When one thinks of Saint Louis University Billiken basketball, a few images may pop into a fan’s head: Rick Majerus, the newly minted Chaifetz Arena, Larry Hughes’s dominance, and if you go way back, the 1961 NIT finalist team. They are all likely candidates.

Now if you were to ask a Billiken fan what the first sound to pop into their head, it would not be the typical basketball fan’s answer.

To a SLU fan, the steady drumming of the ball on the hardwood, the roar of the crowd after a big slam-dunk or the fight song all elicit powerful memories and emotions, that is for sure.

However, there is only one voice of Billiken basketball.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Bob Ramsey.

To give you a sense of the legacy Ramsey has created for himself, first consider this—the man has seen five SLU head coaches throughout his time as game announcer for the Billikens.

Most of us on campus cannot even name Majerus’s predecessor (Brad Soderberg, by the way). This man has seen it all during his 25 years of calling SLU basketball, the highs and lows, the NCAA tournaments and the postseason misses.

You name a significant Billikens basketball moment of the 80s, 90s or new millennium, he has probably seen it. In most cases, he probably called it.

Affectionately known as “The Rammer,” Ramsey’s announcing roots do not run too far from the SLU campus itself.

He began at Lindenwood University, but in the late 1970s, he began covering local high school De Smet Jesuit’s football and basketball games.

“It’s really a long story, but to be honest, it all began when I left Lindenwood. “

“I ended up doing De Smet basketball and football because (former SLU head coach) Rich Grawer was coaching there at the time,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey and Grawer both left De Smet in 1980.

A few years later, Grawer was hired as head coach of the Billikens and reached out to Ramsey, hoping to lure him into calling SLU games.

However, an agreement was never reached, and Ramsey continued to call games at Louisiana Tech University.

In the fall of 1985, Ramsey moved back to the St. Louis area to work for KPLR. While covering games at Louisiana Tech, he began to develop the deep passion for college basketball that has become as much a part of him as his voice.

The only problem was that no one in St. Louis shared his love of the game at the time.

While working at KPLR, he began covering SLU games, something that had rarely been done at the time.

“By then (1985), having been at Louisiana Tech with Karl Malone and having covered NCAA tournaments, I was hooked on college basketball and nobody here was, really.“

“So within my duties at Channel 11 (KPLR), I was at every game doing game stories, and my news directors go ‘what are you doing?’”Ramsey said.

Luckily, Ramsey understood college basketball’s huge potential in St. Louis and pressed on with his coverage of the Billikens.

“I just said to them, ‘I’m telling you, this is a sleeping giant. This is going to be a great opportunity.”

“Rather than wait… why don’t we cover this team as it goes?’” Ramsey said. “Because I knew how great they were that first season I was covering them.”

Covering basketball for a TV station was satisfying, but Ramsey was intrigued at the prospect of calling the Billikens game as a play-by-play announcer on the radio.

Ramsey contacted the man with the job then, Tim Stephens.  “If your play-by-play job ever comes open, I’d sure love to be a candidate,” Ramsey told him.

The next summer, they made a change. Ramsey was paired with Mike Clayborn, finalizing the KFNS radio broadcast team for the ’89-‘90 season and beginning the first chapter of what would become a 25-year (and counting) tenure as the voice of the Billikens.

In 2009, the Billikens moved from KFNS to their current home, WXOS, or more commonly known as ESPN radio in St. Louis.

The move was not easy for Ramsey after breaking into the business and investing so much of his career with KFNS.

However, the lure of calling SLU games proved too much, and Ramsey made the decision to switch stations.

“When the Billikens moved, it was really a key element in deciding to move from KFNS to 101. It was like the tipping point.”

“It’s hard for me when you remove the Billiken piece. I had equity in KFNS; I helped build the place up, and it was a very difficult decision, but once the Billikens moved I knew that it was the move to make,” Ramsey said.

“Once I made the move, I realized regardless of the Billikens, it was a great move to make because of the corporate backing and the way the company goes about things. I guess in that regard, I’m lucky the Billikens moved here and I followed.”

As for his strategy for calling basketball games, Ramsey tries to use words, phrases and tones that make the listener feel like their sitting at the game next to him. Part of that philosophy involves showing his emotion and displaying his passion for the game.

“I take some good-natured ribbing about getting excited, getting angry, but I know that if I was at the game as a ticket buyer, I’d be yelling at the ref, getting excited when the team scored, mad when they made a mistake, and all those sorts of things,” Ramsey said.

“You don’t want to be insane. You have to tell the story of the game.”

His enthusiasm for the game is what sets him apart from other broadcasters though and has made him almost a cult hero in the SLU community. When listening to him on the radio, fans can expect genuine emotion, likely the same emotions they would feel while watching the game.

“There’s a lot of guys who can say ‘Smith passes to Jones. Johnson shoots’ and then give you the score,” Ramsey said. “But I think the enthusiasm I bring is what has endeared me to the fans.”

Some listeners tend to mistake his enthusiasm for raw bias. While Ramsey admits he is a huge Billiken fan, he does not hesitate to be critical of the team, administration, players and coaches like any fan would be. There is a big difference between a homer and a fan, and the former Bob Ramsey is not.

“Am I biased? Yes, by definition. Of course I want the Billikens to win. But if you really listen, I don’t say that every play is a great play, and every player is a great player. You have to have credibility. If the team is playing bad or the individual is playing bad, it is important to say that, but when things are great, people know that they can believe it that way,” Ramsey said.

Being a fan, Ramsey naturally has his opinion on the state of the Billiken basketball program and the University as a whole.  He has been impressed by the administration’s commitment to upgrading the campus and its facilities, most notably Chaifetz Arena.  Ramsey sees Chaifetz and the state-of-the-art facilities as a tool that can be used to commit to play for the Billikens.

“I think the University got it right with Chaifetz Arena. I call it the jewel of midtown,” Ramsey said. “Not even just the arena, but the University as a whole. I’ve seen them all, and I would stack it up against any inner-city campus in the country.”

Ramsey also had high praise for Rick Majerus’s efforts as head coach, especially on the recruiting trail. Despite not having a NCAA bid and toiling through his toughest season to date, Ramsey acknowledges Majerus’s intention to build a sustainable program here at SLU, not a one-and-done squad.

Ramsey continued, “What Rick is doing is stacking classes. He’s not looking to build a team during a given year. He’s looking to build a program, and you have to continue to stack classes when you build a program.  They have a seven-footer coming in, and by the time he comes around next fall, you’ll have scholarships to get more players.  It’s stacking, and it’s how you build a program.”

Ramsey shows no signs of slowing down as the voice of Billikens basketball. His wit, knowledge and love of the game continue to capture listeners’ hearts and attention. Rammer has firmly established himself as a part of Billiken basketball lore.

And as for being considered a cult hero, Ramsey jokingly had this to say.

“Rev. Jim Jones was a cult hero too, so you got to be careful with that. But you know what? I would like the listeners to drink the Billiken Kool-Aid.”