Jay Monsen, long-time Sports Information Director at his alma mater Brigham Young University, passed away on February 10 after battling cancer.
From 1972 to 1984 he worked for BYU Broadcast Services and became the "Voice of Cougar Sports" for KBYU and also served as the KBYU Radio/TV News Director and later as Assistant Director of Broadcast Services. His career at BYU continued when he joined the athletic department as the Electronic Media Relations Director in 1984 and remained with the Sports Information Office until his retirement in 1998.
Prior to arriving at BYU, he was the press secretary for Utah Congressman Gunn McKay for two years. Jay also worked at KSUB Radio in Cedar City, where he was the news and sports director and the play-by-play announcer for high school and Southern Utah University sports. In 1971 he received the Sports Magazine Service Award for developing and helping with the growth of athletics in Southern Utah.
In 1999, Monsen received a "25-Year Service Award" from CoSIDA in recognition of his quarter-century of service in sports communications. In 2010, Monsen was enshrined into two Hall of Fames - the BYU Hall of Fame and the Utah Sports Hall of Fame.
Monsen is survived by seven children, 36 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. His wife of 55 years, Lauretta Young Monsen, predeceased him.
Funeral services were held on February 12. See Monsen's full obiturary
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Column below courtesy of Deseret News
Pioneer sportscaster Jay Monsen dies at 79, by Dick Harmon, Deseret News sports
MT. PLEASANT - Jay Monsen, 79, a sportscasting pioneer in Utah and member of the BYU Athletic Hall of Fame, died Sunday from complications related to a battle with cancer. Monsen had been living at his family’s homestead in Mt. Pleasant at the time of his death.
Monsen most recently did play-by-play of BYU women’s basketball games, but his career included the first major foray into broadcasting of high school basketball games in Utah. While hired as a talent at KBYU-TV, Monsen helped create the Blue and White Network, a preamble to regional sports broadcasting network. His work at KBYU-TV and establishment of satellite broadcasts of Cougar sports helped lead to current sports programming which are now available worldwide on BYUtv.
Monsen began his broadcasting career in 1956 at KSUB Radio doing games for SUU, which was then a junior college. He also took on high school basketball games and built a network of stations that aired regular season and tournament games from Montpelier, Idaho, to St. George. Back in the day of the A and B state high school tournaments, Monsen once did 22 of 26 games for different radio stations.
Doing those high school games, Monsen did play-by-play announcing for games involving players like Gary Hill, Neil Roberts and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, who played for Dixie.
Along the way, Monsen was instrumental in launching the broadcast careers of NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young (ESPN), Gifford Nielsen (KHOU-TV), Dave McCann (KSL-TV anchor), Blain Fowler (BYUtv) and current KSL radio voice of BYU Greg Wrubell. He also worked for Utah Democratic Rep. Gunn McKay.
Monsen, a humble, gentle man, was known for his professionalism and attention to detail. He was a tireless worker and his passion for his craft stood out among peers and those whom he taught the trade.
Monsen graduated from BYU in 1957 and became heavily involved in doing play-by-play of Cougar sports on KBYU-TV in the early 70s. He later became the broadcast media specialist for the university’s sports information department as associate sports information director. He retired from BYU in 1998 but continued doing broadcasts, his latest in 2007.
Wrubell called Monsen’s style as “even and mellow.”
In a tribute to Monsen, Wrubell said, "In Jay Monsen and Paul James, I had two of the best examples and tutors for which a young broadcaster could wish. Countless BYU fans are equally fortunate to have grown up with both of them. I am blessed to now do what they did; I can only hope to one day be as good as they were.”
McCann remembers Monsen’s broadcast of BYU’s win over Texas A&M in 1979 when he was just 12.
“The Cougars won the game with a two-point conversion. BYU football and BYU broadcasting was never the same from that moment forward. I started working as a sideline reporter with Jay and Blaine Fowler in the late 80s and today, because of his talent and contributions and his mentoring, I get to sit where he sat for all those years and call play-by-play for BYU sports around the world,” McCann said.
“I am convinced that BYUTV is where it is today because of pioneers like Jay Monsen and I am forever grateful that I share a friendship with him, along with his sons Dave and Jim — all first class people."
Monsen’s wife, Lauretta, passed away in April of 2012; he is survived by seven children and grandchildren whom he tended to until the day he passed.