Dan Ryan had plenty of chances to leave Tucson during his 20 years as KVOA-TV’s sports director.
Three times, Ryan flew to Bristol, Connecticut to audition for ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”
But the promise of fame and riches from the Worldwide Leader in Sports paled in comparison to what he had at home. He turned ESPN down.
“A long time ago, I remember somebody telling me, ‘If you find a place that you really enjoy, stay there,'” Ryan told the Star in 2005. “And I love it here.”
Ryan, the college baseball player-turned-broadcaster who was the face of Channel 4 sports for two decades, has died. He was 64.
KVOA confirmed his death earlier Monday night, and aired a tribute to him on its 10 p.m. newscast.
Dashing and athletic — he played baseball at Loyola Marymount University and tried out for a few pro teams — Ryan was a presence both behind the anchor’s desk and in public.
While at the station, he created and anchored “Friday Football Fever,” a weekly in-depth look at Southern Arizona’s high school games. Ryan was quick on his feet, and it showed during the weekly broadcast. Often, he’d learn the final score — and see the script — just minutes before he went on air.
Ryan’s passion for local sports never waned, even as he entered his final years at the station. Ryan participated in a high school football “face-off” with the Arizona Daily Star’s preps editor every Friday during the fall until his retirement.
Former KVOA anchor Tom McNamara called Ryan “a dynamo” during Monday’s tribute. He said Ryan had a gift for covering high school sports.
KVOA sports director Paul Cicala, a Tucson native, watched and admired Ryan growing up. As a high school athlete, Cicala said during Monday’s tribute, he always hoped that Ryan and his cameraman would show up to his games.
Ryan relished covering high schools and UA sporting events, but never strayed far from his baseball roots. Ryan’s favorite sports memory, he told the Star in 2005, was covering the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2001 World Series win over the New York Yankees. Luis Gonzalez’s walk-off single in the winner-take-all Game 7 led to pandemonium, he said.
“I’d never witnessed anything like that,” he said then. “The one thing that stands out was the incredible spur-of-the-moment eruption of absolute hysteria and joy.”
An Albuquerque native, Ryan began his television career at KOB-TV in New Mexico’s largest city before moving to Denver. He came to Tucson as KVOA’s sports director in 1987 and was, for a short time, paired with current NBC stalwart Dan Hicks. The two were billed as “the Dan-dest sports team in town.”
Ryan worked at the station until early 2007, when he retired from broadcasting to pursue other ventures.
Ryan said he wanted to try normal things after decades of working nights: hand out Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters, spend weekends at home and visit his two adult children, Bridget and Mickey, who lived out of state.
After leaving the air, Ryan worked for Rosemont Copper Company in public and media relations.
Former Tucson sportscaster Pete Delgado, who worked two stints under Ryan at KVOA, wrote Monday night that he will miss his former boss terribly. Ryan was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame in 2011, in part because of his dedication to local auto racing and — yes — high school sports.
“We made each other laugh and swapped many stories in that sports office,” Delgado said in a Facebook post. “We talked about life most of all and not that much about sports. I miss those times.”
Services are pending.
