retiring after 40 years on the air

AMMON — After four decades broadcasting Bonneville Bees football and basketball games, Deb Sorenson is setting down the microphone this fall. The 79–year-old’s rich, bass voice has made him a sports icon in the region. Since 2017, the ‘Voice of the Bees’ has also covered all of Bonneville Joint School District 93 — splitting his time equally between Hillcrest, Bonneville and later Thunder Ridge High School games.

“The last few years, Hillcrest has been really dominant in basketball where they won back-to-back state championships and also runner up three years, so following them is a lot of fun,” Sorenson said.

Sorenson graduated from Bonneville in 1963. He and his wife Kathy have been married for 59 years and have two daughters and two sons – Sheri’le, Redge, Debbie Sue and Rod — who all graduated as Bees.

In the mid-1980s, he was recruited by long-time, local sportscaster Harold Scoresby to assist on the radio.

“Harold came up to me and said, ‘Hey… you’ve got a voice, and you know the game. Why don’t you come help me to do the color on the radio?’” Sorenson said.

“I’d break in if I see something on the floor, don’t over talk the guy that’s going the broadcast, but when a little break comes, then I’d say, well, so-and-so did a nice backdoor move or a nice three-point shot,” he explained.

Sorenson started off covering the first and third quarters play-by-play.

In 1992, he took over the solo Bonneville broadcasting after the construction of Hillcrest High School.

District 93 fans who couldn’t make it to the game could tune into the Sports Zone on 92.5 FM to receive the latest coverage.

For the last 16 years, he has teamed up Brady Belliston covering the sports.

“He was passionate. He knew all of (the athletes’) names,” his granddaughter Shae’le Arslanian said.

Sorenson maintained detailed records of the players’ statistics after each game. While many sportscasters simply show up and broadcast the matchup, Sorenson spent hours after every game updating each individual’s statistics in Excel.

“I felt like that if the people are interested enough to tune in, then I gotta be professional enough to give them the stats and everything that they need to enjoy the game,” he said.

He still has all of his Bonneville stats dating back to 1999.

“It has all the kids’ averages, how many points per game, how many threes they made during the year and free throw percentages,” he said.

Sorenson always enjoyed covering the Civil Wars between Bonneville and Hillcrest.

“Hillcrest has dominated in football the last little while,” he said, mentioning their state championship in 2008 with Coach Darrin Owens and a second championship in 2018 under Coach Kevin Meyer.

The only games he missed were in 2003, when he suffered a mild heart attack.

That year, the Bees won their first state basketball championship under Coach Tim Hooten.

“That was the only time I missed it, and darn it, that was the most important because that was the only state championship that Bonneville has ever won in basketball,” he said.

He has worked with a wide variety of coaches at the three schools over the past four decades.

“(Hooten) was the one of the best coaches that Bonneville has ever had over the years,” Sorenson said. “… He was no nonsense with parents and no nonsense with kids. He expected a lot out of the kids, but he gave the kids credit where credit was due.”

Sorenson also highlighted standout basketball players including Skyline’s Cleave Lewis, who played at Fresno State and later professionally in Italy and England; Bonneville’s Richie Webb, who played at BYU; and Bonneville’s Darren Johnson, who played for Utah State.

Throughout the years, he has seen basketball evolve significantly.

“Three-point shooting coming back in 1987, that made a big difference in the ball game,” he said. “Of course, I attribute that to the poor foul shooting nowadays because all the high school kids, all they want to do is shoot from the three-point line and don’t spend the time at the foul line.”

The new 30-second shot clock rule in high school basketball that went into effect last year will also have a significant impact on the game, he said.

Despite his involvement in high school athletics, Sorenson said his greatest legacy is his family.

Today, he and Kathy have 17 grandchildren – some of whom participated in basketball, baseball and cheerleading at Hillcrest – and 18 great-grandchildren.

“Even though I love sports so much, I’ve got a great family, and they support me in all I do,” he said.

Sorenson worked professionally as a salesman for Whirpool Corporation, traveling throughout eastern Idaho, Oregon and Montana, but he always made sure to be home for the games.

So after four decades, when the radio station called and said they planned to take the broadcast in-house due to budget cuts, it came as a surprise.

“That was kind of shocking, because I’d done it for so many years,” Sorenson said, “but I kind of accepted it now and said, ‘Hey, good things always come to an end eventually I guess.’”

District 93 football and basketball games will still be broadcast on 92.5 FM.

In the future, Sorenson plans to attend some games but will “be a little more selective maybe.”

For the past 40 years, he’s closed each game with his signature phrase, “Good night and good luck to good sports everywhere.”

That catchphrase will ring on in the hearts of the many listeners, athletes and coaches he’s touched across his career.

“I just really enjoyed being around the kids and around the game. That’s always been a big part of my life,” he said.