The evening of Aug. 20, while the 2009 Mid-America Regional Emmy nominations were sent out, declaring who would and wouldn't be attending the Award Gala on Oct. 3 in St. Louis, Mo., former Big Red One Soldier, retired Master Sgt. Herbie Teope, was eating a quiet dinner with friends to avoid the commotion and possible disappointment about not being on the announcement lists.
Little did he know that 44 days later, he and three other colleagues would be leaving the Emmy ceremonies with their own personal statues for a TV series he created called "Fantasy Huddle."
Aired for the first time in 2007 to the local Kansas City area, Fantasy Huddle is a 30-minute television segment that has grown to national acclaim and can be viewed every Thursday throughout the NFL preseason and regular season featuring discussions, analysis and the latest NFL news to assist viewers make an informed decision about their own fantasy football teams.
Hosted by Chris Gough with Dave Neilson and Teope as featured analysts, the show first started as a seed in Teope's mind while he was covering a Kansas City Chief's football training camp in 2006.
"I knew that the fantasy sports industry was a multi-billion dollar cash cow," Teope said, knowing that his current employer, Time Warner Cable & Metro Sports, had not gotten into the fantasy sports scene yet.
"I approached our general manager and news director with the concept of a 30-minute TV show," he said.
Teope explained that everyone loved the idea and it was approved, but because it was green lighted in August of 2006 and the NFL season starts in September, the debut had to be pushed back one year.
The weekly on-air fantasy updates were well received amongst the local Kansas City population and following its premier season in 2007, the program was boosted to the national spotlight and was consequently available to more than 7.6 million subscribers.
"It has been an absolute joy and thrill to watch something I created explode to what it is now," Teope said.
He was more jittery than excited while attending the Emmy award ceremonies about three and a half years after he conceived of the idea.
"It was nerve-wracking," he said, describing his main feeling was one of uncertainty after he heard the host, The Today Show's Mike Leonard, state he had been in broadcasting for 30 years and still hadn't received the much sought after gold figurine, Emmy.
"The closer they got to our category I told myself I'm going to block everything out and let the table tell me what happens," Teope said. "I do remember them saying, 'And the Emmy goes to ...' and I closed out and the table erupted ... it was a blur. From the time I walked from where we were sitting to the stage I do not remember shaking the hand of the presenter. I do not remember getting 'Emmy' from the presenter."
He does remember standing at the podium, looking into the camera, and lights focused on him as well as the speech he presented to his fellow broadcasters.
Amid his shock and gratitude, Teope spoke of his roots; a quality of anyone's history he believes should never be forgotten and always respected.
Some of those roots come in the form of advice from the late Sgt. Maj. Cornell Gilmore, who was killed In Tikrit, Iraq, after the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter he was in was shot down by enemy fire in 2003.
"He said, 'you have to have fun. If you're not having fun wearing the uniform, or any job, you're going to hate life," Teope said, explaining that though he still thinks of those words today, he also used them to follow his heart in the Army and was proud to serve, especially for the 1st Infantry Division.
"I think of all the military units that I have served with during my 20 year career this (The 1st Infantry Division) is the one that stood out the most," Teope said.
Teope came into the Army in 1986 as an air-defense artilleryman and then later served the 24th Infantry Division as a Chief Paralegal NCO for the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, he followed his passion of covering news stories for the NFL by writing freelance items for various sports and NFL-related Web sites while still in uniform in 2003.
His decision to do so eventually led him to where he is today, leaving a wake of publications with Roto Wire.com, which cross-published Teope's work at Yahoo and EA Sports before he started working for Time Warner Cable and Metro Sports during his terminal leave in 2006, the year he officially retired from the Army.
His sports column, "The Top Spin," also is exclusive to The Kansas City Star during the NFL season.
"I've always considered myself a pretty good writer and it just blossomed," he said, unbelieving of his transformation during 10 years. "Fast forward to 2009 and I've gone from Soldier to Emmy-award winner. That was an amazing feeling, an absolute amazing feeling."
Still a sports writer and on-air analyst at Time Warner Cable and Metro Sports, Teope said his ultimate goal is to work for ESPN, but no matter what happens he will continue bringing updates to fans of 'Fantasy Huddle' across the nation with a team of workers that never fail.
"I love my job," he said.
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