Homecoming is always a special time.
For Robin Hook, Western Michigan University Class of 1978, it's extra special.
On Saturday, the Voice of the Broncos will be broadcasting his 500th WMU football game. He began his football broadcasting career for WMU in 1984 and has been going strong since then, bringing southwest Michigan fans the play-by-play on WKMI-AM at the start and now broadcasting on 106.5 Jack FM, where he can be heard over the air and on the internet.
Since his first football game in 1984, the season opener won by the Broncos over Miami, 17-13, to the most recent thrilling WMU win last Saturday, 20-17, over Buffalo, his enthusiasm for the game and for WMU has never wavered.
''In football, you only get 12 or 13 or 14 games a season so I try to make all of those games special,'' he said.
His play-by-play career actually began in 1983.
''The Spikers Club (WMU volleyball booster group) came to WKMI and asked us to do the Nebraska NCAA match,'' Hook said. ''Western Michigan won, so I did the next two matches at Purdue.''
The following March, WMU hockey made the CCHA playoffs, so it was off to Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Then in the fall of 1984, WKMI picked up football, men's basketball, hockey and volleyball and later added baseball.
And the 70-year-old hasn't slowed down one bit.
''It's an honor and privilege for me to do this for so long and hopefully for more years to come,'' Hook said. ''I'm a fan, too, and I'm an alum, so it means a lot.''
As a student, Hook went to almost all the home football games, ''and I would look up into the press box and think, 'I want to be up there.' ''
As an undergrad, he looked into the sports director's job at student-run WIDR, ''but there were like 100 people who applied, I didn't have any radio experience and a lot of those people had high school radio experience.''
He graduated from WMU with a business degree in marketing and started work in the management program at JC Penney, but the radio bug was still with him. While working at Penny's, he would send out letters to radio stations, inquiring about any part-time jobs. He finally found one at WKPR on Ravine Road in 1980.
He then moved to WKMI in 1981, doing afternoon news and sports.
''The general manager was always looking for the hot thing to do, and in 1983, the hot thing was Bronco volleyball,'' Hook said. ''The following fall we became the flagship station for football, hockey and volleyball, then we later picked up basketball and baseball.''
Eventually, he went to work for WMU, becoming an assistant and associate athletic director, handling sponsorships as his main job. He retired from WMU in 2022.
Needless to say, during the past 499 games, he's seen a lot of memorable seasons and games at Western Michigan.
''I've been fortunate to be part of three of Western Michigan's four championship seasons (1988, 2016, 2025),'' he said.
He has also broadcast 12 of WMU's 13 postseason bowl games, the first win being 45-31 over Middle Tennessee State in the 2015 Popeye's Bahamas Bowl. It was also a game Hook almost didn't get on the air.
''Back in the day, we used gear that used FAX machine technology which required a phone line and getting the line activated in that press box was challenging,'' he said with a laugh. ''We finally got it turned on about 15 minutes before the game started.
''Now, it's an internet hook up which is a breeze compared to the Bahamas Bowl.''
Hook has worked with a number of analysts, starting with former WMU quarterback Ted Grignon. Then he had Bernie Saunders, John Miller, Jim Weaver, Monte Porter, and now John Creek, a former WMU kicker, for more than 10 years.
Hook has a boatload of memories from his previous 499 football games, going back to wins over Central Michigan. The three championship seasons stand out, winning 10 of the final 11 games last season are special as well as WMU wins over big-time teams Iowa (twice), Illinois (twice), Northwestern, Vanderbilt, ''and a lot of people think we beat Michigan this season,'' Hook said.
Beyond the games, Hook has had been backed by his family. It's not a surprise to have seen his wife Ruth, daughter Chelsea, and son Jared in the Waldo Stadium radio booth throughout the years. Now they're joined by his five grandchildren.
So when you are at the game on Saturday, look up to the press box toward the booth on the far left side. The guy who has been there since 1984 will be talking about Bronco football.
