When Brandon was in second grade, he made a book about himself and one of the pages was titled "What I want to be when I grow up." Brandon put "I want to be a sports announcer for ESPN." Brandon has loved sports as longs as he can remember. He watches sporting events whenever possible, reads up on anything related to sports and can beat anyone at any sports trivia game.
He was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. In high school he received 9 varsity letters in 3 different sports. He graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism from Brigham Young University in August 2007. He still resides in Provo, Utah with his beautiful wife Amy whom he has been married to for one and a half years.
Brandon has worked for BYU Broadcasting for two years. He was assistant sports producer and, after he graduated, was asked to produce True Blue. He was also a part of the filming and creation of a documentary on the BYU men's soccer team. He traveled with the team to Mexico on their service trip in the spring of 2006 to capture and portray the talent, honor and humility the BYU men's soccer team shows as they go into the world and represent BYU. Brandon sideline reported for various BYU sporting events and also anchored a few episodes of the BYU Daily News. Brandon also works freelance broadcasts on the side.
Brandon loves his work. He couldn't be happier with his current career path. His favorite part of the job is interacting with fans that love BYU Sports. His favorite BYU sports moments are storming the field as a fan after the 2001 BYU vs. Utah football game and playing pick-up basketball with Danny Ainge in the Marriot Center during a BYU Sports Camp while in high school.
In his free time, Brandon loves to go out to eat, watch movies, play sports, watch sports (either on TV or live), and spend time with his wife, family, and friends.
Toni Stauffer Cook: Assistant Producer, Alternate Host, Reporter
Toni was born in Provo while her parents were attending BYU. Soon after BYU, they moved to Walnut Creek, California for a few years, and then to Toppenish, Washington where Toni grew up.
The oldest of 5 children, Toni grew up competing in volleyball, basketball, tennis, and track. For a few years Toni even took kickboxing lessons with her dad and, later, her mom. Toni remembers many family home evenings consisting of a large pizza and Monday Night Football where her dad had the family sing Are You Ready for Some Football as the "opening song."
Toni decided early in her freshman year at BYU (much thanks to Jason Parker) that sports broadcasting would be her college track. The next four years were spent doing everything from volunteer work at BYU sporting events; to freelancing with CSTV, Fox Sports Network, The Mtn., and ESPN; and, finally, becoming the sideline reporter for BYU-TV covering men's and women's volleyball, women's basketball and baseball.
Some highlights of Toni's broadcast career include interviewing Tony Gwynn, Vern Law, Rob Morris, and Chad Lewis; working for ESPN at the Vegas Bowl; and getting a wink from David Beckham while standing sideline at the Real Madrid vs. Real Salt Lake game.
Toni graduated in April 2007 with plans to accept a job offer with Fox in Vermont as a sports reporter. However, soon after she became engaged to Matt Cook, and KBYU asked her to stick around as a reporter/assistant producer for the new show True Blue. The choice was simple!
Toni enjoys being outdoors, cliff jumping, the ocean, fireworks, movies, rook, and spending time with family and friends. If you have any questions or comments for Toni you can email her at toni.stauffer@yahoo.com
Jarom Jordan: Reporter
Jarom has been an avid sports fan since birth. His first word was ball. He considers himself a BYU sports fanatic and attends any and all the events he can. He was born in Mountain Home, Idaho in 1983 and moved to Oregon, California and Washington before landing in Utah in 1995.
Jarom has received several awards for his broadcasting work, including an award from the Society of Professional Journalists and more recently a Gold "UBEE" from the Utah Broadcasters Association for his video diary on BYU swimmer, Brett Allen.
His real passion is doing play-by-play. He has called over 50 games in a combined six different sports. In fact, one of Jarom's calls was on Fox Sports Networks "Best Damn Sports Show Period" in March 2007 for his call of an 85-foot buzzer beater between Orem and Timpview High Schools.
Outside of BYU Broadcasting, Jarom anchors sports and news for the BYU Daily News, as well as hosts a weekly high school sport show called "Sports Valley" on iProvo.
His favorite part of the job is the interaction with the athletes and being paid to be on television in association with BYU sports. His favorite moments at BYU have been working for ESPN at the 2006 Las Vegas Bowl, being on the sideline when John Beck connected with Johnny Harline against Utah, sitting sixth row behind the bench of the USA Basketball team this summer and seeing the international super stars of Real Madrid up close versus Real Salt Lake.
Outside of sports broadcasting, he enjoys watching movies, playing any sport (except curling) and being with his family.
Drew was born in Boston, MA on February 15, 1984. Drew has been surrounded by sports his entire life. He enjoys playing and watching all sports. His favorite sport to play and watch is baseball, and he is a HUGE Boston Red Sox fan. He is a big fan of all the Boston sports teams, and doesn't think life as a Boston sports fan could get much better than it is right now.
Drew has been around sports broadcasting his whole life because his father is a sports reporter/anchor for WCVB-TV in Boston. Drew loves watching and covering BYU sports, and wishes he were good enough to play on the baseball team. But after trying out twice, and failing both times, he will have to settle for just reporting on them.
One of Drew's most memorable sports moments was attending Game 3 of the 2007 World Series as a member of the media, and watching his home town team win it for the second time in four years.
Drew is not a good enough broadcaster to have won any awards yet, but he hopes to be as good as Jarom some day. Drew's "True Blue" debut was on January 15, 2008.
Drew is currently a student at BYU, and will be graduating in April 2008.
Jessica: Editor
A "creative techie," Jessica loves editing everything together and creating special effects for intros and promos.
Lindsay Walton: Editor
We currently have no information on Lindsay Walton. She may or may not exist.
Amy Kendall: Public Relations Specialist
On the plane home for Christmas her freshman year of college, Amy spent four hours talking to another BYU student who had ended up sitting next to her. When he asked about her parents, Amy described her dad as quiet but said her mom liked to talk and made up for her dad's silence. At that, the guy on the plane turned to Amy and said, "Oh, so you're more like your mom." Though it took her another year to figure it out, Amy followed her love of talking (and writing) into the communications field.
Amy is now a senior at BYU, majoring in public relations. She has worked with BYU Broadcasting for almost two years: first as a production assistant in the BYUB studios and now on the PR for True Blue. Her experience with sports extends to church basketball when she was 15 and football games her freshman and sophomore years of college (mostly for the guys). But True Blue is teaching her a lot, and, at the very least, she's gained a much greater appreciation for the time and effort that goes into sports broadcasting and the loyalty of true sports fans.
After two weeks of life, John moved to Covina, California (east of West Covina) and spent the rest of his childhood years in the same house. Sine he was little, John has always loved sports, and enjoys watching them in their respective venues. He has played soccer, baseball, football, cross-country and track (110 high hurdles, 300 hurdles, pole vault, 1600 meters, 800 meters and triple jump; not all at the same time). John also enjoys snowboarding and playing with friends.
He first fell in love with making videos in high school. He enjoyed producing projects that students and teachers alike would look forward to watching. The first shot that made him giddy about camera work was while making a commercial for his human anatomy class.
After attending college for two years, John missed the excitement of making videos and producing something that others would enjoy watching. He applied for a job at BYU Broadcasting to get back into what he loved. Since being hired in spring of 2006, John has traveled across the west (Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Nevada) bringing quality entertainment to the world.
Some of the proudest moments in his career have been working hand-held cameras at various sporting events, being able to travel, being hit by Lee Cummard and Ben Murdock while working one of the BYU basketball games this season, and being mentioned by Jarom Jordan twice in the same episode of True Blue for excellent camera work. John's work has also made it to highlight reels on ESPN's SportsCenter, Fox Sports West and other channels.
John is also scuba certified and hopes that will take him even further in his cinematographic and videographic career.
Diane Mayne: Camera
Diane is currently working on her final capstone project in the film department and is extremely busy.
Toni was born in Provo while her parents were attending BYU. Soon after BYU, they moved to Walnut Creek, California for a few years, and then to Toppenish, Washington where Toni grew up.
Jarom has been an avid sports fan since birth. His first word was ball. He considers himself a BYU sports fanatic and attends any and all the events he can. He was born in Mountain Home, Idaho in 1983 and moved to Oregon, California and Washington before landing in Utah in 1995.
Drew was born in Boston, MA on February 15, 1984. Drew has been surrounded by sports his entire life. He enjoys playing and watching all sports. His favorite sport to play and watch is baseball, and he is a HUGE Boston Red Sox fan. He is a big fan of all the Boston sports teams, and doesn't think life as a Boston sports fan could get much better than it is right now.
A "creative techie," Jessica loves editing everything together and creating special effects for intros and promos.
