Author: Pat Sweeney
Pat Sweeney spent — er, survived — nearly 35 years as a North Dakota TV sportscaster with stops in Williston, Dickinson and Grand Forks. While working 32 years at WDAZ in Grand Forks, he was a three-time winner of the North Dakota Sportscaster of the Year award. During the flood of 1997, he switched to news reporting and helped WDAZ win a national Edward R. Murrow Award for its coverage. For 28 years, he was the TV play-by-play announcer for UND men's hockey, football and men's and women's basketball games. He also called UND football games on radio in 1992 and 2015. In September 2014, he finally started working "normal" hours, taking a job at the University of North Dakota. He produces video features for the UND website and does some community relations work. The St. Paul native's athletic claim to fame is holding Minnesota Twins manager Paul Molitor's water bottle for two years as the manager of the Cretin High School basketball team.
