01/14/2026
They call him the 'Voice of the Hoosiers' for a reason. For over half a century, Don Fischer has been the heartbeat of Indiana University sports, through the perfect basketball season of '76 and every 'Touchdown Indiana!' since.
As Don prepares to call the National Championship game in Miami next week, we couldn’t be prouder to know and work with this Living Legend. Don, thank you for being the soundtrack to so many of our favorite memories. Go IU! 🎙️⚪️🔴
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Donald C. "Don" Fischer is a radio sports broadcaster. He has been the play-by-play radio voice of the Indiana University Hoosiers for basketball and football for over half a century. He is 79 years old (September 26, 1946) and was born in Rochelle, Illinois, about 90 minutes west of Chicago.
Fischer grew up in Northern Illinois. He has a twin brother who went on to be a Lutheran pastor. Their parents divorced when they were small children, and they were primarily raised by their mother and stepfather. He participated in baseball, football, basketball, and wrestling as a youth, but soon realized that his skill level wasn't going to make it for a career. He was still interested in making sports a part of his life. As a teen, he idolized the voice of legendary broadcaster Harry Carey, who was calling St. Louis Cardinals baseball games on KMOX radio.
After high school, Fischer went to work in a local factory. He soon found a job as a nighttime ticket clerk at a train depot in nearby Mendota. He responded to an ad in Sport Magazine for a correspondence course in sports broadcasting. He then started hanging around a local radio station after his night shift had ended at the train depot.
A friend invited Fischer to join the staff at KXLF-AM in Butte, Montana, in 1967. He served as a rock and roll disc jockey and nighttime janitor. He wasn't out west long. In 1968, he lied about his play-by-play experience to get a job at WOLI-FM in Ottawa, Illinois. He says his first high school football game was the "worst broadcast in history." The station's general manager gave him three weeks to improve. He asked for advice from a neighboring radio play-by-play announcer.
Circa 1970, Fischer became the sports director at WBOW radio in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was allowed to broadcast almost anything he wanted, and he honed his skills by doing a prolific number of events. In 1972, ownership changed at the station, and the sports department was eliminated. He returned to Ottawa and made a brief stop in Springfield, Illinois, before getting his big break.
Fischer beat out nearly 300 other applicants in 1973 for the job as sports director at WIRE-AM in Indianapolis, which included calling play-by-play for Indiana University basketball and football. He was 26 years old and knew little about the Hoosiers. He reports being scolded by the general manager for calling IU the University of Indiana three times in his first broadcast. His other duties at WIRE ended in 1992.
Bob Knight took over the IU basketball program in 1971. By his second season, the team had advanced to the Final Four. Fischer was there for the third season. The Hoosiers were on the verge of college basketball superiority. Indiana won their first 31 games in the 1974-75 season. They were upset by rival Kentucky in the NCAA tournament. The next season, they were perfect, winning all 32 games en route to the national championship. They are the last team to go undefeated. Fischer was just 29 years old when he called the championship game in Philadelphia in the spring of 1976.
The Hoosiers were flying high, and Fischer's voice resonated throughout the area in an era when many fewer games were on television. He was back in Philadelphia when IU won the championship again in 1981. Six years later, he called the memorable shot by Keith Smart that won the 1987 championship for the Hoosiers in New Orleans. They haven't won the championship since, but he has had many memorable calls since, notably a game-winning buzzer be**er by Christian Watford beating rival and number one ranked Kentucky in 2011.
IU alums Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner wanted to listen to Fischer call IU basketball games, something nearly impossible in the early 90s at their homes in Dallas. They bought a majority interest in AudioNet in 1995 and started streaming games over the internet. The company had been renamed Broadcast dot com before they sold it to Yahoo! for nearly six billion dollars in 1999. Three years later, the service was discontinued.
Calling basketball for IU was a pretty glamorous job, at least in the early decades. Calling football for the Hoosiers was anything but glamorous. Historically, they have been one of the worst teams in college football. There have been moments of success, such as the mid to late 80s, but not many and not for long. They were 3-9 as recently as the 2023 season. Indiana hired Curt Cignetti from James Madison University to take over their program. Fischer had never heard his name before when he got the job. The Hoosiers won their first 10 games under Cignetti before falling to Ohio State. The College Football Playoff (CFP) was expanded to 12 teams, and Indiana was the 10 seed. They lost to cross-state power Notre Dame in the first round, 27-17.
When Fischer sat down at the microphone for his 53rd season calling Indiana football, little did he know what was in store. They showed up on the national radar when they routed number nine-ranked Illinois in September. Their rating surged after beating the number three-ranked Oregon Ducks on the road. His voice has been replayed with the dramatic moving pictures of Omar Cooper Jr. making his acrobatic catch in front of more than 100,000 onlookers as the Hoosiers beat Penn State. They silenced many skeptics when they beat Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis early last month.
The Hoosiers entered the CFP as the number one seed and had a first-round bye. On New Year's Day, they whipped the Alabama Crimson Tide (38-3) in the Rose Bowl to advance to the semifinals. On Friday (January 9th), they put a shellacking on the Oregon Ducks (56-22) to advance to the national championship game. Fischer is expected to be heard on the IU Radio Network a week from tomorrow when the Hoosiers face the Miami Hurricanes for the championship in Miami. He is expected to call two Indiana basketball games before that happens.
Fischer was the first person to be awarded the Woody Durham Voice of College Sports Award in 2018 by the National Sports Media Association. He was awarded the Chris Schenkel Award by the National Football Foundation in 2022. He has been named Indiana Sportscaster of the Year dozens of times.
Fischer (pictured in 2025) is an avid golfer. He has four sons. He and his wife Susy primarily live in Greenwood, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis.
