The Paul Bunyan Trophy was lifted high in the air on Saturday afternoon, as the entire Michigan State football team celebrated an improbable comeback victory over its bitter rival, the Michigan Wolverines. The scene, both on the field and in the stands, was arguably unlike anything that had been witnessed before at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.
Smack dab in the middle of all the madness, stood Josh Pate. As he watched the four-foot high wooden statue of Paul Bunyan being hoisted with a Michigan State helmet on top of its head, he pinched himself. He couldn’t believe this was part of his job.
To understand the feeling Pate had in that moment, you first need to know how his start in sports media happened.
After graduating high school in 2004, Pate went to college without a clear vision on what he wanted to do professionally. There was no purpose or drive to find what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, so, instead of wasting money, he left school until he figured out what he wanted to do. That meant dropping out and working for a fabric warehouse in Columbus, GA. There was no air conditioning and the job requirement meant full-on manual labor in the Georgia heat. Each passing day required the same simple task of unloading a truck.
To pass the time, Pate and his co-workers would listen to sports talk radio. His love for sports had fully blossomed at a young age, but his affinity for sports talk was really beginning to take shape. It wasn’t just about the endless opinions he heard every day. He was truly appreciating the art form of the industry.
“I loved more than just the content,” said Pate. “I loved the production aspect and I loved listening to guys like Colin Cowherd, who was just getting his start at ESPN Radio. I paid attention to the way he would bring in a segment, or how he would tee up a guest, how he would toss to a break, I was fascinated by all of it.”
Pate would grind it out at the fabric warehouse for a few years, before putting himself back into school. Those years of listening to sports talk radio ignited a passion he wanted to chase. The problem was that he didn’t know how to go about finding a way into the industry. He had no contacts, no friends or family in the business, just a burning desire to try his hand at the first professional thing he was ever passionate about.
That’s when he thought of WIOL, the ESPN radio affiliate in Columbus. It was one of the stations Pate had listened to a lot during endless days of unloading trucks, so he decided to take his chance at a place he was familiar with.
“They had an afternoon drive show and I started badgering one of the hosts on Facebook Messenger,” Pate said. “I asked him if I could just meet him or come in and do anything. He said yes and let me come in to observe the show.”
Pate kept coming in and observing. Subsequently, he knew he needed to practice. The station wasn’t giving him that opportunity, so he would turn the radio down in his truck and pretend to be on the air. It was the only way he knew how to get better.
His determination paid off, because, one random day, one of the co-hosts of the afternoon drive show called in sick five minutes before the open. With no prep, and right in the middle of football season, Pate was asked to pinch hit at the last second. He knew it was his time to shine.
“We did an afternoon, caller-based show and I loved it,” Pate said. “They never took me off the air.”
For the next two years, Pate was living a new-found dream of being a sports radio host. He quickly excelled. Then he got a call from the general manager of the ABC television affiliate in Columbus. His next big break was about to come.
“He said, you’ve never met me, and you don’t know me, but I’ve been listening to you on my drive home every day,” Pate said. “He said the station wanted to start a college football TV show and wanted to know if I wanted to be in the driver’s seat. I thought about it for a fraction of a second and said yes. Then I said ‘I’ve never done TV before, does that matter?’ He said ‘probably, but we’re going to do it anyway.’”
It was a far cry from unloading trucks every day. He was now a TV anchor talking about his favorite sport. Soon after, he was promoted to sports director and even a news anchor. He was incredible story of determination. But he saw the capability of even bigger things.
“When I saw streaming on Facebook Live and Youtube Live, I knew that was my gateway,” Pate said. “That took down the barrier of overhead and distribution. The industry was revolutionized.”
The issue Pate had with all the TV shows he was doing was that he didn’t own any of the content. So when it came time to renegotiate his contract, the station offered him more money than he had ever been offered. But he wasn’t going to be able to independently produce anything on his own.
“I got down to the last day of my contract and said I wasn’t going to renew,” Pate said. “The general manager called me in with the news director and said, we don’t get it, what is your plan?”
Pate’s plan was to start a new YouTube channel. He was told by management he couldn’t make any money off it. But Pate believed in himself and his vision. Finally, the two sides reached an agreement. He would independently contract for the TV station, but for a fraction of what his previous offer was for. However, the station agreed to give Pate three nights a week of exclusive access to the TV studio to build his own YouTube channel that he independently owned. Thus, The Late Kick with Josh Pate was born.
“It took about two years to get it off the ground and running,” Pate said. “Then I got a call from Shannon Terry of 247Sports and CBS. He said he wanted me to come work for him. He wanted me to do something they didn’t have.”
Pate had heavily bet on himself and won the jackpot. In January of 2020, he joined 247Sports with Late Kick as the main feature.
“They essentially gave me the keys to the car and then they shut the door and told me to go do my thing,” Pate said. “I’ve been able to do a show here and executive produce it. I’ve essentially charted my own course here and I’m able to do it on one of the bigger media platforms in the world.”
So as he stood on the field of Spartan Stadium last Saturday in the middle of all the pandemonium, it was hard not to think of the journey that got him to that very moment. Now, The Late Kick with Josh Pate is one of the most popular college football podcasts on the internet, with a YouTube feature that has taken the show over the top.
Nobody thought the kid working at the fabric warehouse would someday be hosting a college football show with a huge audience. But that’s what determination did for Pate. The funny thing is that even though those years are in his rearview mirror, the impact it had is still felt on today’s podcast.
“Back in Columbus, there’s a place called Clearview Barbecue,” Pate said. “They accept cash only and me and two or three buddies would go there every weekday for lunch. We would obviously talk about college football, that’s what 22-year-old guys did in the south. We talked about it every single day and when I started to get an inkling of an idea that I could do this for a living, I remember thinking to myself, this is the format of my show. I always wanted to do a solo show, because I think it’s one of the hardest things in our business to do. If you can perfect it I think it can make you infinitely harder to replace. That was my strategy at my time and it still is.”
Pate grew up watching SEC football and the 247Sports office are located in the Nashville area, but that doesn’t mean he limits his content to strictly what happens in the Southeast. He wants to follow, attend and cover what the major game and storyline is every single week.
“Michigan and Michigan State is a perfect example,” Pate said. “There may not be a ton of people in Wetumpka, Alabama that woke up on Saturday morning caring about that outcome. I just view my job to go there and tell the story in a way that lets them know there is a lot to care about. I go to these games to show why these people get so worked up about a wooden statue of Paul Bunyan. But I also want to tell people in Wetumpka, Alabama how they feel about the Iron Bowl, is how these people feel about Michigan and Michigan State. It’s pure hatred in the most beautiful of ways.”
Saturday was a pinch me moment for Pate, but it was just one of many that he’s had. Among the list, was the many Late Kick signs that appeared in the crowd of ESPN College Gameday this year. For the college football nut that’s been watching the show his entire life, it meant a lot.
“I’m a part of what I grew up idolizing,” Pate said. “To be a part of it is beyond incredible. When I walk around a stadium in a state I’ve never visited and people know me by name, that’s a surreal thing I’ll never get used to.”
That passion is shown during every episode of Late Kick. To me, it’s what separates the podcast from all the others. But I also love that Pate isn’t another button-downed media member that can’t see the fun and the beauty of the sport they cover.
“When I look back, I count it as such a blessing that I did not come straight form high school to a four-year journalism school, straight off the assembly line into this business,” Pate said. “I meet people that took that route, and more power to them, they are a lot more buttoned down than I am.”
Tyler McComas is a columnist for BSM and a sports radio talk show host in Norman, OK where he hosts afternoon drive for SportsTalk 1400. You can find him on Twitter @Tyler_McComas or you can email him at TylerMcComas08@yahoo.com.
