In the Front Row
UNCW Seahawks announcer Mike Vaccaro gives the play-by-play on his sports stories podcast.
Mike Vaccaro is more than the play-by-play voice of the University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW) Seahawks for his listenership. He has a bigger story to tell the world.
“I don’t know if I’m as good of an interviewee as I am an interviewer,” he admits with a laugh as I interview him for this story.
Vaccaro, 51, who has been calling UNCW baseball and basketball games since 2004, originally hails from Hazelton, Pennsylvania, and earned a bachelor’s in broadcast journalism from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1995. Today, he also serves as assistant director of marketing at UNCW.
“I’ve been in North Carolina since ’95,” the Leland resident says. “I’ve lived here more than anywhere else, so I’m a lifer, especially in the Wilmington area.”
But Vaccaro’s work at UNCW is not the only thing that keeps him busy.
On September 20, 2021, he launched his podcast, In the Front Row with Mike Vaccaro, in which he interviews past professional basketball, baseball and football players, Hall of Famers and other pros in the sports realm.
“Each episode is dedicated to our guests and their story,” Vaccaro says. “And that story is always great to hear because a lot of these guys went pro in a different sport than they thought they were better at. … But things changed and their body changed and situations changed and they became a pro in these other sports. So you know their names, but to really dive into it and hear the story from them has been a lot of fun. And we’ve talked to a lot of people that we never thought we would!”
One of Vaccaro’s more memorable guests was Michael Eruzione, captain of the 1980 Olympics U.S. Men’s Hockey Team.
“He was very humble and very down to earth, being that he was involved in maybe one of the biggest moments in American sports history,” Vaccaro says. “To hear him tell the story from his perspective — something that, as a kid, you grow up reading about or listening to — who was instrumental in that moment was pretty cool to have.”
Pacing his podcast to host guests a few times a month, Vaccaro has also hosted standouts like Ed Marinaro, former running back for the Minnesota Vikings, who was recruited from the NFL to Hollywood to star in movies and TV shows such as Hill Street Blues.
Vaccaro also likes to spotlight all-star UNCW athlete alumni who went on to bigger things, such as former basketball player Brett Blizzard and former top-scoring baseball player Daniel Hargrave, who works with the Avengers series and was Captain America’s stunt double. Hargrave is currently the stunt coordinator for Outer Banks.
“It’s been cool to have had a chance to connect with a couple of folks that have UNCW ties and have them on the show,” Vaccaro says.
Listen Up
You can hear Mike Vaccaro’s voice for the UNCW Seahawks basketball and baseball on 95.9 FM The Breeze or ESPN Wilmington.
The In The Front Row with Mike Vaccaro podcasts can be viewed and subscribed on YouTube. If you know of someone who should appear on the podcast, email Vaccaro at vaccarom@uncw.edu.
Request a copy today!
