by Karl Terry
Shortly after graduating from Portales High School in 2008 Clint Brakebill left his hometown but through the magic of television he’s still in Portales living rooms every night.
Brakebill accomplishes that feat as sports director for KAMR Local 4 News and Fox 14 News, a career he’s been pursuing since 2014. He hit a milestone this spring by being selected Sportscaster of the Year in the Texas Broadcast News Awards presented by the Texas Association of Broadcasters on April 13.
Brakebill’s rich baritone voice, likely inherited from his dad Warren, along with a honed clear delivery of stories and the ability to talk well off-script have a lot to do with receiving that award. But it might also be something else that he’s quick to point out — he and his team always go over-and-above to cover local sports.
“Covering local athletes, that’s where it’s at for me,” says Brakebill. “We get to go to state and treat our local athletes like they’re on the Dallas Cowboys, that’s important. We give them a platform to showcase their talents.”
Brakebill’s father Warren operated a barbershop for over 50 years in Portales and was present in his kids’ lives growing up — especially sports. Clint played all sports growing up and he said he was fortunate to have had his dad coaching him through Little League baseball in Portales.
He got somewhat serious about rodeo and team roping but once he hit high school he devoted himself to baseball where he played from 8th grade all through high school as a Portales Ram.
“In Little League I remember the great battles we had against Elida, Dora and other schools, he said. “But making it to the state championship my last year of high school baseball with Coach (Art) Ontiveros and assistant coach Dusty Nusser, it was a great season and certainly my favorite memory of sports growing up.”
He remembers rodeo being a big part of his family life growing up with older brothers Rocky, Davy, Donald and sister Joni Visser. Rocky and Davy live in Portales and Joni lives in California. Donald died in 2008. Clint’s mom and dad both live in Portales where his dad is retired and his mother Kristy Walsh is a nurse practitioner at Roosevelt General specializing in women’s health.
Young Clint knew he could talk and listening to all the great rodeo and roping announcers, he thought that might be his calling. Baseball was very, very good to Clint though, and he later considered sports play-by-play as a possible career.
“I remember listening to Joe Buck and Tim McCarver broadcasting the World Series and I thought more about how they called that play-by-play than I did the game itself,” he said.
After high school he received his bachelor’s degree in broadcasting at West Texas A&M University. While there he did an internship with KAMR and it was then he knew that sports broadcasting would be his calling. After graduating he did a brief stint with a station in Wichita Falls but when the sports director’s position at KAMR opened up he jumped at the chance to get back to Amarillo as a sports director no less.
Along the way he met and married his wife Kennedy, a pharmacist at Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo. They have one son and are expecting a second son at the end of June.
There’s not much hesitation about his favorite team in professional sports being the Dallas Cowboys but he loves the Rangers and Mavs as well and feels fortunate to have been able to cover professional sports.
“Being a Dallas Cowboys fan I was always wearing Cowboys gear my whole life, said Brakebill. “My favorite player was Dez Bryant and to get to talk with him was one of my favorite moments.”
Brakebill says he was also on hand for the epic October, 2016 Bedlam Game at AT&T Stadium. It was Patrick Mahomes’ first game in AT&T Stadium and his Texas Tech Red Raiders lost to Baker Mayfield’s Oklahoma Sooners 66-59. He says it’s the most exciting game he’s ever covered.
Most recently Brakebill was selected as the NextStar Network’s national reporter for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in April. He reported live for several days prior to the race and finished the assignment up by interviewing NASCAR legend Chase Elliot in the winner’s circle.
Another recent step forward in his career happened just a few weeks ago, when he became co-anchor for Fox 14 News at 9 p.m. He said very few broadcasters take on the job of sports director and news anchor at the same time. He said when the job came open he talked to his bosses about the idea and they gave him the opportunity and support to spread his wings, increase his salary for a growing family all while staying in the market he loves.
“I care about our station, I know I’m going to be here and I really want to give the people we serve a voice.
“In my personal life I’m focused on being a good dad, husband, son and brother to my family. That’s where it’s at for me,” sums Brakebill.
According to his Mother, Christy Walsh; “As a young boy Clint has been very passionate about sports and has always had a love for people and especially entertaining others, this has been a constant for him into adulthood. It is such a joy as his Mother to see him turn his God given talents into a career where he can serve his community in an impactful way. It makes me incredibly proud to see his dreams realized though his perseverance and hard work.”
