Randy Youmans literally dreamed big and it paid off with the realization of a product that became part of ESPN’s diverse array of entertainment offerings.
Now he is sharing his journey with a book titled “Center Stage to Center Field: The Making of ESPN Play by Play.” It became available from major retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Walmart starting Thursday, July 9. The paperback version is $19.97, the e-book is $9.99, and a hard cover is available for $29.97 from Barnes & Noble’s website.
ESPN Play by Play launched in 2006 at the ESPN Zone at Times Square in New York. It is an interactive sports audio toy that featured ESPN branding and real sounds from teams in the NFL, NHL, NBA, and Major League Baseball.
The product, now a collector’s item, has been used as an announcing tool at church events, family gatherings, fantasy football drafts, sporting events, and elsewhere.
“ESPN Play by Play captured the DNA of ESPN,” Matt Levinson, the director of consumer products at ESPN who collaborated with Youmans, said in a press release.
Youmans, 62, is an entrepreneur who lives in Pine City with his wife, Lorrie. They have three children and four grandchildren. Sons Ryan and Ryess live in Charlotte, North Carolina; and daughter Sydney (Brenning) lives in Corning.
The former Horseheads High baseball standout said there were “so many heroes” who helped him along the way and the book spotlights family, friends and others who were part of the extended ride chronicled in his memoir.
Among jobs Youmans has held were three seasons in the front office of the Elmira Pioneers of the Northeast League. He was director of operations in 1996, assistant general manager for the 1997 league champions, and GM in 1998.
Youmans is set to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Elmira Pioneers’ 6:30 p.m. Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League contest against the Newark Pilots on Thursday, July 9 at Dunn Field. Copies of Youmans’ book will be available to be signed, and there will be a giveaway of an ESPN Play by Play.
Question: What stood out about creating ESPN Play by Play?
Answer: The creating side of it came from a dream. People talk about laying in bed one night and being woken up out of a dream or seeing a vision and going down and grabbing a piece of paper and a pencil and chicken scratching what they envisioned or dreamed. That literally happened to me. That’s how this whole thing started.
I woke up from the dream, had this vision, saw all the way to the ESPYs, saw the name of the product, saw what it looked like and everything, and went downstairs and sat at the dining room table, grabbed a scrap piece of paper and a pencil, and started chicken scratching and drawing out what I envisioned.
Q: What was it like collaborating with ESPN?
A: It was amazing. Being a sports fan myself and being a fan of ESPN from day one, it was every sports fan’s dream to be able to work with the worldwide leader of sports. It was part of the journey of spending years of reaching out and trying to contact them, along with all the NFL, NHL, NBA, Major League Baseball franchises I tried to work with.
But finally getting through to them, finally getting the right connections, and having my first meeting after my communications online and through phone calls with Matt Levinson, the director of consumer products, was pretty surreal. Most people think ESPN is strictly Bristol, Connecticut. In reality, at the time espn.com, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN consumer products division, are all located in Manhattan.
So I spent a lot of time going back and forth. Luckily I had a friend of ours who had an apartment I utilized for months and almost up to years going back and forth to Manhattan and having the meetings at ESPN and the events I had to do.
It was pretty surreal the first meeting I had with Matt. Just walking in and seeing all the branded products. I also did believe that ESPN Play by Play could be part of that. But I also knew that ESPN was going to ask me how am I using ESPN.
Pretty amazing. Here I am a small-town guy with minimal credentials and to be able to make that connection was a lot of time, a lot effort.
Q: Looking back, what are you most proud of?
A: It launched at 400 Best Buys across the country. … Going into the Carousel Mall, which is now Destiny USA in Syracuse, just walking in there the first time and seeing the likes of a retail giant like Best Buy, just seeing it on the shelves was so surreal. I kind of refer to it as the first time of seeing your own child, your baby. Not that it really compares.
Really reflecting on when you see something like that and if anybody’s ever had an idea – and people have ideas all the time – and really being able to think to themselves, ‘This is a cool idea.’ But no one has any idea the ups and downs and the journey that it takes. I can only share mine, which I have within my book and that’s why I did it. What it takes for something like that to happen. From the idea to the product to the connections to using it to how it’s made to how it looks inside, just all that. Just really feeling a sense of accomplishment.
Q: Why did you write the book?
A: I really wasn’t able to share that this was my idea, this was my invention, just because of the business side of it. So not a lot of people other than close family and friends really knew I was behind ESPN Play by Play. People would ask me out in the community, ‘Hey, we heard maybe you invented this product. Tell us about it.’ I would share the story with people, I would tell them pieces of it here and there. Then I’d always end with, ‘If you want to hear the rest of it, get the book.’ I always said that kiddingly but seriously in my mind.
Ten years ago or so I started writing down some chapters and chicken scratching some stories with it and came up with some titles. I did that for about 10 years, or close to 10 years. But I really wanted to get the story out, I really wanted to share my journey of what it really was and how it came about and how it rose to national recognition and eventually how it all ended.
Then in 2023 it eventually was accepted into The Strong National Museum of Play (in Rochester). For me, that was a great end to the story. I finally had my end to the story. Here it is, my product is now in a museum. So I thought, you know what, it’s time.
About three years ago I started doing a lot of research on publishing companies and seeing different places. And I’m a vibe guy, so I was looking for the right fit and found Books for Athletes, Kelly Cole the publisher, and talked with him, and it just felt right.
Q: Was there a period where you found a writing groove?
A: At the end of 2022 or 2023 is when I approached the Strong National Museum of Play and flirted with that a little bit and spoke to them. They said, ‘We’d like to have you apply for acceptance into the museum.’ When that all happened, that really started, this is it, now I have an ending. Probably from that point on, from 2023, things kind of got really rolling for me. I started really forming the chapters, the ideas. Then joining with the publishing company helped me fine tune the stories and helped me in a direction.
Ironically, when I first started with the publishing company things were kind of going in one direction and my mindset was an idea of how it’s going to be and all these different stories I had. Like in life sometimes, you’ve got to condense things and bring them together. Some of the stories I thought for sure would be in the book aren’t in the book, and some of the direction and how I was going to tell the story definitely grew and defined and got a little sharper.
Q: What do you hope readers take from the book?
A: At the beginning I share some of my life as a younger guy and growing up in the environment of entertainment with my mom’s dance studio. Then finding my own way within sports and finding my own identity. Then really developing through high school, becoming the conference baseball Player of the Year and going to college and struggling with that a little bit, trying out for the Olympic team. Then having some things not go my way and making decisions in that period of life, then really just trying to go through. When I was struggling in life, even though I had my family, and I made the opportunity with the Pioneers and riding that wave and winning the championship in ’97. Then coming up with that idea and telling myself I’m not going to be a statistic, I’m not going to let this thing die, and seeing the dream through.
Just having perseverance and having faith in God and knowing that anything is possible with him. Just let people know that anything is possible. That if you put your time and effort into it, and have faith in what your vision is, that you can accomplish anything.
Q: What are some recollections from your time with the Pioneers?
A: I offered to be the PA announcer and they told me, ‘We have a PA announcer, but how would you like to sell some ads for us?’ I started out by working part time, keeping my full-time job, selling some ads for the programs and billboards. It led to running the operations in the stadium. Then that all fell apart and brought me back on and I was having a conversation one night with (general manager) Grant Griesser. Three hours at a local establishment. He offered me to be the assistant GM, which led to one of the most amazing summers of my life.
For most of the players and the community, that 1997 championship, where there had not been a championship in professional baseball in Elmira in 20 or so years before that happened, was pretty amazing. I’ll never forget it. I’ll never forget the people, the fans, the players, the coaches, the interns, everybody involved. That season was magical.
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This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Randy Youmans turned ESPN dream into reality. Now comes the book
Reporting by Andrew Legare, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Andrew Legare, Elmira Star-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
