By Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter Published Oct 10, 2017 at 1:59 PM

The familiar longtime voice of the Green Bay Packers, Wayne Larrivee, is joining the Milwaukee Athletic Department as the play-by-play announcer of televised men's basketball games, starting with the 2017-18 season, Director of Athletics Amanda Braun said on Tuesday.

As the school announced last month, UWM will now play its TV games on FOX Sports Wisconsin. Larrivee, who has been the radio play-by-play man for Packers games aired on Milwaukee's WTMJ (620 AM) for nearly 20 years, will be the new voice for the Panthers, as the program makes its move to statewide broadcast availability.

"I am looking forward to becoming a part of an up-and-coming program with the Milwaukee Panthers," Larrivee said in a statement. "The program is on a real uptick and I am excited to be joining Coach (Patrick) Baldwin for this opportunity."

Larrivee started his NFL career as the radio voice of the Kansas City Chiefs in 1978. He called Chicago Bears games from 1985 to 1998, before joining the Packers in 1999.

"It goes without saying that we are thrilled to have Wayne join the Panthers," Braun said. "He is one of the most-recognizable broadcast voices in the state – and in the country, for that matter – and we are so happy that he has agreed to join our team as we move our TV broadcasts to FOX Sports Wisconsin.

"We look forward to a long and rewarding partnership and that this season is just the first of many to follow."

The Panthers tip off their 2017-18 season, under new coach Patrick Baldwin, on Nov. 10, and the team begins its Horizon League schedule on Dec. 28.

Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter

Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.

After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.

Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.