I have always enjoyed listening to Greg Sharpe announce Nebraska athletic events on the radio.
Sharpe has been the Voice of the Huskers since 2007, bringing to life NU football and baseball games.
His distinguished career includes announcing Kansas State University football and basketball games from 1996 to 2002. He also has announced Big 12 basketball games on television.
Sharpe has visited western Nebraska several times and broadcast his Sports Nightly program from the Knight Museum and Sandhills Center in Alliance in July 2009 as a full house looked on.
In August 2010, he broadcast live from a restaurant and bar in downtown Chadron. Sharpe took a break from the show to grant me a recorded interview that lasted 10 minutes. I aired the entire interview on KCOW Radio.
Sharpe is genuinely a very nice person.
It appears that we may not be hearing his voice much longer.
Prior to Christmas, his wife, Amy, posted on her X account that Sharpe had a PET scan which revealed his cancer, which was discovered in his pancreas in April, had spread and grown in both the liver and bones. His treatments are no longer working.
Amy also shared that her husband has experienced a lot of pain.
“All of this has led to a decision to transition to palliative care here in Lincoln,” she wrote. “He is currently getting radiation on the tumors in his lower back and will do another round to slow the progress of the tumor in his neck after Christmas.
Above all, treatment will center around making him comfortable, and quality of life.”
Sharpe has three daughters.
“None of this is easy,” Amy continued. “Telling our girls was the hardest thing we ever had to do as parents.”
Amy says that she and Greg are firm believers that life gives you joy amidst the suffering.
“Letters from people we’ve never met and the love and support from so many friends and family is truly the best medicine to help Greg live life to the fullest,” she added.
At this stage of his life, Greg Sharpe is resembling a bright big red cloud that radiates from a western Nebraska setting sun.
The kind of sky which offers a reminder of God’s grace.