Dubuque banker is the new voice of U of I Hawkeyes

Northwestern Financial Review, Oct 18, 1997

Customers doing business with Mercantile Bank of Eastern Iowa in Dubuque might hear a familiar voice when they deal with one bank employee. That employee, Gary Dolphin, is the new voice of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes.

Dolphin began play-by-play broadcasts of the Hawkeye football team in September. Once football season is over, he will move to basketball broadcasts until that season is over in March.

Broadcasting is nothing new for Dolphin. Before he joined Mercantile (then First National Bank) in 1987, Dolphin had worked as a sports broadcaster for 10 years in television, and seven years in radio.

Dolphin said he joined the bank at a time when bankers were just starting to focus more on marketing efforts. He wasn't looking for a job as a banker, but knew a few people who worked at the Dubuque bank who proposed he come to work there. "I was shocked initially because I didn't balance my own checkbook, let alone someone else's," he said.

With the agreement that he could pursue broadcasting on the side, Dolphin began working in marketing and business development. Through the years, Dolphin was able to broadcast numerous high school sporting events, including state tournaments.

In 1990, he got a chance to do the play-by-play broadcasts for the basketball team at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

With every Iowa kid's dream to grow up to be a broadcaster for the Hawkeyes, Dolphin jumped at the chance when he heard about the job opening at U of I. Dolphin was an ardent Hawkeye fan, and grew up in Cascade, Iowa, 25 miles from Dubuque.

Out of the 63 applicants for the job, only two were interviewed. Though his chances of getting the job were one out of two, Dolphin still didn't plan on landing it. "When you shoot for your life dream job, you assume you're not going to get it," he said.

But he did get it and worked out an arrangement with the bank to work part-time. Since being named to the post in May, Dolphin has done more than 40 engagements promoting the Hawkeyes across the state of Iowa. With the start of the football season, Dolphin did the first play-byplay broadcast on Sept. 6.

He averages about three and a half days in the bank, traveling to Iowa City on Tuesdays to partake in a press conference, then to Cedar Rapids Thursday evenings for a radio call-in show, and leaving early Fridays for the weekend's game. Dolphin said the bank has been "very gracious" in accommodating his schedule. When he first approached the bank's leadership, he didn't know what to expect. "They could have easily said, you're done," he said.

His new schedule takes time management, he said. Besides juggling his duties as assistant vice president at the bank, Dolphin is married and has a son who is a freshman in high school.

Dolphin said he tries to incorporate banking and broadcasting as much as he can. He tries to promote the bank when he's representing the Hawkeyes, and talks to coaching personnel about investments. Similarly, Dolphin is known for his broadcasting work among bankers.

He sees parallels between the two. "There's a lot of crossover between the two, mainly service and a people business," he said.

Dolphin, or "Dolph," as he is known on the air, said the season is going better than expected. Long-time attributes, he said, have helped him. "I'm not afraid to work hard and know how to work with others," he said.