Maddie Starkey with Tom Hart after Monday's UK game. (Stephanie Starkey Photo)
Frankfort High School sophomore Maddie Starkey is interested in following the path Kentucky natives Katie George and Maria Montgomery have taken into sports broadcasting.
Her broadcast teacher, Mac Yocum, put me in touch with her and she joined me and Tim Estes recently on WPBK-FM for our weekly sports show. Our guest that week was ESPN/SEC Network personality Tom Hart who was impressed by the skills and poise the 15-year-old Starkey had on air.
Starkey just recently won the America’s Ideal Miss Kentucky Teen crown and will compete for the national title in Columbus, Ga., in July. She was the 2022 Miss Teen Kentucky County Fair winner and has won over 50 other titles.
Starkey was in Rupp Arena Monday with her mother, Stephanie, watching UK play St. Joseph’s. Tom Hart was calling the game for the SEC Network.
“We were not expecting them (Rupp Arena ushers) to let us down where he was after the game but they did,” Starkey said. “He was finishing the game and we tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and knew immediately who we were.
“It was really fun getting to meet him. It was a very cool experience.”
She appreciated how nice he was to her on radio and was not surprised Hart was even more gracious in person.
“There was an older lady next to us screaming his name. She had pictures for him to sign for her,” Starkey said. “We were just talking about being on radio and he said I was a natural. I did not expect that.
“My mom has told me that but obviously she is a little biased. Hearing that from him just made me feel great.”
Starkey got her picture with Hart and is even more anxious to pursue a broadcasting path now.
“Hopefully I can get a summer job at a local TV station and go from there,” Starkey said.
