Eric Allgood was a Striv kid, long before the company ever existed.
As a youngster, that fall meant trips to Hampton from the family farm in Strang to watch his uncle’s football team play on Friday nights.
And, in high school it meant putting on shoulder pads, lacing up his sneakers or hitting the links for Geneva High School where he was a three sport athlete for the Wildcats. There, he learned the hard working, core values of a Striv school community.
Now, as the new director for strivsports.com and account manager for striv.tv, Allgood is ready to put everything he learned growing up – coupled with 11 years of radio experience – to work for the nearly 60 Striv schools and for prep sports across Nebraska.
He started with Striv, Inc. on July 1st.
“I am really excited to get back to where I grew up,” Allgood said.
“I grew up going to 8-man football games and, while I was too busy playing In the end zone to appreciate what was happening, I knew what kind of excitement the local high school team brought to a community.”
“The opportunity to be back in Nebraska and to share those stories was too good to pass up.”
Striv CEO Taylor Siebert is excited to bring Allgood in as part of the Striv team for the increasing coverage he hopes to bring to prep sports in Nebraska and to the schools in the Striv network.
“We are extremely excited to bring someone with Eric’s experience to Striv,” Siebert said. “He has called state championship games in Kansas and brings a wealth of broadcast experience to our team.
“But, most importantly, he understands what our schools mean to their community.”
In his new position, Allgood will be responsible for all content produced on strivsports.com, maintaining account relationships, developing student broadcast programs and working with new and current Striv schools.
Allgood’s broadcasting love came almost by accident. Early into his time at Nebraska-Kearney, he started reading public service announcements for the college radio station and joined full-time as a sophomore.
That year he was called on to do some play-by-play and a “monster was created.”
“I had almost no interest in doing play-by-play until I actually did it,” he said. “And, I fell in love with it.”
Armed with a diploma and little else, a week after graduating from Kearney, he moved to Belleville, Kansas where he spent the last 11 years as sports director for KR92.
While also anchoring the radio desk in the morning, he worked in play-by-play coverage of over 800 sporting events during that time and logged 51,000 miles traveling to games.
While in Belleville, he counts his best memories as marrying his wife, Angie, and becoming a father to almost 3-year old Jackson. But, in addition, the special memories associated with the teams and community.
The 2006 girls basketball and 2013 boys basketball teams each won state titles with Allgood on the mic and he might tell you he learned more than the kids covering those teams. He also learned from volunteering as the head coach of the junior high football team.
“I learned from playing in high school and especially from coaching and being involved in Belleville what it takes to make a good team,” Allgood said. “And good teams aren’t necessarily teams with a great winning percentage.
“But to watch and tell the story of how teams evolved and how kids grew up over the course of a season was remarkable.”
Now, Allgood is excited for the opportunity to do it all over again. And, to be closer to home, makes the opportunity even better.
“We have the opportunity, with our unique platform, to do some really special things for prep sports in Nebraska,” Allgood said. “I am excited to get to work.”
