Greg Echlin
Sports ReporterSports have an economic and social impact on our community and, as a sports reporter, I go beyond the scores and statistics. I also bring the human element to the sports figures who have a hand in shaping the future of not only their respective teams but our town. Reach me at gregechlin@aol.com.
Ever since setting foot on the baseball diamond at Fernwood Park on Chicago's South Side, I've loved the world of sports. After graduating from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, I worked as a TV sports anchor and a radio sportscaster in Salina, Kansas. I moved to Kansas City in 1984 and have been here covering sports ever since. Through the years, I have covered multiple Super Bowls, Final Fours and Major League Baseball's World Series and All-Star games.
With my high metabolism rate, I'm able to enjoy a good meal and stay slim when I'm not running around on the sports scene. I love desserts, even making them. Cheesecakes, pies and parfaits are the most common around the Echlin household.
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Half of this year's Team USA shotgun trapshooters hail from within an hour of Kansas City. Army Staff Sgt. Rachel Tozier grew up competing in rural Pattonsburg, Missouri, to the north. Derrick Main was raised on a family farm in Walnut, Kansas, to the south. -
Only about 5% of college baseball players and coaches are African American. At Kansas Christian College, team leaders have made a deliberate effort to recruit from inner-city Kansas City — boosting Black representation in the process. -
Herzog led the Royals to their first ever playoff appearances and three straight American League West titles. In St. Louis, the Hall of Fame manager launched the Cardinals to a World Series championship. -
The Kansas State School for the Blind in Kansas City, Kansas, celebrated the opening of its brand new soccer field on Friday. -
Stanley Redwine previously served on the international stage as the USA men’s coach at the 2022 IAAF World Outdoor Championships, and a USA assistant coach for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. -
The renderings were released as Jackson County residents prepare to vote on a proposed sales tax extension that would help fund stadium improvements at Truman Sports Complex, and a new stadium for the Royals in Kansas City's Crossroads neighborhood. -
The Chiefs trailed the San Francisco 49ers at halftime, but rallied to tie the game at the end of regulation. After San Francisco managed only a field goal in their first overtime possession, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs marched down the field to victory. -
Going to the Super Bowl as a running backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs is “just like a dream come true for me,” says Pinkston, who was a wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles when Andy Reid was that team's head coach. -
Graduates of historically Black colleges and universities account for an outsized number of NFL Hall of Famers. The Chiefs’ backup corner from Fayetteville State University has dreams of joining their ranks. -
George Toma, a 95-year-old former Kansas City Chiefs groundskeeper, had worked every single Super Bowl since the very first. But after a slippery playing surface in Arizona last year garnered harsh criticism from players and fans, the NFL hoped to avoid turf troubles in Las Vegas.
